Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Parkes for bringing this important motion to the House. It is an issue that affects thousands of children throughout Australia. I think that, over a period of time, the number of children who are affected by living outside metropolitan areas has shrunk but the degree of disadvantage for those people who are outside the area is still just as great. When my father went to school, he went to school in Yass. At that time, the school there finished at third year, and the only way that he could extend his education was to go to the city. He was fortunate enough to obtain a scholarship to a boarding school in Sydney. When I went to school, I went to school, once again, in the country. At that time, you could complete your high school education, but if you wanted to obtain tertiary education then you had to leave that country town and come to the city. I might add that, if I lived in that country town now and undertook my education there, I would be able to go on to university. So things have improved over a period of time for students living in country areas, but disadvantage still exists.

I have a friend, Cheryl Daley, who moved to Broken Hill with her husband. He is teaching at Broken Hill High School. She is teaching with the School of the Air. I was in Broken Hill for committee hearings, and I went along and sat in on a couple of her classes prior to the committee hearing’s commencing. Of course, the students start early and organise their days around their other activities.

Technology has improved access to education, but still not on the same level that students in metropolitan areas obtain. I think that there is a need to expand that technology and there is a need to use the internet to a greater degree. This is one way that we can address some of the isolation that students living in rural and remote areas experience. It is also interesting to note that tertiary education can also be undertaken on the internet now—that is something that needs to be expanded. It does create new opportunities for children and students that are of university age. We need to make more use of the technology that is available.

It is vitally important that we ensure there is equity in education for students, no matter where they live. If a student is born in Lake Macquarie, which is where I live, they have every opportunity, and students that live in Parkes, Bourke or Wilcannia—places like that—should have exactly the same opportunities. Children in areas like the member for Barker’s electorate should have that opportunity to access education. The future of education is all about providing equity.

What concerns me too is that there are some extremely disadvantaged young people in some of those rural electorates—Indigenous Australians that really are denied that opportunity to access education on any level. Their access to education is even further exacerbated by the isolated areas that they live in and the level of disadvantage that they experience. That is not only Indigenous students, but other students as well. I know that other members are very mindful of the needs of their constituents, so I commend the member for bringing this to the House.

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