Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am not normally a fan of the contributions in this chamber from the member for Canning, but I will commend him on his contribution on this occasion. I too rise to speak in support of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010. Before the Leader of the Opposition accuses me of formalism and tokenism, I would also like to proudly recognise the traditional owners and thank them for their continuing stewardship of this wonderful land of ours.

If we are to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, school attendance rates in remote Indigenous communities must be improved. There is no other way forward. There are about 2,000 Indigenous children of compulsory school age in the Northern Territory who are not enrolled in school. That means that one in five Aboriginal children in remote communities in the Northern Territory is not even enrolled in school. A further 2,500 are not attending regularly. Furthermore, about 8,000 Indigenous children attend school only 60 per cent of the time on average—there are two in five days when they are not even at school. That is no way to get a continuous education and improve.

The Rudd government has already taken some measures to improve attendance for some families by linking Centrelink payments to school attendance. The Sporting Chance program takes a more innovative approach to encourage school attendance. It is more of a carrot than a stick. Through sport and recreation, this program helps Indigenous children from rural and remote areas engage in school. In Australia, there is nothing quite like sport with the power to knock down barriers and inspire pride. Some of the most effective programs for young Indigenous people are the ones linking sporting and education opportunities.

In March, Warren Mundine, the Chair of the Australian Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald:

To me developing indigenous sport is about capitalising on one of our top strengths—our sporting infrastructure and culture—to motivate individuals to go for it and to get the best out of life.

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Sport is one way of helping to close the gap on indigenous disadvantage. The federal government’s Sporting Chance Program, which uses sport and recreation to lift the level of engagement of indigenous students to improve their educational outcomes, is one example where results are starting to show.

The aim of the Sporting Chance Program is to meet the COAG targets for closing the gap: to halve the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievement for Indigenous children within a decade, and to halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 attainment or equivalent by 2020.

Indigenous Australians—as I am sure you would well know, Deputy Speaker Scott, because of your electorate—have made a remarkable contribution to this country’s reputation as a sporting giant. They include people like Cathy Freeman; Nova Peris-Kneebone; Evonne Goolagong Cawley; Michael Long, former Essendon captain, two-time premiership player and two-time All Australian and AFL Hall of Fame inductee; Steve Renouf; Dale Shearer, who I will claim as a St George boy; Johnathan Thurston, Scott Prince, Mal Meninga, Artie Beetson and many others—all world beaters in their chosen sports.

It is no surprise then that when I was a kid growing up in St George in western Queensland it was not the pale-skin kids you feared on the sporting fields, it was the Murris. Deputy Speaker, with a little indulgence I will make a racist observation. Generally speaking, the Murris in St George were stronger, faster and better coordinated than the whitefellas. It strikes me that despite their superior skills and strength most of the Murri kids I grew up with did not go on to greatness in sport. The exceptions were Dale Shearer, who had an international career, and maybe two other guys: Robert Clements and Woopy Evans.

Most of them did not go on to sporting careers. However, with the proper support, resources and encouragement, I am sure that many of the Murri kids of today could achieve anything in sport, and in life for that matter. Obviously, if you are successful in sport you make other connections and you get other opportunities. With a little bit of guidance and support even front-rowers can go on to have post rugby league careers! But such was and is the nature of Indigenous disadvantage that many of the Murri kids that I grew up with, sadly, did not make it. Some of them did not really make it in life, as I detailed in my first speech, but I will not revisit that here; that is a bit too sad. It is the same with education—literacy and numeracy. The smart kids never received the tools that we need to access the workforce and the dignity that usually comes with being in the workforce.

With the right support, resources and encouragement we will see Indigenous students rise above disadvantage and close the gap in literacy, numeracy and employment outcomes. As Kev Carmody and Paul Kelly said, ‘From little things, bit things grow,’ and the Sporting Chance Program has already had much success to this end. The Clontarf Foundation school based sports academies, as detailed by the member for Canning, are achieving school attendance rates of nearly 80 per cent and now have 2,300 students enrolled in 36 schools. They give hope. They give opportunity. They change lives and they even save lives.

That is why the Rudd government is providing additional funds to expand the program—in total, $42 million over four years. This year the funding will support 22 organisations to deliver 59 projects including 54 school-based sports academies and five education engagement projects. These 59 projects have the potential to benefit 10,000 students.

This bill is a key part of the Rudd government’s efforts to halve the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in reading, writing and numeracy within a decade. Indigenous education, school attendance and school retention rates are simply not good enough and we must do more to support Indigenous communities to improve education. The Sporting Chance Program is part of a raft of measures to boost Indigenous education, including: an additional 200 teachers for the Northern Territory; three boarding facilities in the Northern Territory; the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program that was introduced by the opposition; and the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program.

This bill will appropriate $492 million for 2010 to 2012 so the Commonwealth can fund targeted and strategic projects to improve education outcomes for Indigenous people. It transfers funding for the Sporting Chance Program from the annual administered expense of DEEWR to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. In doing so this bill ensures the government can continue to provide national leadership and coordination of efforts to close the gap and improve outcomes for Indigenous Australians so that it too can save lives and change lives. I commend the bill to the House.

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