Covreage of Kelly Norris at the Schools Summit and of Robert Carling at CGT Inquiry

SMH Schools Summit 2026 as it happened: Prue Car, Sydney university academics, principals speak at annual conference — across Fairfax

Speaking at today’s summit, Kelly Norris, senior research associate at the Centre for Independent Studies, described the emotional toll maths can take on students.

“I had students break down in my class because they were so incredibly anxious about maths,” she said. Norris argued that the issue is rarely a lack of ability. Instead, she said, many students become trapped in a cycle that begins in the early years of schooling.

“There’s a huge opportunity we’re missing in the early years to identify who is struggling and intervene. Without that, students fall into a terrible cycle – low self-esteem, low motivation, anxiety. They avoid maths lessons, avoid homework, avoid choosing it as a subject. With less practice, they get worse. And that reinforces the belief they ‘can’t do maths’.”

She said improving engagement alone would not solve the problem: “We all want engaging classrooms [but] if students don’t have the foundational knowledge to reason with, no amount of engagement will compensate”.

‘Bit of an image problem’: The early maths plan for Australia’s primary schools — across Fairfax

Kelly Norris, senior research associate at the Centre for Independent Studies, said when she lectured in initial teacher education degrees, some students were traumatised by mathematics.

“I had students break down in my class because they were so incredibly anxious about maths,” she said

Albanese government eyes major property tax shake-up: What you need to know — Daily Mail

The Centre for Independent Studies’ Robert Carling said reducing negative gearing or CGT concessions would reduce investor demand and decrease housing supply.

‘Owner-occupier demand would not neatly fill the void left by departing investors, as the types of housing favoured by investors and owner-occupiers are not perfectly interchangeable,’ Mr Carling said.

He said negative gearing, along with the CGT discount, had become a ‘whipping boy’ for housing affordability debates, which are baseless.

‘Cutting the discount is variously seen as a key plan for tax reform, a revenue raising measure, the key to lowering house prices and the solution to intergenerational and vertical inequity. And our submission argues that it is none of those things,’ Mr Carling said.