Federal support for education

• Federal bonuses: for disadvantaged public school students for attending school and completing school work (paid as vouchers purchased from competing suitable retailers)
• No passports or tax file numbers: for students who have not completed education appropriate for their age. (Various exemptions would apply for illness, disability, etc.)
• Free video library: for all national curriculum subjects created by the best presenters available. This is to supplement classroom teaching and assist where expert teachers are not available.
• NAPLAN: Continuing use of standardised testing run by the Federal Government to allow comparison of the State-run schools.
• National school exams for years 10, 11 & 12 to replace State-based assessment. This allows comparison of State school systems and standardises accreditation.

Cheaper degrees – for ex public-school students

We would make tertiary education more accessible for public school students with a lower fee structure.

Assessment integrity

School and university assessment has relied on assignments, group work and online exams for too long. Assignments can be completed by anyone or AI, group work often sees a few dedicated students doing all the work. Credits are then handed to semi-literate students with no established knowledge of the course material.

• All assessment needs to be attended by the student and their ID validated.
• Assessment should be multi-choice to allow unbiased computer marking. Instead of writing text students would answer questions about a given text.
• Guidance should be given about the nature of the questions in the assessment – there should be no ‘ambush’ questions. E.g. “Q5 requires calculation if the volume of a sphere given the diameter”. The actual question has the diameter dimension.
• Electronic exams could give instant feedback like “You used the area formula not the volume one!”. This would make exams themselves educational and give the student a chance to correct their errors, albeit for a slightly lower score.

More Science

Australia’s future depends on science. It is not enough to dig up rocks and sell them.

Key research areas

• Defence items: We need to develop and manufacture defence materiel in Australia, especially missiles, drones and other ordinance.

• Efficient house construction: Enhanced ability to produce pleasant energy-efficient housing
• Genetic Engineering: Creating new plants that can draw down and store CO₂ and produce more food.
• Clean Manufacturing: Enhance the ability to refine ore dug up in Australia without destroying our environment or using huge amounts of water.