Jenny Macklin (Jagajaga, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Families and Community Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That all words after “That” be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:“whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House commits to the following goals:

(1)

to eliminate the 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation, so that every Indigenous child has the same educational and life opportunities as any other child;

(2)

to at least halve the difference in the rate of Indigenous students at years 3, 5 and 7 who fail to meet reading, writing and numeracy benchmarks within ten years;

(3)

to at least halve the mortality rate of Indigenous children aged under five within a decade; and

(4)

to a long-term, bipartisan national commitment to work with Indigenous Australians towards achieving these goals, and overcome generational disadvantage”.

On the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum, the Leader of the Opposition announced that Labor would commit to concrete goals and targets to eliminate the 17-year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation; to at least halve the rate of Indigenous infant mortality within a decade; to at least halve the mortality rate of Indigenous children aged under five within a decade; and to at least halve the difference in the rate of Indigenous students at years 3, 5 and 7 who fail to meet reading, writing and numeracy benchmarks within a decade. How positive it would be if the Prime Minister joined with Labor in a bipartisan commitment to overcome Indigenous disadvantage within a generation, because a generation is longer than the political lives of most of us in this chamber.

We want every Indigenous child born today to have the same opportunities as other Australian children. We will not close the gap on life expectancy unless we start with the children who are being born today. Goals and targets are not merely words that we throw around. As the Chief Executive Officer of the ANZ Bank, John McFarlane, said recently in relation to reconciliation:

The setting of targets is the only way to achieve results. It is important to measure where you are and where you want to be, otherwise nobody would be accountable.

That is why we have set these targets.

I was recently on Groote Eylandt, right up in the north of Australia, with the member for Lingiari, who is here today in the chamber. It is a community of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. The people of Groote have really begun to turn their lives around. Only a few years ago it was a community racked with alcohol abuse and terrible violence. Today they recognise that they have to take responsibility to turn around their circumstances. Not only are they working through some exciting economic and employment opportunities with GEMCO, which runs the manganese mine, but also the land council is building a multimillion dollar resort to encourage the tourism industry on the island.

One of the things that struck me about this community was their focus on education. When we met with the general manager of GEMCO, he said to me, ‘It’s all about education, education, education.’ The community recognises that much needs to be done to improve literacy and numeracy at the local schools. The land council is also putting some of its money into sending more and more young people off to good quality boarding schools in Cairns, Townsville, Brisbane, Perth and Darwin. Before a child is sent away to school, the parents or the elders visit the school and discuss with the school how they are going to support their young people.

The people of Groote are making a real effort to make sure that their children remain connected to their community and to the culture that they are growing up in. They recognise that the quality of education matters, and they are coming up with ways to make sure that their children are not estranged from their traditions as they receive an improved education. Sending children away to school is a very difficult choice for any parent in a remote or regional community. The fears of parents and communities about losing their children to the big world are often founded in reality. In most cases, however, the value of education in providing children with choices does tend to triumph.

Another community we visited recently in the Northern Territory had built a homelands school to cater for children both in that community and in surrounding communities. You could see that the school had come about because of the anguish of parents who had already lost children to the bigger towns—to loitering, bad behaviour, alcohol and poor education outcomes. The children of this school do not speak English as their first language. Nevertheless, the school has a good attendance record and some of the young people have continued into their senior years of schooling. However, all of these schools need additional resources to make sure that the education levels of the children who are attending improve.

Across Indigenous education we have a long way to go to close the gap in literacy, numeracy and retention to year 12. The proportion of young Indigenous people living in remote areas who reach year 12 is approximately half that of their metropolitan peers, and only one in 10 actually completes year 12. The initiatives outlined in the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007, which we are debating today, will help. The government estimates that up to 1,610 students could benefit from additional funding for the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. The increase in the number of scholarships offered under the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program and the places available under the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program will allow more young Indigenous people to access quality education and training. I would like to have seen additional funding for mentoring and support to go with these initiatives and programs because we need to prepare young people who are proposing to leave their communities for adjusting to life in a boarding school. These are important parts of the policy to see that the children who do leave their communities succeed.

In Cape York and the Torres Strait, the Queensland government is introducing transition support officers to prepare students for the move, support them as they travel to and from communities, support them at boarding school and provide mentoring and pastoral care throughout. Over the next four years, they expect to assist around 700 students from Cape York and the Torres Strait to travel to attend secondary school. Practical initiatives developed with local communities always have a greater chance of success.

There is so much more to do, in particular in the early years. Labor is committed to closing the 17-year gap in life expectancy, starting with Indigenous children born today. Just this weekend we announced that we will commit an additional $260 million as a start to meet this goal. This will include additional contributions from the states and territories. We want to make sure that there is comprehensive coverage of child and maternal health, parent support, early development, preschool and intensive literacy and numeracy programs for Indigenous children. As a result of Labor’s initiative, Indigenous women and their babies will have access to proper antenatal care, including a visit to a midwife or doctor, an ultrasound and a general health check; practical advice on parenting, breastfeeding and nutrition for their babies; home visit services—we want to extend that to children up to the age of eight and our plan is to do this with the states and territories—and parenting and early development services.

Early education is central to our policy. The Productivity Commission estimates that around half of all Indigenous children do not have access to preschool—that is around 4,500 children every year. It is now recognised almost everywhere in the world how important it is to invest in early childhood education. Certainly all parents know this. The Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman has shown that the return on human capital is very high in the early years of life and diminishes rapidly thereafter. Leading developmental researcher Jack Shonkoff argues that ‘all children are born wired for feelings and ready to learn’ and that it is from birth to age five that ‘children rapidly develop foundational capabilities on which subsequent development builds’. Intensive programs in disadvantaged communities in the United States, such as the Perry Preschool Project, have shown that early intervention can produce large social and economic benefits for individual children and for their communities. When children start school, they must be ready, willing and able to learn so that they can succeed in life.

Labor has committed to a $450 million a year plan to ensure that every Australian four-year-old, including all of our Indigenous four-year-olds, has the right to 15 hours per week of early childhood education, for at least 40 weeks of the year, delivered by a properly qualified teacher. Most Indigenous children start behind the eight ball when they get to school. It is particularly shocking that they slip further behind while they are at school. According to the National Report on Schooling in Australia 2005, the number of Indigenous children who meet the reading benchmarks falls from 78 per cent in year 3 to 63.8 per cent in year 7; and the number of Indigenous children who meet the numeracy benchmarks falls from 80.4 per cent in year 3 to 48.8 per cent in year 7. Indigenous children are falling further and further behind the longer they stay at school. There is also evidence to suggest that the problem has been getting worse over the last few years. In 2005, fewer Indigenous children in years 5 and 7 are meeting basic literacy and numeracy benchmarks, compared to year 5 and year 7 children in 2002. It is almost a truism these days to talk about the importance of literacy and numeracy. Dr Ken Rowe, Research Director of the Australian Council for Educational Research, highlights that:

Literacy competence is foundational, not only for school-based learning, but also for children’s behavioural and psychosocial wellbeing, further education and training, occupational success, as well as for productive and fulfilling participation in social and economic activity.

Labor has committed to a target of halving the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students’ performance in reading, writing and numeracy achievement within a decade. We have recognised that every individual Indigenous child must have help and attention suited to their developmental needs. We have announced that we would roll out the Australian Early Development Index nationally, at a cost of $16.9 million over four years—a rigorous checklist across five developmental areas to determine a child’s needs when they start school.

We will fund the development of a specific AEDI for Indigenous children to take into account the differing cultural and language features of the early childhood rearing environments of Indigenous families. After this, Labor will make sure that every Indigenous child has an individual learning plan to be updated twice a year for every year of schooling up to year 10. These plans will be based on the individual child’s needs as determined by the teacher’s professional judgements, on the results of assessments, including national literacy and numeracy testing in years 3, 5, 7 and 9, and through the new initiatives which we have announced, such as the Australian Early Development Index.

The plans should identify the individual strengths and weaknesses of every child and set out what areas the student and the teacher will target for improvement across the basics of reading, writing and numeracy. We will spend $34½ million over four years providing professional development support to teachers to enable them to complete these learning plans. Through their child’s teachers, parents will be able to access these plans so that they too can be part of their children’s learning improvements. Once children’s learning needs have been identified, funding and intervention programs can be targeted and implemented more precisely.

The Queensland government are implementing individual learning plans and intensive support programs in Cape York and the Torres Strait. They are focusing on heavy mentoring and community involvement. Parents are involved in developing the individual learning plans and coming together to discuss various challenges on a regular basis. With respect and commitment on both sides, I am sure that they will succeed in giving children the opportunities that they have not had before. There are already many remedial and support programs in literacy and numeracy available at the state and federal level, but their coverage is by no means comprehensive. Labor will provide $21.9 million over four years to expand intensive literacy and numeracy programs in our schools where Indigenous children are concentrated. Intensive literacy programs, such as Accelerated Literacy, Making Up Lost Time In Literacy and the Yachad Accelerated Learning Project, provide a heavily-structured approach to teaching literacy. Labor wants to see these very successful programs expanded.

It is remarkable that there is no equivalent major program in numeracy for struggling children. As part of our commitment, Labor will develop a new intensive numeracy program and implement it at a pilot stage to start with. Labor has announced a comprehensive package of initiatives—child and maternal health, parenting advice and support, early development for children, preschool programs, literacy and numeracy in the early years—to make sure that every Indigenous child being born today has the same chance to grow up healthy, happy and well-educated, just as we expect for all other Australian children.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous people know that we must do everything we can to make sure that Indigenous students stay at school and complete their schooling, as we hope for other Australian children. Year 12 completion is very low for Indigenous students. The first major drop in enrolments happens between years 9 and 10, from around 9,000 students to 8,000 students. Next, between years 10 and 11, enrolments drop further, down to around 5,800 students. Finally, between years 11 and 12 the figure gets down to around 3,700 students. So it is critical that we have intervention strategies directed at students in years 9  through to 12 to keep them engaged, interested and learning. That is one of the reasons why the Leader of the Opposition announced in his budget reply earlier this month a 10-year, $2½ billion trades training centres in schools plan—an initiative which will see new trades centres built in Australia’s 2,650 secondary schools. This major initiative will benefit tens of thousands of Indigenous students enrolled in years 9 to 12 each year. The trades training centres in schools plan is the key plank in Labor’s determination to lift year 12 retention rates from 75 per cent to 85 per cent by 2015 and to 90 per cent by 2020. In that time frame we have also committed to closing the retention gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

It is, of course, very difficult to see the purpose of education, to turn up to school, if you do not have any idea of the opportunities that education can open up. If we can engage Indigenous students in their learning, we will succeed in getting more of them to come to school and stay at school. But young people also need to see the adults around them working, to see that, with an education, wider economic opportunities open up.

I previously mentioned the work that GEMCO are doing on Groote Eylandt to improve their relationship with neighbouring Aboriginal communities. Just yesterday here in Canberra we had the minerals industry demonstrating their commitment to Indigenous employment. Argyle Diamonds in the Kimberley in Western Australia are deeply engaged with local Indigenous communities, both in providing employment and also, very importantly, making sure that literacy and numeracy are improved both while children are still at school and once people are employed in the mine. Both the Indigenous communities and the company recognise the importance of investment in education so that Indigenous people can take up the jobs at the mine. Children, young people and adults are all involved in improving their skills. I pay considerable regard to the significant number of mining companies which are now providing not just employment but literacy and numeracy support for very little children as well as young people at school.

Just to reiterate the success that Argyle have shown, 25 per cent of their employment is now taken up by Indigenous people, and they are heading towards a target of 40 per cent Indigenous employment at that mine by 2010. We have also seen leadership provided by the ANZ Bank, which have previously set out their goals for Indigenous employment in their reconciliation action plan announced earlier this year. ANZ have worked with Reconciliation Australia to set clear targets for increasing Indigenous employment, including recruiting three per cent of rural and regional staff from Indigenous communities and recruiting 300 Indigenous trainees by 2009.

There are many other companies that are working with Reconciliation Australia to set out their detailed plans and goals to make sure that we turn around the terrible level of Indigenous unemployment in this country. I strongly support the work that both Reconciliation Australia and these companies are doing to address this very important goal in Australia.

In our view, it is only through reciprocal partnership and respect that we will achieve the goal of overcoming Indigenous disadvantage, closing the gap in life expectancy averages, closing the literacy and numeracy gaps and closing the retention to year 12 gaps.

I support the bill that is before us. I call on the government to recognise the goals and targets that Labor has set and to join with us in making a bipartisan commitment to meet these goals. It will take time, and together we can make a huge difference to the lives of the Indigenous children who are being born today.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

Bruce Baird (Cook, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007 and commend the Minister for Education, Science and Training for bringing this bill forward. I also note, in terms of the shadow minister’s comments, that we are likely to see a bipartisan approach on this significant issue.

This is an extremely significant week, as 27 May marked 40 years since our nation voted ‘yes’ in favour of recognising Indigenous Australians as Australian citizens. Being one of the older members in the House, I can proudly say that I voted ‘yes’. Certainly, there was a sense of excitement as the community came together to recognise the important role that our Indigenous community plays. It is surprising and somewhat shocking to young people to think that 40 years ago this was not the case, but the overwhelming support of the people of Australia was indicative of the enormous goodwill that the general community wishes for the Indigenous community.

We have had some successes and many failures which are well documented. This bill goes to the heart of trying to address one of the significant areas of disadvantage for our Aboriginal community—that is, education. Without education, trying to survive, perform and excel in modern Australia is very difficult, as those school children who are present in the gallery today would know. That is why they concentrate on their education, and it is also important for young Indigenous people. Our track record has not been great but we are certainly working on it.

With the recognition by way of the vote 40 years ago came all of the rights of being an Australian citizen—the right to vote, the right to receive government benefits and financial assistance and, of course, the right of every Australian to receive quality health services and a quality education. The success of the ‘yes’ campaign was symbolic of this nation’s desire to move towards ensuring that Indigenous Australians are given an equal chance in life to benefit from the great opportunities this country has to offer.

I feel it is very appropriate to be speaking in the debate on this bill, considering the significance of the anniversary this week. The bill is about expanding programs which have been put in place to give Indigenous students across our country the best possible access to quality education. No matter where you travel across the world, education remains the key to improving living standards and decreasing poverty amongst communities.

I cannot stand here today and say that I am proud when I read statistics which show Indigenous life expectancy in this country remains at 1922 levels. Forty years after Australia voted ‘yes’ for Indigenous rights, the average Aboriginal person in this country can expect to live 17 years less than non-Indigenous Australians—a fact that we are all concerned about and that we would all, on both sides of the House, like to improve. We work together with the aim of improving that statistic.

Similar statistics show that Indigenous Australians fall behind the rest of the population when it comes to literacy and education standards. Whilst the gap in retention rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students from year 7 to year 12 has closed slightly, it is a very large gap, at 35.8 per cent, and that is also of concern. What hope for an education does any child in this country have if we cannot keep them in our school system? Needless to say, when it comes to Indigenous issues, as a nation we still have a very long way to go.

I agree with the education minister when she stated that education is probably the best way to remove disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in all key areas. In the late eighties I was shadow Aboriginal affairs minister in New South Wales. As you are confronted by all of the issues that exist within the Indigenous community, above all, you see education and employment as key issues. Of course, one leads to the other, and that is why this bill is important.

This bill will provide additional funding of $26.1 million over the 2007 and 2008 calendar years to provide more Indigenous students with the opportunities that come with a quality education. The budget now provides $84.5 million to improve employment, education and training opportunities for a further 1,600 Indigenous Australians living in rural and remote areas. These are practical measures which will allow more scholarships and program places for Indigenous youth, as well as provide maintenance for existing educational infrastructure and encourage more Indigenous people to take up a vocation within the educational sector. The increased funding in this bill is a further investment by the government to strengthen some of the successful programs already in place and ensure that these programs are opened up to as many students as possible.

I am extremely pleased to see that these amendments will allow for the expansion of the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program from a current level of 250 scholarships to 1,000 scholarships over the next four years. This program was established as part of the government’s Indigenous Australians opportunity and responsibility commitment with the aim of providing Indigenous youth with educational opportunities at high performing government and non-government schools. The program targets young Indigenous people, generally from remote rural areas, to develop and fulfil roles as Indigenous leaders within their communities. They receive mentoring and targeted orientation so that they too can become mentors and role models for young people. This is what we want to see—a transition into that mentoring role.

We all know that the reality is that secondary education and training opportunities are limited for those living in remote communities. This is a $36 million investment by the federal government to say to Indigenous youth: ‘These are the opportunities out there. If you want them, we can help you get there through this program.’ This is a reality for many young Australians wishing to further their education or complete vocational training. Very often they need to relocate from their home towns and their families in order have the best educational opportunities. This is the nature of our country, given the distance between some rural areas and the major centres that often provide these opportunities. For many young Indigenous Australians the situation is no different. The federal government’s Youth Mobility Program, which will be expanded under these amendments, assists young Indigenous Australians in relocating to major centres for employment or training purposes. The investment is significant and symbolises the success of this program since its introduction. Its $33.2 million will provide a further 860 places for this program over the next four years. I think we all support this project of getting the young people down to where the training exists and where the job opportunities exist. I am sure it would be very difficult for parents and families to send their sons and daughters away to these major centres, but I know that most Indigenous parents, the same as other parents, want their children to have the best chance of acquiring qualifications whether it is through study, apprenticeships, employment or post-secondary training.

There are many boarding schools out there that already have a significant cohort of Indigenous students. We must ensure that the existing infrastructure at these boarding schools is well maintained so as to prevent the loss of any boarding places. This bill will see funding of $14.1 million over a two-year period go into the urgent upgrades of accommodation facilities which many of our Indigenous youth rely on for study away from home. This program will target boarding schools that have demonstrated a dedication to accommodating Indigenous students, particularly those students who are at risk of not completing year 12. I understand that waiting lists exist at many of these schools. This funding will provide much-needed capital for the upkeep of existing infrastructure to ensure these schools continue to provide a quality and accessible education for young Indigenous Australians.

When a young Aboriginal person receives an education through one of these institutions the personal benefits are quite obvious through the increased opportunities in the workforce. However, the benefits of an education do not stop with the individuals themselves. These young people become leaders and role models within their home communities. A young Aboriginal person may return to their home town and contribute to their community through their enhanced knowledge, life or job skills. I see the member for Lingiari, who has a significant Aboriginal population in his electorate, in the House. I am sure that he has seen that situation occur many times. Those of us in city seats do not see the real-life examples day by day, but we want to encourage those who are working amongst the communities. Others may never return, but they have still created a pathway for younger members of their community. They are role models who demonstrate that education opens doors and enriches lives.

People who work in the education sector often have the greatest influence on our children when it comes to influencing future careers. This is why it is essential that we encourage as many Indigenous people as possible to become educators. This bill will see around 200 Community Development Employment Project positions converted to actual jobs within the educational sector. These real jobs have been created as part of a broader $97.2 million program announced by Minister Hockey, which will see participants gain the benefits of employment, including wages, leave, super and professional development. It is a win-win situation: 200 CDEP positions will become real jobs for Indigenous Australians—but, perhaps more importantly, it will encourage more Indigenous Australians to go into the education sector. It is important that Indigenous students have these role models as their teachers and educators. Education providers, including state and territory governments, will be expected to at least retain their current commitments to CDEP participants taking advantage of this package. The Australian government, along with state and territory governments, have made a commitment to the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education policy to support more Indigenous people to become employed within the education sector. This bill means that 200 Indigenous Australians will be able to do just that.

While acknowledging that we do have a long way to go as a nation to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians when it comes to education, we have certainly been making some progress. Over the past decade incremental progress has occurred across all sectors of Indigenous education. In its 2005 report Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage the Productivity Commission pointed to education as one area demonstrating clear improvements in recent years. In 2006 all education ministers agreed to endorse and implement Australian Directions in Indigenous Education 2005-08. The Australian government’s funding arrangements for this period will redirect funding towards initiatives that have a proven track record of success. It will also place greater weighting of funding towards Indigenous students at greatest disadvantage.

There have been a number of promising trends across the Indigenous education sector over recent years, and many of these improvements have been in remote areas targeted by the federal government programs I have spoken about today. Between 2001 and 2005, Indigenous primary and secondary school enrolments have increased the most in remote areas. Indigenous participation in the VTE has grown strongly in all locations between 1996 and 2005—and most of these improvements have again come in remote areas, I believe—by approximately 117 per cent. This government is working on closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in the national benchmarking of reading, writing and numeracy at years 3, 5 and 7. There is much further work to be done in that area.

In vocational and technical education a substantial increase in award completions has occurred at the IESIP target group of AQF certificate III or higher, with a 17 per cent increase in completions at certificate III level, and a five per cent increase at the diploma plus level. Indigenous higher education graduates also continue to have higher take-up rates into full-time employment. Over the 2005-08 period this government has directed $214.7 million towards tutorial assistance to help Indigenous students in all sectors improve their literacy and numeracy.

I certainly believe that this is a significant week. We have celebrated the signing 40 years ago of the vote in favour of recognising Indigenous Australians. It was a landmark period. Of course we have much to be proud of in terms of the fact that we have come a long way. But in terms of any benchmark, we still have a long way to go. This bill will do much in assisting further education in our Indigenous community, closing the gap in terms of retention at schools and literacy standards, and bringing young people in and providing better accommodation for them at boarding schools and other institutions.

We certainly support this. We want to continue supporting the work of those who are directly involved in this program. These are the people that we respect very much in our community. They have had in many ways a tragic history since white settlement, but we are moving to redress those issues. We are moving to change our assistance program. There is much to be done in health, much to be done in education and much to be done in terms of the life expectancy amongst the Aboriginal community, but this is a step in the process. I certainly commend the minister, and I commend the bill to the House.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cook for his contribution. This is a subject area in which there should be stronger bipartisan support. On this piece of legislation, the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007, we do have bipartisan support for the proposals which are inherent in it, although I have to say I do not think they go far enough and they are too late, in a sense. They are things which should have been done a long time ago. Sadly, and this bears observation, when the Howard government came to government in 1996 it axed a whole range of programs which were then operating in the area of Aboriginal education. What we are seeing today is in a sense a reinvention of some of those programs, particularly in the case of providing the opportunities for young people to go away to boarding school.

But I am not going to be churlish about this. I think it is very important that the initiatives which are in this legislation are given support. As we acknowledge, in terms of educational opportunity there are many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians who have missed out and are indeed missing out as we speak. It is that group that we need to pay particular attention to. I also want to commend the contribution of the member for Jagajaga and endorse her remarks. I particularly commend to the chamber the amendment which she moved and I have seconded. I hope the government can see merit in what those propositions say.

The objectives are, firstly, to eliminate within a generation the 17-year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, so that every Indigenous child has the same education and life opportunities as any other child; secondly, to at least halve the difference in the rate of Indigenous students years 3, 5 and 7 who fail to meet reading, writing and numeracy benchmarks within 10 years; thirdly, to at least halve the mortality rate of Indigenous children aged under five within a decade; and, fourthly, a long-term bipartisan national commitment to work with Indigenous Australians towards achieving these goals and overcoming generational disadvantage.

I submit that those proposals are eminently supportable. I would hope that the government, in this week of reconciliation, see it within their hearts to be able to come to the dispatch box one by one—sorry, there is only one other speaker from the government in this debate. I hope that the minister, in her concluding remarks, might say to this chamber that the government will support the opposition’s proposed amendments. That would be a first, I have to say, but nevertheless it would be a most welcome thing for her to do.

There is an opportunity here for the government to show that we in this place, as an example to the Australian community, as leaders in this country and as people who debate legislation across the chamber, should be saying to the Australian community that we have it in our hearts to work together on these issues—that we are prepared to put our hands across the table and say that we will support, in this case, the government’s proposals, which we are glad to support, or, in the case of the amendments which we have put today, for the government to say to us, ‘We’re happy to support them as well,’ so we pass not only the legislation which the government has proposed but pass it with the amendments included. That would be a first, but nevertheless we live in hope.

It is true that National Reconciliation Week is a time for us to renew our commitment to reconciliation and to think about how we can help turn around the continuing disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. I think this disadvantage is no clearer than with regard to the state of Indigenous education, a subject about which I have spoken on many different occasions in this chamber. I have mentioned previously—most recently in March this year—that, in my own electorate of Lingiari, in my estimation, between 3,000 and 5,000 young Territorians have no access to any sort of mainstream high school educational opportunities or vocational education and training opportunities. These are students who typically have completed their schooling in years 6 and 7.

Unfortunately, until 2001 in the Northern Territory, as a result of deliberate government policy—in this case by the conservative administration of the Country Liberal Party, who governed the Northern Territory from 1978 to 2001—not one high school was built in any Aboriginal community across the Northern Territory. So the capacity for young Aboriginal Territorians who live in remote communities to access mainstream education services was almost nonexistent. The only opportunity they had to do that was by going away to school, and a number of them did and still do. Since the election of the Labor government in the Northern Territory in 2001, there has been a concerted effort to establish secondary school facilities in Aboriginal communities. Four years ago, in 2003—102 years after Federation—for the first time, three Indigenous students got their year 12 certificates in a bush school in the Northern Territory. That of course is shameful. It is a blight on all of us that this should happen. We in this place have an opportunity to make changes to ensure that that sort of situation is remedied effectively and completely.

We know that there is a backlog. As a result of deliberate policy decisions taken by previous governments there is at least one generation of Aboriginal Territorians, possibly two, who have had no access to educational opportunities beyond primary school. What position does that put them in? We hear much from people—ill-informed and ignorant observers—who say that Aboriginal people are welfare dependent. It is true that welfare dependency is something which Aboriginal Australians by and large want to be rid of. But it is also true that, if you do not equip people with the basic foundation skills to be able to acquire a job or access training opportunities, they are going to end up beholden to the taxpayer for transfers from Treasury. That is what will happen. It is inevitable. It would happen if that situation existed in Sydney, Melbourne or Canberra. If you do not provide young Australians with educational opportunities, if we do not give them a chance to be literate and numerate, if we do not give them the opportunity to complete their high school education—to complete years 10, 11 and 12—then their capacity to enter the workforce in a meaningful way is all but nonexistent.

We in this place have an obligation to make things change. We have to do something special in these communities. I could be critical of many of the initiatives that have been introduced by this government over a period of years, but again it would be churlish of me. Any change which makes a difference to people’s lives, which provides them with an opportunity—regardless of how misguided that opportunity might be—is important. Giving kids an opportunity to get an education, as proposed in this legislation—as meagre as the proposals are—is absolutely important. We welcome the proposals in this legislation to increase the expansion of the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program this year by $2.6 million, to provide $14.1 million for infrastructure funding to enable boarding schools catering for significant cohorts of Indigenous students to repair and replace aged and deteriorating facilities, and to provide $5.3 million to convert Community Development Employment Project places into ongoing jobs in the education sector. But these measures go nowhere near far enough. If we do an audit of the facilities that exist in many remote communities in my own electorate, we will see that they are entirely deficient. If we look at the staffing in those schools, where they exist, we would say that we need to provide more, because that is how we will make a difference.

I note that the member for Jagajaga referred to the issue of a reciprocal partnership and to the issue of respect. If we have respect for one another, if we respect the right of all Australians to an educational opportunity—no matter who they are and wherever they might live—and if we say also that we believe there should be a reciprocal partnership, then that partnership implies proper reciprocity. When we are evaluating what the reciprocity might be, governments have an obligation to make sure that the people they are providing services for are able to be involved in that reciprocity on an equal basis, not in a position of weakness. The problem we have at the moment is that it is a one-way street. Governments have historically—and I go back to what I said about the CLP government in the Northern Territory—failed to provide the infrastructure or the services. Now we have it on our conscience to provide that infrastructure and those services. Then we can talk about reciprocity, because we can say to those people that the Australian community is, with them, going to develop opportunities for their children, in their communities or elsewhere, to make sure they have proper opportunities in life. Then we can talk about reciprocity, equality and respect. Unfortunately, I do not think we are there yet.

We have heard a lot in this place, from time to time, about educational standards. We have heard that many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students—and the member for Jagajaga highlighted this point—are not achieving the minimum literacy that they need to progress through school, let alone to thrive. This is a fact made patently obvious in the benchmarking figures put out annually in the National Report on Schooling in Australia. Benchmarking began in 1998 as a part of the National Literacy and Numeracy Plan. Whilst I am loath to overwhelm the House with endless statistics, I believe the following statistics are telling. These are figures for Indigenous students achieving benchmarks in the Northern Territory. In 2005, 40.1 per cent of Indigenous students in year 3 achieved the reading benchmark, 40.3 per cent achieved the writing benchmark and 68 per cent achieved the numeracy benchmark. As we go to years 5 and 7, we find the position deteriorating. In year 5, 40.7 per cent achieved the reading benchmark, slightly above that of year 3; 36.1 per cent achieved the writing benchmark, substantially less than that of year 3; and 35.1 per cent achieved the numeracy benchmark, significantly less—half the amount and half the percentage performance—than that of year 3. In year 7 we find the situation deteriorating even further: 36.8 per cent for the reading benchmark, 34.6 per cent for the writing benchmark and 24.9 per cent for the numeracy benchmark.

Clearly, there are concerns about this data. I would certainly question some of it. I think the figures do overstate in many respects the level of achievement. But on the face of these figures, we can see that the longer Indigenous kids stay at school, the worse their achievements become—when measured against those of non-Indigenous students.

Looking at the results for Indigenous children as a whole, it is clear that far fewer Indigenous children are achieving the benchmarks and that the difference is particularly marked in year 5. Out of every 10 Indigenous students in year 5, more than seven in Western Australia, six in South Australia and four in the Northern Territory achieve the literacy benchmark. Of course, the situation in remote communities is worse still. Data from the Northern Territory Department of Employment, Education and Training’s 2004-05 annual report shows that only two out of 10 children in remote Territory communities passed the years 3 or 5 literacy benchmarks. In 2005, on the Anangu-Pitjantjatjara lands in South Australia, three in 10 children achieved the literacy benchmark in year 3, more did so in year 5 and four in 10 did so in year 7.

We have to do a great deal more, and programs to do so do exist in schools. Many schools and many dedicated professional teachers are carrying out their tasks in a proper way—consulting with communities, talking to communities  and making sure that the service they provide is A1. But problematically a significant proportion of kids come to school with severe otitis media—70 or 80 per cent of school age kids in many of these bush communities have severe hearing loss—and undernourished. They come from homes which are overcrowded. They might come from a community such as Wadeye, for example, which has the highest rate of rheumatic heart disease in the world. You have to say to yourself: how can we get better outcomes?

I think the way has been marked, in part at least, by the initiatives which were announced by the Leader of the Australian Labor Party, Mr Rudd, on Sunday. The most significant of those initiatives go to the question of providing real opportunity to every child by addressing the fundamental issues of disadvantage concerning young Australian children—in particular, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Those proposals should be supported. I say to government members: find it within your hearts not to look across this chamber and say, ‘It’s come from the opposition and therefore we’re going to oppose it,’ but to look across this chamber and say what you should be saying: ‘This is a bloody good idea. It’s a really good idea. We can see how it would benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia and would also be of substantial benefit to this nation.’

If they were to go away and do that, we would find that bipartisan support is not just a rhetorical flourish. They would say, ‘With that we can achieve something meaningful in this place.’ I believe it is something we can meaningfully achieve if we are prepared to work together. As I have said in this place before—and I know the member for Banks has said it before and the member for Jagajaga, who is the shadow minister, has said it before—we are prepared to walk across the line and talk to the government about how together we can meaningfully make a significant change to the appalling conditions in which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people find themselves in this country. We must do it together, and this week, the week of reconciliation, provides us with a supreme opportunity to do that.

It is not about blackguarding one another. It is not about taking cheap political points. It is about saying that we as a nation have an obligation to the whole community and also a principal obligation to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians to make a meaningful difference to their lives and the way they currently experience government policy. We can do that by working together; we can make meaningful change. But we will not make meaningful change unless we accept as an absolute priority that we have got to give these young Australian kids, these Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids, real life opportunities. We will do that not only by passing the proposed act which has been put forward by the government but by supporting the amendment which has been put by the opposition. Then we will be showing to one another not only that we can come to this place and often argue in conflict but also that we can come to this place and demonstrate to the Australian community that we can walk out hand in hand together and say, ‘Together we have concluded an agreement to make life better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.’

Peter Slipper (Fisher, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No-one would want to deny the genuine sentiment expressed by the honourable member for Lingiari a moment ago in his speech on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007. I am someone who finds it unacceptable in 2007, after a couple of centuries of European settlement in Australia, that we have Indigenous outcomes that are not anywhere near as good as we would like them to be. I think it is important always to depoliticise the argument in the area of Indigenous affairs, because this government and, I suspect, earlier governments have done the best that they can to improve Indigenous outcomes. This government has focused on practical reconciliation—nuts and bolts matters which will improve things such as housing, water and education. History will record this government as achieving probably more than any other government in the area of Indigenous improvement.

A number of years ago, when I was chairman of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family and Community Affairs, I saw a reference from the then Minister for Health and Aged Care, Michael Wooldridge, into Indigenous health. I found it unacceptable that Indigenous men live for close to 20 years less than non-Indigenous men. I found it unacceptable that infant mortality in the Indigenous community was as high as it was. The committee worked in a bipartisan way and, after I ceased to be chairman, brought down a report. No doubt the government has picked up some of the points included in that report but, ultimately, in so many areas, including education, we still have Indigenous disadvantage.

I am a strong believer in the need for a level of accountability with respect to spending on Indigenous programs that is equal with what the community at large expects with respect to spending on non-Indigenous programs or programs affecting the general community. In the past, some of the stories we have heard about the lack of accountability have made it very difficult for governments to get the necessary community support to increase spending on Indigenous affairs to substantially improve Indigenous outcomes.

There has been criticism of the opposition in that, when they have been in office, they seem to have been focused, as far as Indigenous affairs are concerned, too much on process and not on outcomes. They seem to be more determined to ensure that there is Indigenous self-determination rather than looking at the bottom line of what a particular program is achieving. I would hope that, in the future, the Australian Labor Party will become more practical and realise that outcomes are important, and process certainly ought to be looked at, but that one ought not to become focused on process at the expense of positive outcomes concerning Indigenous Australians.

If you walk down the main street of any town in Australia, most people you talk to would agree that Indigenous Australians suffer a wide range of challenges in their everyday lives which other Australians do not face. We all face challenges, but Indigenous Australians seem to face more challenges than most. They range from social challenges through to education, health, employment and crime. These hardships are often unique to Indigenous Australians, and it is pretty clear that the problem cannot be solved solely by government or solely by Indigenous communities. It is important to focus on the need to improve the quality of life and future prospects of Indigenous Australians. That is one of the reasons why I greatly admire Noel Pearson, who has been prepared to break out of the mould. He has been prepared to state some difficult home truths for some Indigenous people and some difficult home truths for those who want to politicise this debate on Indigenous affairs.

All Australians deserve access to quality education. Providing access to quality education and encouraging learning amongst Indigenous Australians are important steps in ensuring the ongoing stability and strengthening of Indigenous opportunities. A quality education, no matter what one’s background happens to be, provides an opportunity for a person to succeed. History will record that there are many Australians who started with nothing, who worked hard, who studied and who have risen to great heights due to their determination and willingness to learn. Importantly, despite the perception that there has been inadequate progress in improving educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians, there have been very many incremental improvements over the past decade, and the current Australian government is determined that this should continue.

This bill will facilitate changes to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000, which will add further support to Indigenous Australians determined to make a success of their lives. These initiatives were announced in the budget and include an increase in funding for Indigenous educational programs of some $26.1 million in 2007-08. This government is able to improve spending on Indigenous programs to improve Indigenous outcomes because of our sound economic management since we were entrusted with the keys to office in 1996. We have repaid over $90 billion of Labor debt. Had we not done so, the government of the day would have to spend some $8.5 billion in interest on that federal government debt. If the government is paying $8.5 billion—$8.5 thousand million—in interest payments then it is clear that it does not have the financial wherewithal to improve spending on Indigenous programs and, indeed, on other desirable social outcomes. The initiatives contained in the budget are designed to offer support to Indigenous Australians to help them address the unacceptable issues that are adversely affecting them and preventing them from achieving the success they are capable of.

I believe that we should look outside the square in terms of the way education has been delivered to Indigenous Australians since Australia was discovered by the British. We should consider the Australian government’s responsibility to totally take over the matter of educating Indigenous youth. It is fairly clear that the states and territories of Australia have comprehensively failed. The Australian government provides a lot of the money. They provide the infrastructure, the schools, the teachers, the day-to-day education. Yet, when one looks at the level of educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians, we see they are so much lower than the outcomes for other Australians. Maybe it is time for the Australian government to take over responsibility for Indigenous education.

As I said in a speech recently in parliament, I would extend that to say that the Australian government should become responsible for education generally. We have a difficulty in Australia: we have six states, we have two territories and we have a number of educational systems. These days people are increasingly mobile, and students are often disadvantaged by moving from one state to another state because of different standards, different levels of progress and different curricula. So, while I would support in the first instance the taking over of responsibility for Indigenous education by the federal government, I would extend that to education more generally.

Returning specifically to the bill before the House, the initiatives include increased funding for programs that address the limited secondary and training opportunities in remote Indigenous communities, including an increase of $4 million, to $36 million, for the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. This will increase the number of scholarship places available from some 250 to 1,000 places. There is also an increase of $2.6 million, to $33.2 million, for the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program, which increases the scholarship places in this program from 640 to 1,500 over a period of four years. Mr Deputy Speaker, you would be interested to be advised that, as a result of these budget initiatives, more Indigenous people from remote and rural areas will have access to opportunities for education and training that will give them a better chance at a good job in the future. These are opportunities that are limited or not currently available to Indigenous people.

This bill also facilitates the allocation of funds for boarding schools to enable them to expand facilities that will help cater for the additional Indigenous students who will come to the schools to extend their education. It does stand to reason that increasing the scholarship places will not help if there are not enough dormitories, beds and facilities for these students to utilise while they are studying. In many cases they will have travelled many hundreds of kilometres away from their families and communities to try to better themselves. They need a place with comfortable surroundings in which to live, as all school boarders do, to ensure that they are able to reach their full potential. We have many good boarding schools in Australia. I think one of the significant changes in Australian education is that more and more boarding schools seem to be closing their boarding houses and becoming day schools. This bill aims to encourage boarding schools and make it possible for these boarding facilities to remain for Indigenous students. Over two years $14.1 million will be spent to help provide this additional infrastructure, while ensuring that those who currently have places are not left out. This type of practical support will have a significant impact on Indigenous students and their families—not only by giving them a place to stay while they improve their education but also by addressing the issue of waiting lists for Indigenous students wanting to access these places.

The bill will also assist in the conversion of a number of Indigenous development employment positions into positions in the education sector. Some $5.3 million will be allocated through this bill in 2007-08 to shift some 200 Community Development Employment Project positions into the education field. Some $15.1 million will be allocated to this issue over four years. It is vital that staff are employed in these developmental positions, and it makes sense that these staff will be used to support Indigenous students to encourage the best possible educational outcomes.

This bill before the House is another step forward. It does not offer a panacea. It will not fix the fact that Indigenous students do not have quite the same opportunities as other Australian students. It will not solve the problem overnight, but it is an important incremental step forward to improve outcomes and opportunities for Indigenous students. I am particularly pleased therefore to commend this bill to the House.

Daryl Melham (Banks, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2007 Budget Measures) Bill 2007. In doing so, I also rise to support the amendment moved by the member for Jagajaga and seconded by the member for Lingiari. That amendment is in the following terms:

... the House commits to the following goals:

(1)

to eliminate the 17 year gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation, so that every Indigenous child has the same educational and life opportunities as any other child;

(2)

to at least halve the difference in the rate of Indigenous students at years 3, 5 and 7 who fail to meet reading, writing and numeracy benchmarks within ten years;

(3)

to at least halve the mortality rate of Indigenous children aged under five within a decade; and

(4)

to a long-term, bipartisan national commitment to work with Indigenous Australians towards achieving these goals, and overcome generational disadvantage”.

I think it is appropriate for the House to accept this amendment in the week that we are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum. I think it is appropriate that the House act in a bipartisan way in relation to those aspirations and goals that have been outlined in the amendment. It then becomes for both sides an aspiration that we need to work to. In relation to the bill before the House at the moment, the explanatory memorandum says:

The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 to appropriate additional funding to facilitate the provision of improving opportunities for Indigenous students through the expansion of the Indigenous Youth Mobility Programme, the expansion of the Indigenous Youth Leadership Programme, the provision of infrastructure funding for boarding school facilities and where government and non-government providers agree, the conversion of Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) programme places into ongoing jobs in the education sector.

Looking at the financial impact, the bill will increase appropriations by a net $26.1 million over the 2007-2008 calendar years on additional initial 2005 prices. There is a breakdown of how that figure is achieved.

The second reading speech of the Hon. Julie Bishop, Minister for Education, Science and Training, said:

The proportion of young Indigenous people living in remote areas who reach year 12 is approximately half that of their metropolitan peers, and only one in 10 actually completes year 12. Approximately one in four 15- to 19-year-old Indigenous people lives in a remote area.

Up to 1,610 students will benefit from the expansion of two successful programs, the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program. The increase in the number of scholarships offered under the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program and the places available under the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program will allow more young Indigenous people to access high-quality education and training to make informed life choices.

They are noble objectives and that is why the bill should be supported, but we should not kid ourselves; we are only scratching the surface in this regard. In the public domain we have evidence that shows how poorly the Indigenous children in remote areas are treated. We have just had a complaint that was lodged on behalf of an Indigenous school in the Northern Territory and it is important to detail aspects of that complaint to the House today to show that we have a long way to go.

My solution is pretty simple. Forty years ago the people of Australia voted in overwhelming numbers—90.77 per cent—to give the Australian parliament responsibility over Indigenous Australians. In my view, that responsibility extends to protecting them from the inadequacies of state and territory governments. It does not involve abrogating our responsibilities to state and territory governments who have a particularly poor history when it comes to Aboriginal people, and the first 67 years of Federation showed that. Today we have mortality rates whereby 24 per cent of Aboriginal men live to the age of 65 and 35 per cent of Aboriginal women live to the age of 65, and we run around this country and say how well-off we are when our fellow citizens cannot get a decent education and their life expectancy is worse than Third World standards.

There is a national responsibility that has been imposed on this parliament and we should act and, in instances where state and territory governments are abrogating their responsibility, we should legislate over the top of them. We have the power to do that under the referendum; there is no doubt about that. I have discussed this with a number of legal friends of mine and it is my considered view that this parliament has that power and we should act.

In the Northern Territory we have the situation where Arnold Bloch Leibler have been engaged on behalf of the community of Wadeye to seek an official apology and compensation for what they say is prolonged underfunding of their children’s education. Wadeye is the largest Indigenous community in the Northern Territory. The claim is that the government has discriminated against the children and denied them access to federal education funds for almost three decades. The head of the firm’s public interest law practice says:

The community is seeking conciliation rather than litigation, but would proceed to the Federal Court if necessary.

The first concern is the vast underfunding of a collection of Northern Territory schools, including Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School at Wadeye, caused by an agreement struck between the Commonwealth and the Northern Territory government in 1979 that has not been updated since. Our Lady of the Sacred Heart School at Wadeye is the only school servicing Wadeye’s population of about 2½ thousand people. This agreement was recently exposed in a report called The opportunity costs of the status quo in the Thamarrurr region by J Taylor and O Stanley.

The National Indigenous Times reveals that, to his credit, the Prime Minister has written to the Territory government asking them to change the status of the school from a mission school. I understand that the funding formula will be looked at in the near future. But there is the question of the remedies for past conduct. Apparently the attendance rate at the school is now around 460. However, because of the Northern Territory government’s formula, the school is only being funded for around 220 students. I understand the Northern Territory government gets funding for the number of students but they only distribute in relation to attendance and the attendance is taken in the fourth week of the school year. For that reason the Northern Territory government is basically pocketing the money. Also in that study it has been discovered that for every dollar that is spent on the education of non-Indigenous students only 47c is being spent on Indigenous students. Table 26 on page 43 of the report sets that out in relation to the current situation in Wadeye. That is a disgrace.

There is also another element of the complaint to do with the underfunding of 12 profoundly disabled children at the school, each of whom receives little or no funding of the kind that others get in similar circumstances at mainstream schools. It seems to me that Indigenous children are getting less assistance than others. Where an argument could be made for a positive discrimination—and the racial discrimination convention allows for positive discrimination to bring people up to the level of equality that others enjoy—what we are getting is the reverse. We are basically getting a situation where if the complaint is properly made, schools are shown to be underfunded or operating on formulas that are questionable. This is where there needs to be some cooperation, both at a federal and at a state level, in relation to these situations.

In the National Indigenous Times of 3 May there was a narrative on the Wadeye situation. One thing that should be pointed out, and the paper did so, is that the average life expectancy of a Wadeye male is 47 years—30 years less than the national average for a white Australian male. I have to say that I do not take kindly to the current minister’s lecturing and hectoring attitude Indigenous affairs when you have a situation where, on a proper examination, it is clear that it is basically the Territory and federal governments which are at fault in relation to some of these situations where children have not attended school.

It is no good saying that everyone should learn English if you are not going to make adequate provision to house children. The newspaper points out that, in 2003, 420 students enrolled in Wadeye in the first week of the school year. In 2004, the number grew to 467. But in 2005 it exploded to 582—a 25 per cent increase—after a strong push by Wadeye residents to ensure that as many children as possible attended school. And last year the figure climbed to 628. This year, again, the school began with 600-odd students. So the Wadeye community was trying to do the right thing. They were part of a pilot program that the federal government announced under former ministers. But, as the paper points out, in 2007, whilst 600 students are enrolled at Wadeye, the school is built to house just over 300 people. So, on any given day, half the enrolled students do not have access to a classroom. If that is the situation, is it any wonder that kids do not show up in subsequent weeks? And that then impacts on the funding the school gets.

So, on any given day, half the school population does not have access to a classroom, and 60 per cent of them do not have access to a teacher. Whose fault is that? It is not the fault of the Indigenous community; it is the fault of the Commonwealth and Territory governments for not providing adequate resources and adequate teachers.

This is a situation that is allowed to continue. Everyone turns a blind eye. It only gets exposed when there is a bit of a kerfuffle and a report is done. The thing that worries me is that people get concerned about it for a little while, while it is in the news, and then the report gathers dust and nothing is done about it.

It is no wonder that the community has taken the drastic action of launching a class action to the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, alleging that for three decades the Northern Territory and federal governments have deliberately underfunded their education. So the claim certainly spans generations. I am told by my colleague the member for Lingiari that, under the former CLP government, prior to 2001, 56c in the dollar was being pocketed by the then Territory government in terms of Commonwealth funding.

It seems to me that the Commonwealth should be a bit more discerning in the way they fund state and territory governments when it comes to Indigenous people. I think the Prime Minister said that he is not really into setting targets. I can remember, from when I was on the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation—when from 1996 to 2000 I was the shadow minister for Aboriginal affairs—the former minister, Senator Herron, talking about benchmarking. We should be benchmarking state and territory governments in terms of the funding that they get, and we should be holding them accountable.

I am a fan, in areas such as this, of giving tied funding, conditional funding, to the states and territories. The justification and basis for that is our special responsibility under the Constitution, as a result of the 1967 referendum, to protect and nurture our Indigenous population. This is not just going to happen by mere rhetoric. It is not going to happen because we all feel good about it. No-one believes that we need to do that when we give special funding to the remote communities and the farming communities when there is drought or whatever, because it is regarded as assistance that is necessary to help those communities through their suffering. But, in relation to the Indigenous community, we, as a federal parliament, should not only increase our performance but should make no apologies for standing up to states and territories when it comes to education and a whole range of other matters for which we give them money to improve the lot of our Indigenous brothers and sisters.

This is not a situation where one side is guiltier than the other. Both sides are guilty, because it does not exercise our minds on a daily basis. For most of us in the cities it is out of sight and out of mind. But we would not cop this sort of situation, that of the funding of Wadeye, if it were in our schools—in Double Bay, Killara, Wollstonecraft or any of our electorates in the city. We would not cop a formula that says, ‘We’ll give you the money according to the number of students but you only have to distribute it on the basis of attendance in the fourth week of term.’ This is red hot. And when you have reports from professional people like Mr Taylor and Mr Stanley from the ANU that are now on the government’s desk, it behoves the government to act.

I do commend the Prime Minister for writing a letter to the Northern Territory minister and saying, ‘I want to see an end to this mission situation in relation to Wadeye.’ It was good that the Prime Minister visited Wadeye to see it for himself. But what we want to see are results, down the track, that show improvements. That is our obligation under the Constitution now, as a result of the referendum. We cannot palm it off onto the states or the territories. Aboriginal people are our responsibility. We should not continue to abandon them. We should start looking after them for a change.

David Hawker (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 2 pm the debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 97. The debate may be resumed at a later hour.