Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I told you he would want to make a contribution—he has already had his go. Nevertheless, I understand the member for Hinkler, and I appreciate the fact that he feels strongly about education, as do I. It will not surprise him when I make some comments later on criticising his government’s performance. I want to go to a territory government in this case and talk about what is happening in the Northern Territory. I want to do that because I think it is important that we contextualise this discussion.

Before I go into that in any detail I acknowledge that the Investing in Our Schools Program has been very important for many schools in my electorate. In the last round, 36 projects were successful in 32 schools. I commend the government for ensuring that funding was approved for those schools in my electorate. The projects range from small ones for playground equipment to major purchases of ICT and computer equipment. The feedback that I have received from schools is that the application process and timing of funding arrangements have improved since the program was first introduced. I wrote to the schools in 2005 when there were significant delays in the announcement of successful projects. In 2006 my advice to the principals of schools in Lingiari was to have their project plans ready for any future funding rounds. Perhaps the schools took my advice, but the outcome for them has been very good.

However, I am concerned that the government has seen fit to cap the additional funds available under the program by reducing the amount from $150,000 to $100,000. The shadow minister, the member for Perth, mentioned this when he moved his amendment. I am also concerned about the government’s failure to guarantee the future of the Investing in Our Schools Program beyond the current funding round. These funds are important in improving programs and infrastructure in school communities across Australia. Despite the rhetoric we hear from the government, which claims that it is a state responsibility, it is important for the government to accept that it has a responsibility to assist in the education of all Australian students, rather than just emphasising in this place the importance of the independent or private school sector.

I now turn more generally to the issue of education in the Northern Territory, which perhaps mirrored the performance of Joh’s excessive governments in Queensland. From the time of self-government in 1978 until 2001, when the Labor Party was elected to government in the Northern Territory, the government was of one political hue. Successive governments were conservative governments, Country Liberal Party governments. These governments are directly responsible for an appalling state of affairs in education in rural and remote parts of the Northern Territory, principally the education of Indigenous Territorians.

It is very hard for members of this place to understand the culpability of the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory—and a member of that party sits here as the member for Solomon. It is hard for them to understand the culpability of this political organisation in frustrating, handicapping and impeding the educational opportunities of people who live outside of metropolitan areas. They took deliberative policy decisions not to invest in the education of kids in the bush. It is true that up until 2001 not one Indigenous kid in the Northern Territory in his home community was able to attend year 11 or year 12 schooling. It was not until the Labor government was elected in 2001 that they were able to reallocate their resources and accept the responsibility that hitherto had been not accepted by the CLP for the education of all Territory kids, not just some. So successful were they that in 2003, primarily thanks to the efforts and the initiative of two very progressive teachers at Kalkaringi in the north-west of the Northern Territory, three students from that school became the first ever year 12 students in their remote home community to graduate with a Northern Territory certificate of education.

Mr Deputy Speaker, comprehend what I have just said: this was 2003. Understand that my electorate includes all of the Northern Territory, outside of Darwin and Palmerston, as well as Christmas Island and the Cocos Islands. Roughly 40 per cent of that population are Indigenous. The large proportion of those people live in remote parts of the community, in smaller towns—the largest of those towns being Wadeye, with something approximating 3,000 people; Maningrida, with 2,500 people; and Galiwinku, with 2,000. These are significant communities. But not even the students of these communities had access to high school.

We know that around 40 per cent of the Territory population are aged 14 or under. We have a very young population. But what we have as a result of the negligence and the deprivation that was suffered by Indigenous kids and their families in the Northern Territory for a generation—that period from 1978 to 2001—is at least a generation, possibly more, of young people who were denied an educational opportunity once they left primary school. I have estimated—I do not know what the true figure is—that somewhere between 3,000 and 5,000 young Territorians still have a problem accessing educational opportunities.

I heard the member for Curtin, the Minister for Education, Science and Training, on The World Today responding to questions about Indigenous kids of the Northern Territory being able to access schools. The minister needs to comprehend the gravity of the situation and not just say, as she did on the ABC, that this is a question for the Northern Territory government—that they are prepared to work in partnership but it is the responsibility of the Northern Territory government. This problem lies directly at the feet of the conservative parties in this country who failed to address the basic human rights of Indigenous people in the Northern Territory by providing for them access to secondary education.

I have said already that in 2003, for the first ever year, 12 students in the remote communities graduated at Kalkaringi. In 2004, five students from Maningrida graduated with a Northern Territory Certificate of Education. In 2005, 25 remote students from Kalkaringi, Maningrida, Yirrkala, Wadeye and Shepparton College on Elcho Island graduated. That figure is inclusive—25 only. This last year, 30 students, including kids from Ramingining and Millingimbi, graduated. This is evidence of the fact that an intensive effort is now being applied by the Northern Territory government to give young people these opportunities. But let us think about it; let us put it in context. Only 30 young people, in a population of 45,000 or 50,000, graduated. You don’t have to be Einstein. There is an appalling educational deficit amongst the individuals in these communities. As I have pointed out, already one generation, and possibly more, has been denied access to educational opportunities. We cannot allow it to continue.

The Northern Territory government has been diligent in putting resources towards the rollout of secondary education within its jurisdiction, including providing new secondary school facilities and upgrading existing school facilities. The government has built a number of new schools, although when you look at the figures for these new schools you see that there are not many of them. The condition of some of the schools that currently exist in the Northern Territory is absolutely appalling. A lot more needs to be done. My point is not that the Northern Territory is not making its best efforts, but that it needs a great deal more support from the federal government to achieve the required outcomes.

I visited a number of schools over the last couple of weeks. On one such visit I was accompanied by the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs. We visited an outstation community at Garrthalala, in north-eastern Arnhem Land. In this community there are two Indigenous teachers, Multhara Mununggurr and her granddaughter Lombinga Mununggurr, who are very dedicated. The teachers service seven communities. They have two groups of 20 students—one junior and one senior, with a group flying to Garrthalala on Tuesday morning and returning to their home communities on Thursday afternoon, after an intensive three-day workshop. They rotate the groups. This week it is juniors, next week it is seniors. It started in 2004—and, I say with appreciation, with some Commonwealth funding.

The program was to be run as a pilot for two years. It was extended in 2005 for three years. In 2004 it started with 18 kids from seven communities, who were chosen on the basis of their academic ability and their attendance at local schools. They went to the Northern Territory Open Education College and asked for a secondary curriculum. At the end of 2006, 13 of the 18 were still in the program. Eight completed the equivalent of year 11. Five were a couple of units short, but had genuine reasons for absence—ceremonial obligations and a whole range of other things—and the units will be completed by the middle of this year. The Northern Territory Open Education College presides over the assessments and gradings. In 2004 they had a 98 per cent attendance rate.

I want members to understand what is going on here. The current classroom used by these children is not provided by the Northern Territory. Nor is it provided by the Commonwealth government. It is provided by a service organisation from Geelong. They have one classroom. Where do these people sleep and eat? Is there a boarding facility? No, there is not a boarding facility—these young people have their swags. The kitchen facilities are effectively a sink and a couple of burners; that is about it. Under what circumstances are we expecting students to learn?

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