Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

My electorate is Lingiari, and 40 per cent of my constituents are Aboriginal people. My electorate has the poorest educational outcomes in the country. The Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2013 is important. It is important that we acknowledge the deficit that exists in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education in this country, but, most particularly from my perspective, the deficit that exists in my own electorate.

I say this in the context of investments which were made by the Commonwealth over the course of the last parliament for a Stronger Futures package, where a considerable amount of money was put aside for the next decade for special, additional education funding for the Northern Territory government. As part of this process the Commonwealth put in resources for employing an additional 200 teachers and for the provision of in excess of 100 teacher-housing units in the bush. This, of course, is vitally important because unless and until we get highly motivated, highly professional, well-trained teachers in the bush we will not get the outcomes we are after. There is no doubt, of course, that education is about a lot more than teachers. It revolves around the community, the parents, the family and the conditions in which they live. And poverty is a key determinant of educational outcomes. We know that in the context of the Northern Territory many Aboriginal people live in abject poverty.

The importance of this legislation cannot be overstated, but at the same time as we are talking about targeted educational assistance here in the federal parliament, the Northern Territory government are in the process of pulling out $250 million from education over the forward estimates—$50 million next year. So, at the very same time as they are accepting additional resources from the Commonwealth—at the same time as we are talking about the potential for targeted assistance programs for Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory—the Northern Territory government are trucking the money out the back door by shutting down services.

This is grossly irresponsible. It is irresponsible for a range of reasons—not the least of which is its abject dishonesty when it comes to working with the Commonwealth in advocating for and looking after the interests of Aboriginal people and Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory. There is absolutely no excuse for the Commonwealth accepting the proposition that, at the same time as we are talking about targeted assistance programs, the Northern Territory government can withdraw its investments in education. It is not consistent. It is illogical and it is wrong.

So I hope that the minister, when he is talking to the Northern Territory government about the targeted assistance programs and when he is talking to them about the COAG arrangements and the Stronger Futures resources—the additional money going into the Northern Territory—that a condition of that money is that the Northern Territory government maintains and improves its own efforts to get the outcomes that we all want. Because if there is not that condition then we are doing a major disservice and we are being dishonest with the people of Australia. We cannot, in my view, in all good conscience, say to the people of the Northern Territory, including the Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory, 'We care for your educational outcomes. We have these targeted assistance programs but, by the way, we don't mind if the Northern Territory government withdraws its resources from education.' It is a pitiful response from the Northern Territory government, yet they have Aboriginal members of parliament who sit by and watch as the people they represent have their educational opportunities diminished because of the actions of their own government. It is not reasonable, it is not fair and it is not acceptable.

We need to ensure in this place—government and opposition—that the Northern Territory and indeed other state governments are held accountable for what they do for education but particularly for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Aboriginal outcomes. If we do not, not only will we be marked down but also we will not get the outcomes we are after. You cannot, on the one hand, accept that we the Commonwealth—quite rightly and properly—want to invest more resources to get better educational outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people but, on the other hand, accept that the Premier of Queensland and the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory want to withdraw resources from education. It is not possible. The contradiction, the hypocrisy, is writ large.

There are a range of issues we need to deal with over time in this place on educational outcomes. I am a former teacher in the Northern Territory. My partner is a teacher in the Northern Territory. I understand the implications of poor educational outcomes. We have the Prime Minister talking about being the 'Prime Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians' but, if he is the Prime Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, he will hold chief ministers and premiers to account when it comes to these issues.

We hear a lot of words being said in this place about educational opportunities and employment opportunities. What we know is this: unless you get the educational opportunity, unless you get the opportunity to attend high school, unless you get decent outcomes in year 10, 11 or 12, the possibility of you getting a job is almost nil. The possibility of getting access to training programs is nullified. So this investment is very important. It is too trite to just observe. Prior to 2001, when the former Labor government was elected in the Northern Territory, the CLP—the current government of the Northern Territory—disinvested in education in much the same way it is disinvesting in education now. We had then not one Aboriginal community in the Northern Territory where a child could attend year 11 or 12. This legacy was left to the former Labor government to address and try to clean up, which it did, so that now all significant communities of any size have years 11 and 12, and kids are now advancing through the system.

If we have the possibility of schools closing, as a result of decisions made by the present Northern Territory government, those very educational opportunities that we regard as important will not continue. We cannot accept that. We would expose ourselves, quite properly, to the criticism that we just do not care, because if we did care we would hold people to account. We need to make sure that we understand and talk in this place, again, about child and maternal health and early childhood education. There is a continuum here. If you invest in early childhood education you need to make sure you are investing in primary school education and in high school education so that the child who starts preschool will be guaranteed an educational outcome at the end of year 12. At the moment we cannot, because the Northern Territory government is taking money out of education. That is pitiful and a shocking indictment of all members of the current Northern Territory government.

This bill is really important. The Commonwealth must have the ability to provide targeted assistance but, at the same time, it needs to understand that it cannot do this alone. Whilst we hold the purse strings in more than one way, the Northern Territory government is pulling out resources. We need to make sure it is held properly to account. I commend the bill the House.

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