Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Broadband, Communication and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

and I thank you for your help! Had they been listening or been in the chamber hearing the thoughtful contributions of many of my colleagues, they would know clearly what our position is. That April 2007 meeting of the ministerial council agreed to get attendance data reported to the National Student Attendance Unit. Ministers also agreed to establish a process to enable the sharing of enrolment information among states and territories, particularly South Australia, Western Australia and the Northern Territory, to address absenteeism in Aboriginal homelands resulting from the movement of families between communities in the area. Those were the plans put in place by the Howard government, which was committed to achieving those goals. That is why the opposition is not opposing this bill, but, as I said, one is entitled to be extremely dubious about the motive behind it, given its announcement has taken up more energy than putting in place an implementation program.

In closing, it is interesting—

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