Australia's Prime Minister Doesn't Get Why Kids Should Learn To Code

Question Time in Australia's Federal Parliament is hardly a place for elevated discussion.
Still, it would be better if Prime Minister Tony Abbott did not use the parliamentary session as an opportunity to make light of a serious problem: The future of skilled, tech-savvy labour in Australia. On Wednesday, Bill Shorten, the leader of the Labor Party and Australia's opposition, asked the prime minister whether he would commit to supporting Labor's push to have coding taught in every primary school in Australia. Instead of taking the question with any gravity — because, um, making sure Australia's children grow up to get good jobs in a decent economy is about 90% of his job — Abbott instead displayed utter ignorance. Abbott replied, "Let's just understand exactly what the leader of the opposition has asked. Do you want to send them all out to work at the age of 11? Seriously?" If this isn't enough to strike fear in the heart of every startup and entrepreneur looking to grow in Australia, we're not sure what is.