This is the part of country Australia where my parents raised me.

Like many of their generation, Mum and Dad didn’t get much past primary school, but they worked hard on the land and raised a family.

We all went to this local school and by the standards of that time, we got a good education, but when I look to the future our kids will face challenges greater than ever before.

I’d like to talk about my plans to secure Australia’s long term prosperity.

Some call us the lucky country, but I believe you make your own luck. We can’t just hope that the resources boom lasts forever.

Education is the pathway to the future, our country’s future, and our kids future. It’s the key to being globally competitive.

I have a goal for us to be the best educated country with the best trained workforce in the world, but Australia is the only modern economy in the world where government funding for our universities has been cut.

Australia must now plan for an education revolution boosting early childhood, schools, tech colleges, universities – and insisting on higher standards so that Australia can take on the world through the best trained people, not by cutting wages and conditions.

The Australia I want for the future has a strong economy but one where we don’t throw the fair go out the backdoor. That’s the balance that made our country great in the past – let’s not lose it for the future.