Peter Garrett (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth) Share this | Hansard source

I want to follow on from the member for Grey's contribution and spend a moment reflecting on and acknowledging some of those remarks that the member made. It is the case that he serves an electorate where there is a significant amount of social disadvantage amongst people, particularly those living on what is referred to as the APY lands. The member posed the question to the parliament: why aren't we making progress? He was also prudent enough to acknowledge that the political class, as he put it, does want to see delivery of greater achievement potential for people in regional and remote Australia for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people but thus far, notwithstanding the amounts have been appropriated to the goals and the many programs and efforts of a range of successive governments both at the national level and at the state level, we cannot say with any great degree of pride that we have succeeded.

I do not presume to have the intimate knowledge of the member's electorate that he has, but I think part of the answer, particularly when we look at the educational attainment levels of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote communities, is the remoteness. The fact is that Aboriginal people are in a particularly difficult situation if they are still living effectively within clan culture on country and a long way away from the services and the economic and social activity that characterise our regional centres, our suburban Australia and our cities. The disjunct between the way in which people still want to live there and the way in which the remainder of the Australian polity organises itself is a great one.

Like the member, I have been to a number of communities and seen what I think are some signs of disengagement that are at such a level that you really do wonder what the prospects for young people growing up in these communities will be. At the same time you see underneath that the great strength of family and culture that has seen people occupy these lands for tens of thousands of years. In part it is the time that we live in, the time that we are here as legislators, as politicians, in this parliament when we are witnessing that great gap. I think it is to the parliament's credit and to the credit of governments that there has been a national intention to try and close the gap, recognising that it is there, and that the Council of Australian Governments itself, the highest council in the land, if you like, has set itself this task. But it is by no means easy and I do not think there are any quick or convenient solutions. One thing I do know is that we have to persevere, that we have to have open and honest dialogue. We have got to try policy initiatives but we have also at all times got to engage and involve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the future.

I want to communicate to the member for Grey that I have had some invitations to visit the APY lands. I hope to get out to that part of Australia sometime in the not-too-distant future.

As I was remarking, the Closing the Gap framework has six targets set by the Council of Australian Governments. It is a national approach to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. We did have some good news from the Prime Minister recently when she spoke to the parliament and reported on Closing the Gap and also an identification of the areas in which we need to do much better.

We do know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children do start school developmentally behind. So it was particularly satisfying that the Prime Minister was able to announce that the first of the six targets had actually been met, and that is that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander four-year-olds in remote communities have access to early childhood education by 2013. That is particularly important for the prospects of young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people on community, because it is at the very early stage of life when their brains are still in what is described as a high degree of plasticity, and also learning habits as well both of young people and mums in particular can be engendered and there can be confidence that when kids go into a schooling system, which is quite often subject to disruption, as the member for Grey pointed out, that they are able to still keep learning.

I also want to reflect on the levels of investment from government. I do sometimes hear contributions and read commentary about whether or not money is or is not well spent. What I can say is that with the investments we are putting in the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education, we are seeing more children than ever participate in preschool or kindergarten programs. So I think to that extent with this result it is definitely an investment that is bearing some fruit.

We are also on track to half the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander year-12 attainment or equivalent attainment rates by 2020. That is pretty important, because the transition from school to work is one which is a significant and sometimes almost unreachable journey for many young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Halving that gap in year 12 attainment is a huge part in equipping them for the prospects of either future study or potentially work as well.

I want to quickly addressed in NAPLAN tests as well, because we did have disappointing results in the 2012 NAPLAN tests. I think it is important to remember that the trend from 2008 to 2011 was actually quite encouraging and we need to keep building on that. We will have ACARA, the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority, examine the 2012 student performance to see if there are underlying reasons in that result. I can actually identify some of the reasons, particularly in the Warlpiri triangle, where we have a growing population of young people enrolled in school but in an area that has been subject to some significant community unrest over the last 18 months to two years. There, I think, the opportunities that children had to attend school regularly unfortunately were reduced; notwithstanding that, we are seeing improvements, particularly in reading. We are seeing some improvements in year-3 reading both across Australia and more specifically in some of the states with a high proportion of Aboriginal kids in remote communities. We are also seeing some improvements in year-5 numeracy. But there is no question that there is much more to be done.

What do we need to do in terms of making sure that we are maximising the opportunities for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to both achieve well at school and go on to work as well? One of the things that has been particularly important has been to do work with another eminent Aboriginal educator, Dr Chris Sarra, and his Focus Schools Next Steps Initiative, to which we provided significant assistance—funding of about $30 million. There are a number of focus schools where the focus is particularly in this case on improving school attendance, on classroom engagement and the academic achievement of around 9,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. That is done in cooperation with states and territories who are running the government school systems where the majority of young Aboriginal students are, through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan agreed by the states to support children's readiness for school, building good practice in schools, developing community based school leadership and parental engagement, and boosting attendance and literacy and numeracy. There is significant investment from this government of around $128 million.

The plan identifies 55 actions at a national, systemic and local level. It has been endorsed by COAG. I think the key thing about the plan is that it is not just a bunch of words that governments have agreed to; it is a set of specific actions, which we need to see every single school that has a proportion of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander students attending, apply themselves to. It is my intention, under the National Plan for School Improvement—the response by the government to the recommendations of the Gonski review—that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan will be given greater focus. I am disappointed that in some states we have not seen school systems apply themselves specifically to that plan, given the amount of work that went into it and the fact that it identifies the range of components that you need to have operating at the same time in a school setting over a consistent period in order to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander student attainment.

As the members listening would know, we have investments in Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory, and that includes some school attendance measures which are described. And we are providing an additional 200 teachers for literacy and numeracy support. Of course, we have maintained support for the school nutrition program at a cost of around $9 million per year in the Northern Territory. People and members listening would know that this government—and governments in the past—have provided support through ABSTUDY. As well, we have provided opportunities for students to attend school through boarding facilities.

I want to speak briefly about attendance, because attendance is one of the greatest challenges in making sure that young Aboriginal students can progress through their school careers. Regrettably, attendance is poor from day 1 in year 1, and it gets worse by year 10. I can see, in Western Australia for example, government schools recording a gap of 13 per cent between year 1 Indigenous students and others. And that gap goes up to 24 per cent by year 10. The figures are actually worse in the Northern Territory.

My School reports attendance rates for all schools. For schools in Indigenous communities that have a 100 per cent, or almost 100 per cent, Indigenous school body, there is a year-on-year tracking of attendance. But the fact is that without attending school consistently, young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students will not develop the skills and education levels necessary to effectively operate in the job market so that they can take care of themselves over time and support their families and their communities—nor will they reach their full potential. It is something that requires urgent attention. I know that it is on the minds of education ministers, teachers and others working in the regions but it is something that requires commitment by communities and families, as well, recognising that a good education for a young Indigenous student is a passport out of poverty. We do now have schools and teachers who are ready, willing and able to teach, but it is important, now, that the kids are at school.

I attended the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference in Darwin in 2011. We had a range of presentations, including by principals of schools where they had succeeded in bringing their kids through both primary school and secondary school by doing a number of things. They underscored the priority areas: readiness for school; engagement and connection with community; attendance, which I have referred to; leadership in quality teaching and workforce development; and consideration of the post-school opportunities. Where these six areas have been addressed by leadership in schools, through the principal and the teaching community, and where the community and family—and, where necessary, local authorities—are engaged, then we start to see a difference in education outcomes.

When I look at a school like Bega Valley Public School in New South Wales, where students are benefiting from strong leadership and evidence based whole-school processes monitoring performance, I see targeted support at the school, personalised learning plans and the employment of an Aboriginal school learning support officer—just those things. This is not that far from here—just down the coast—and what have we got? We have NAPLAN results show an increase in the proportion of students who achieve above the national minimum standards in year 5 in reading and numeracy by 26 per cent and 21 per cent respectively over 2008 and 2011. As well, the proportion of highest performing students in year 5 reading and numeracy have increased by 30 per cent and 20 per cent respectively. Another example that is well known to some of us is Cairns West State School in Queensland—again, concerted case management, a teacher coaching program underpinned by high expectations, and significant improvements in results in the school.

At the end of the day, we will continue to commit ourselves to closing the gap. In this parliament, that is amongst our most urgent tasks. Some progress has been made. We acknowledge it and we welcome it, but we recognise that there is a great deal more that we need to do.

See this speech in context