James Bidgood (Dawson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. The intergovernmental agreement that delivers the funds will be called the national education agreement. The government has committed a minimum of $42 million over the next four years to fund schools in Australia. In the 2008 budget the government delivered many of its election commitments to progress its education revolution. In schools, this includes funding for the trade training centres and digital education revolution programs, which are already underway. I am passionate about education. I am a believer in life-long learning. I have completed both an apprenticeship in the print trade and university studies as an adult. I firmly believe that education is truly the key to success. When I am invited to schools in my electorate—great, vibrant schools, like Mercy College in Mackay, Ayr State School and Slade Point State School—I speak to the students, teachers and parents. They tell me about their schools and their communities, and I am always impressed by the calibre of the young people that our schools produce, the professionalism of the teaching staff and the dedication of the parents of the students.

The Rudd Labor government together with the Queensland government in my electorate of Dawson are doing great things for our schools. Only last week I visited St Patrick’s College in Mackay and, together with Principal Eamon Hannon, we powered up 187 of the computers the school received as part of the computers in schools program, which is integral to our plan for an education revolution. I also visited Mackay North State High School and Burdekin Special School, who have received funding from the federal government for a science lab and specialised playground equipment—essential tools for delivering 21st century education to our young people.

Since the beginning of 2008, the Rudd Labor government has been working, through the Council of Australian Governments—COAG—to develop a new framework for investment and reform in Australian schools. This will result in a national education agreement, to be finalised through COAG by the end of this year. The COAG reform framework means that, for the first time, all governments in Australia will agree to a single set of objectives, outcomes and outputs, and hence educational priorities and reform directions, for the education system.

This bill gives funding certainty to schools in Dawson, with a focus on quality, and applies transparency and accountability requirements that are consistent with government schools and with Labor’s election commitments on transparency. As well as meeting these commitments, the bill will make important changes to funding for Indigenous students in non-government schools.

The Schools Assistance Bill 2008 will provide for: recurrent and capital funding for non-government schools; continuation of current indexation arrangements, with indexation of recurrent and targeted funding based on average government schools recurrent costs and capital grants indexed by the building price index; maximum recurrent funding for non-government schools with a very high proportion of Indigenous enrolments; and Indigenous Supplementary Assistance for Indigenous students, generally comprising the non-government recurrent funding component for Indigenous school students provided under the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. Four existing programs have been streamlined, with funding under this element allocated on a per-Indigenous-enrolment basis, with a higher per capita rate for secondary students and schools in remote and very remote areas.

The ISA funding indexation rates and remoteness classifications have been aligned with those that apply to mainstream programs under the bill, improving the capacity of schools to ensure this assistance can keep pace with the costs of delivering education. This is complemented by an Indigenous funding guarantee to ensure schools are not worse off under the new arrangements. Finally, the bill will provide funding for non-government schools for most of the targeted programs which currently operate under the schools legislation, other than the non-government rural student hostels program, establishment assistance for schools and the national projects program.

Under previous agreements, Commonwealth funding came with a wide range of conditions and strings attached. For example, the legislation for the previous quadrennium imposed over 20 commitments and accountability requirements spanning a range of policy areas, necessitating a high degree of regulation, monitoring and micro-management, both by the Commonwealth and by systems and schools. This new framework will reduce the number of different funding agreements, remove many of the input controls and forms of compliance that the Commonwealth previously imposed on states and school systems, and focus payments and accountability on the achievement of agreed outputs and outcomes. For example, the bill will require, as a condition of funding, the implementation of the national curriculum—being developed by the National Curriculum Board—by 2012. This national curriculum will apply to all Australian schools.

This bill provides funding certainty for schools. The Schools Assistance Bill 2008 fulfils yet another election commitment made in 2007 and is certainly worthy of the support of the whole House.

Now I wish to talk about the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2008. The government is working with government and non-government education and training providers to achieve the very important goals of halving the gaps in literacy and numeracy achievement, halving the gaps in year-12-or-equivalent attainment and halving the gaps in employment outcomes for Indigenous Australians. The Rudd Labor government is committed to an education revolution where no Australian is left behind. The Rudd Labor government is committed to improve education outcomes of Indigenous Australians.

Current forward estimates of Commonwealth funding for Indigenous education over 2009 to 2012 total some $2.3 billion dollars. This compares with the estimated $2.1 billion for Indigenous education announced by the former government prior to the commencement of the 2005 to 2008 quadrennium. The government’s arrangements through this bill will see more funding flow to Indigenous students. The government wants to reduce red tape and improve flexibility for education providers to focus on achieving the target of closing the gap in the education outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The changed arrangements for schools and, in time, preschools and VET will give them greater flexibility in how they support Indigenous education to achieve agreed outcomes. The new arrangements will also recognise Indigenous education as a mainstream education issue.

The Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2008 has three main purposes. Firstly, it provides for the continuation of appropriations for 2009-12 for a range of targeted programs and projects under the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 to support improvements in Indigenous education outcomes and assist in closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Secondly, it provides appropriations for supplementary assistance to preschools and vocational education and training—VET—providers with Indigenous students from 1 January 2009 as a transitional arrangement until alternative legislation associated with early childhood and vocational education and training specific-purpose payments and national partnerships payments become operational in 2009. Thirdly, this bill makes a number of technical and consequential amendments to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000, the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s Skills Needs) Act 2005 and the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 and repeals the States Grants (Primary and Secondary Education Assistance) Act 2000.

The bill will provide the government with capacity to work with Indigenous communities, parents and families to improve their engagement with education providers so that they can be supported in becoming informed consumers of educational services. Indigenous parental involvement in decision making is an essential element to improving educational outcomes. Transitional arrangements for preschools and VET providers will ensure this supplementary assistance can continue to be provided to Indigenous students from 1 January 2009 until it can be facilitated through new arrangements. This ensures the continuation of services to Indigenous families. Education initiatives generally build the capacity of families. Good educational outcomes are a strong influencing factor in higher socioeconomic status.

The bill will appropriate funding for a number of initiatives that give Indigenous people from regional and remote areas greater choice and assist them to access and participate in education. These programs include the government’s election commitment to additional boarding facilities in the Northern Territory implemented through the 2008-09 budget, the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and the Away from Base program. Funding in this bill will appropriate $505.9 million for 2009-12 so that the Commonwealth can fund targeted and strategic projects to improve education outcomes of Indigenous Australians; continue appropriations for Away from Base for a ‘mixed-mode’ delivery program at an estimated cost of $109.3 million; and appropriate $163.3 million as a transitional provision to provide funding certainty for eligible preschools and vocational education and training  providers with Indigenous students from 1 January 2009 until the introduction of relevant funding mechanisms in support of reforms to specific-purpose payments. This funding will also allow us to continue to work with Indigenous communities, philanthropic organisations, corporate leaders and national organisations to build the partnerships that are so critical to improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

While new arrangements for supplementary recurrent funding will provide greater flexibility to states and other education providers in how they use Commonwealth funding to address the needs of their Indigenous students under the revised arrangements, this bill will allow the Commonwealth to retain its capacity to take a national leadership role in Indigenous education through the retention of targeted initiatives as Commonwealth own purpose expenses.

The changes to reporting under the bill are a consequence of the transfer of funding as part of the reforms to specific-purpose payments, including the collection and reporting of relevant Indigenous data under new performance and accountability frameworks. The new arrangements into which some Indigenous education funding will be transferred will have their own performance and accountability requirements. It has been agreed that all progress measures under the new SPP arrangements relating to early childhood, schools and VET will be disaggregated by Indigenous status. This will provide a clearer picture of the extent of the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in these sectors. We are committed to an education revolution. This government believes that improving education outcomes for all Australians, including Indigenous Australians, is very important for the long-term benefit and productivity of this nation.

The member for Sturt, who spoke previously, brought up past, old histories and made really outdated and outmoded political comments. He brought up the old stuff but he does not realise that this is a new Australian Labor Party, which is full of very successful small business people. We are caring capitalists, and there are a lot of us in this new government. The old ways are no longer in this party. We are a party of pragmatism—and that is something the other side just do not understand. When we see that something is good and that it works, we acknowledge that it is good. We do not throw out the things that work. We are pragmatic and we are realistic and we believe in transparency and accountability. There are many people in this party who have a very good, firm grip on business procedures, transparency and accountability, and these have been applied successfully. I commend this bill to the House. (Time expired)

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