Education
People First policy
Education Policy
Education standards should not be set by career bureaucrats in big government. Education should be a competition of ideas and developed where possible at the grassroots level through schools, communities and parents.
The creation of the National Curriculum by the Howard Government has not only created another layer of bureaucracy in the education sector, it has failed to lift education standards across Australia.
People First will delegate responsibility for school curriculums back to State governments and the school community including parent associations. Sex education will be banned from the classroom as it is the responsibility of the parents to deal with these issues at home.
People First will also seek to reallocate funding from universities to trade schools including the Military Apprenticeship scheme.
Funding for Tertiary education will be focused on STEM courses in order to rebuild our manufacturing, infrastructure and military capabilities.
HECS supported places, funded by the taxpayer, will be capped based on employment demand. STEM courses will continue to be fully supported along with Medical related degrees. HECS support for Commerce, Law and the Arts (excluding education) will be capped at $10,000 per course.
HECS support will be limited to one degree per person per lifetime.
HECS fees will be abolished for Teachers and Nurses.
Universities will be obligated to repay HECS loans that are not repaid by their graduates within 20 years of graduation.
Foreign student graduate visas will be scrapped. Young Australians should not have to compete with foreign students for jobs, especially after the taxpayer has funded their degree.
Mutual recognition rules around immigrant qualifications will also be tightened to ensure workplace, education and safety standards are not lowered.
HECS support will only be provided to Australian Citizens and some South Pacific Islanders other than New Zealand.