Senator Hanson Young -I will go straight to the criticisms of the use of the NAPLAN test as a significant part of the information displayed and presented on the My School website which, overall, is giving a representation of a school's performance, whereas the NAPLAN test is a test that is assessing an individual student's performance.

Senator Hanson Young -Could we go back. I firstly want to pick up on something that Senator Marshall said in relation to the statically similar schools. Correct me if I am wrong, but is it not that there are wrong comparisons based on what is being used to compare schools-statistically similar schools?

Senator Hanson Young -What is the opinion of the Tasmanian education department when it comes to how information that is presented on the My School website is used by other parties?

Mrs Lidster -Are you referring to particular other parties like the media or-

Senator Hanson Young —There has been lots of discussion about the abuse of the My School website and whether it is helpful, who it is helpful for and what that kind of transparency means not just for parents and teachers in schools but also government, in making sure there is accountability across all of those different interest groups.

The Australian Greens will tackle the ongoing teaching shortage by using a Commonwealth Scholarships Scheme to attract our best and brightest students to work in the education system, according to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on Education, says the party's education plan is designed to make practical improvements to the system, such as investing to secure the future supply of good quality teachers to educate our children.

The Australian Greens will move to improve industrial laws to guarantee entitlements for parents, carers and workers and make Australia a better place to work and live, according to Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young.

Senator Hanson-Young, Greens spokesperson on the Status of Women, says the Greens know the simplest and best way to guarantee industrial entitlements is to amend the Fair Work Act.

Senator Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens Spokesperson on the Status of Women:

"We welcome the fact that Australia finally has a Paid Parental Leave scheme, but the scheme's inadequacies mean that our work is not yet finished.

"This is an historic day, as Federal Parliament has achieved something that supporters of parental leave have sought for 30 years.

"It is, however, only one step on the road to achieving the scheme that we need.

Senator HANSON-YOUNG (South Australia) (6.21 pm) - I rise to add my contribution to the debate the government's Paid Parental Leave Bill 2010 and Paid Parental Leave (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2010.

This is a historic day in this chamber: all three of the major players in this place are committed to some form of paid parental leave and are also committed to seeing that some scheme is up and running by the end of this year.

The Government needs to come clean on what its Paid Parental Leave Scheme really means for working families, starting with its name.

It's a great irony that an initiative called Paid Parental Leave does not actually give anyone an actual right to time off work after birth.

In fact, if an employee has been working for less than 12 months, they have no guarantee they can return to their job if they take leave.

All the Government's scheme does is entitle employees to a payment (18 weeks at the minimum wage) even if their employer won't give them their job back.

The Government needs to come clean on what its Paid Parental Leave Scheme really means for working families, starting with its name.

It’s a great irony that an initiative called Paid Parental Leave does not actually give anyone an actual right to time off work after birth.

In fact, if an employee has been working for less than 12 months, they have no guarantee they can return to their job if they take leave.

All the Government’s scheme does is entitle employees to a payment (18 weeks at the minimum wage) even if their employer won’t give them their job back.