Judi Moylan (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly welcome the opportunity to speak to the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007. It is part of the budget measures for 2007. I particularly welcome following my colleague the member for Wakefield, who I think has drawn a very important linkage between good economic management by this government and its ability to better fund education, not just quality education but relevant education. Relevance, of course, is very important in this day and age of fast-moving technologies.

The bill gives a legislative basis for a record amount of funding to be provided by the Australian government. The funding amounts to $33 billion to implement budget measures for schools, which includes additional funding for newly arrived humanitarian entrant students under the English as a Second Language—New Arrivals Program for 2008, and to provide a funding loading, or an additional payment, to recurrent grants for non-government schools in rural and remote regions, according to the degree of remoteness, for 2008.

The English as a Second Language—New Arrivals Program provides intensive English language tuition for recently arrived migrant students to improve their educational outcomes. These budget measures actually double the per capita rate of funding paid to government and non-government education authorities for students in primary and secondary schools who enter Australia on a humanitarian visa. This funding is provided to the state and territory governments and non-government education authorities to assist with the provision of intensive teaching of the English language to eligible primary and secondary students—English language competence—and increase their educational opportunities. The money is utilised in a variety of ways, including the employment of specialist staff, the development of an English as a second language curriculum and teaching material.

Some 13,000 students were assisted by English as a second language programs in 2006. This included some 5,000 students who arrived in Australia as part of the humanitarian program. Under these new arrangements the funding for eligible humanitarian students will double in 2008. I understand that this decision has been universally welcomed.

It is a fact that throughout the world there are thousands of people living outside their homelands in refugee camps. Conditions are far from ideal and it has fallen to countries such as Australia to offer places to people living in these dire circumstances. Australia has a very generous humanitarian refugee resettlement program. Australia assists thousands of refugees and others in need of humanitarian assistance. Indeed, since 1996, over 10,000 people have come to Australia under this program and Australia has consistently ranked among the top three resettlement countries, alongside the United States of America and Canada, in numbers resettled each year.

Many people coming to Australia under this program have experienced life events that have left them seriously traumatised and, contrary to popular belief in some quarters, it is not easy for people to uproot themselves from their land of birth, leaving behind whatever wealth they managed to acquire, families, friends, familiar sounds, food and landscapes. Home is home, wherever one puts down one’s roots, and being forced from it must be a life-shattering experience, especially for children. It is therefore important that a high level of assistance is given to new arrivals. The Australian government is committed to the successful settlement of those chosen to come to Australia under the humanitarian program.

The Integrated Humanitarian Settlement Strategy provides intensive settlement support to new arrivals to help them become self-sufficient as soon as possible. These services may include individual case management, referral to other support services, accommodation, orientation, emergency needs for medical attention, clothing and footwear, and basic household goods to allow people to quickly establish their household in their new country. It is especially helpful for young people to learn the language that will ensure that they have an opportunity to fully participate in their new country—to be able to find work, to fully participate in social and community life and to assist parents and possibly grandparents who may not have had the same opportunity.

There is little doubt that English language tuition promotes successful settlement and integration of newly arrived humanitarian students in Australian schools. English proficiency is one of the most effective ways to improve educational outcomes and smooth the pathway for young people for whom life has been tough and where, in some cases, they may have experienced great disruption to their regular schooling. Because of the circumstances in which they come to their new country, students entering Australia under the humanitarian program may need additional assistance to settle into school and additional language tuition in the initial phase of their course.

The English as a second language program has been very successful and this additional funding builds on earlier work. However, teaching English as a second language requires dedicated teachers, a curriculum and textbook writers, all of which need funding. As all levels of government have responsibilities to settle new humanitarian arrivals, the costs are shared, but the Commonwealth makes a significant contribution to the program. This funding adds to other programs funded by the Commonwealth, including the General Recurrent Grants Program and the targeted funding for students with a language background other than English through the Literacy, Numeracy and Special Learning Needs Program.

The second part of this amendment bill provides additional funding for non-government regional and remote schools in recognition of the higher cost of delivering education in those regional and remote areas. Non-government school organisations have been concerned about the high cost of delivering schooling in remote and rural areas, including the higher cost of building, building maintenance, recruitment and retaining teachers in remote areas. These schools offer an important choice for many parents and students who may choose to have an education within the context of their religious beliefs. It seems reasonable for the schools prepared to invest in rural and remote schooling to be given funding consideration in line with those higher costs. The funding amounts to $121 million over a four-year period and is part of the government’s budget measures under the Realising Our Potential package of measures to improve education in Australia.

There are over 400 non-government schools throughout Australia, and this will give them considerable support to continue to offer choice to families living in rural and remote areas. These measures have the ultimate aim of improving student achievement levels. Students in rural areas do not have the same advantages as city based students, who are, for the most part, within reach of many facilities in the more populous cities and suburbs.

There is clear evidence that rural and remote students do not achieve as highly as their peers in metropolitan schools and, at least in my electorate of Pearce, there is some evidence, which came about through studies a few years ago, that the retention rate of students in rural schools is not as high as those in the city. This funding can therefore be used to great advantage in improving educational opportunities for the most disadvantaged students, with quality teachers, increased staff retention levels and improved access to ongoing professional development of teachers in rural and remote areas.

Eligibility for the extra payment will be determined under the Australian Bureau of Statistics standard geographical classification and according to the remoteness of the census collection district in which a school campus is located. Funding levels will depend on whether a school is located in moderately remote, remote or very remote areas. Drawing boundaries, of course, is always difficult because there are always those who fall just within and just outside those boundaries but, for the schools and the students who attend those schools which fall within the rural and remote program, this is a very important measure to ensure equity in education for rural and remote students.

The amendment bill addresses two important issues, each affecting relatively small groups of people, but good governance is about ensuring that all communities share in the prosperity and the benefits of living in such a prosperous and blessed country. The Howard government recognises the benefits of investing heavily in schools, including through the Investing in Our Schools progarm. I am pleased to see that the minister has just come back into the House. I would like to put on the record that I think she is doing an outstanding job and that the Investing in Our Schools program has been very well received within the electorate of Pearce. It has been an important way to improve school facilities and amenities, where the decisions about what needs funding are entrusted to school parents and friends groups and school principals. In other words, the federal government is giving school communities the ability to decide their priorities for the expenditure of funds under this program, and it has certainly been welcomed, as I said, in the electorate of Pearce. There have been many gains for education in my electorate of Pearce under the good governance of the Howard government, whether it is investment in facilities, the excellent access classes to encourage young people to continue their education or the investment in improving literacy and numeracy outcomes.

The measures in this bill, again, are part of ensuring that all students have access to the best possible educational opportunities. Once again, as my colleague the member for Wakefield said in his speech—and I think it is an important link that he drew—good economic management allows this government to provide better outcomes in education.

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