Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010. It is an important bill for a number of reasons. It will amend the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 and in so doing deliver real benefits to Indigenous students around Australia. By adjusting the 2010-12 financial appropriations to cover the cost of the Sporting Chance Program, the bill will make a significant contribution to closing the gap in education outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

By adjusting the 2010-12 financial appropriations to cover the cost of the Sporting Chance program, the bill will make a significant contribution to closing the gap in education outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. As the Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia, I am acutely aware of the challenges Indigenous students face, particularly in rural and remote communities. That is why the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Bill 2010 is so important. We know that education is the pathway to opportunity and secure, well-paid jobs. But only a bit more than 47 per cent of Indigenous young people in 2006 got to year 12 or equivalent.

In 2008 the employment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aged 15 to 64 stood at around 21 per cent. This bill amends the act to include ongoing funding through the Sporting Chance program, a program which uses sport as a hook to engage Indigenous students in learning and, through the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program, move from remote areas for post-secondary education and training. The funding provided under this bill will help ensure Indigenous students are supported to overcome barriers to education and deliver very real benefits to rural communities. It is absolutely essential that both sides of the parliament work together to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, to maximise educational opportunities and to ensure as many Indigenous students as possible complete their high school education. We need Indigenous people job ready, and education is a critical part of that process.

This is the first time that a government has recognised Indigenous disadvantage as a national problem which requires a targeted and measurable approach. This is a significant but necessary challenge. In November 2008 the government committed to reduce the gap in life expectancy and opportunities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. This will not be an easy task, but it is one that we as a government are determined to take on. One of the main reasons I stood for parliament was my belief that as a country we can overcome the very real social challenges in our Indigenous communities—and this is not restricted to education. Indigenous Australians have higher infant mortality rates and lower life expectancies, and higher levels of alcohol and substance abuse are prevalent amongst Indigenous communities. The Closing the Gap report 2010, released by the Prime Minister earlier this year, affirmed and underlined what we already knew: that the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy at birth is almost 20 years—it is in fact 17 years.

Indigenous children in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory are almost four times more likely to die before they reach the age of five than non-Indigenous children. This is an absolute disgrace. The Closing the Gap report provides a framework to move forward. It has redefined the way we as a government approach the issues we face as Australians. As a government we will achieve a halving of the gap in literacy and numeracy within a decade. We will halve the gap in year 12 attainment or its equivalent by 2020. We are working towards this goal and making progress that this bill will ensure continues. This bill will complement the government’s other initiatives to close the gap in Indigenous education. Examples of our goals are to halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy before 2018, and by 2020 to have reduced by half the Indigenous young people aged between 20 and 24 years who have not completed year 12. As it stands today, the gap between the proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students who complete secondary school is huge. In 2006 only 47.4 per cent of Indigenous young people got their year 12 equivalent. In 2008 the employment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aged 15 to 64 was 21 per cent.

Some of the most insightful programs to help young people both to stay at school and, by staying at school, become job ready, are the Clontarf programs. A program which I have become closely associated with in Western Australia is the Clontarf Girls Academy. I would like to read a couple of case studies, examples of young students who, in taking advantage of the sports based Clontarf program, have been not only to stay in school but, by staying in school, have been able to, firstly, perform better, but secondly, have a better opportunity at getting their lives on track. I will read the example here of someone who, in my case study, is anonymously ‘student A’. A year 11 student transferred to Clontarf from Kalgoorlie in the middle of the year.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A good program.

Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know the member for Canning is a strong supporter of the Clontarf program, and has been for many years. He is acknowledged for his support for Clontarf by all of the members of the Clontarf organisation. It is a great credit to them that they have an advocate as strong as the member for Canning, but it also speaks volumes for him that he is, and has been over the years, such a strong supporter of Clontarf.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Very nice of you, thank you.

Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Despite having strict parents, this young woman still did not attend school on a consistent basis from the time that she had enrolled in the college. It was not until the school and the academy had discovered her talent for singing that her attendance improved. She was asked to sing at a number of school functions but was told that she had to be there to practice with the school teachers’ aide. Student A came every day in anticipation of the event and soaked up every opportunity to learn from her new singing tutor. Student A successfully performed at two school functions and continues to be at school everyday in preparation for year 12 in 2010. This is what Student A said:

Singing in front of people is a really big fear of mine, but I think practicing with Judy and being a bit more proud of myself made me a bit more confident. Singing at the Girls Academy Awards and Mass was a huge step for me. I was nervous on both days, but I think getting back a positive response from the audience definitely boosted my confidence more. It was a great experience for me and I enjoyed myself.

To have young Indigenous women reflecting that they not only enjoyed the experience at school but got from it greater pride and personal confidence speaks volumes for the way in which these programs work. I will read from case study B:

As the Girls Academy began interviewing for the Development Officer position earlier in the year, one of the candidates expressed her concern for a young relative of hers located in Cairns, Queensland. The young woman, aged 17 was not expected to graduate high school because she had disengaged the year before and become involved in drugs and alcohol. She loved to play basketball and it was widely known she was quite a talented young player.

She had a significant presence about her, but was not confident that she could make it to graduation for a wide range of reasons. With the help of Ricky, the Academy was able to negotiate the terms of her transfer from her previous high school and basketball club and got her started at the school in a the core curriculum available at the school.

Staff were not sure how city life would fit in with her, but she seemed to have a relatively stable home life to help her cope. It was first thought that this student did not have the capacity to communicate verbally as well as any other student. It was also thought that this student could not understand directions or written English beyond the age of 11 according to her carer.

As she progressed through her classes, the Academy continued to push her limits. She started to demonstrate a vast array of abilities in the classroom and in the sporting arena. While her punctuality and occasionally, attendance, was an issue, she continued to excel and soon became one of the most competent students in the school.

The young woman eventually graduated and has requested help from Academy staff to help her jump to the next chapter in her life. Here is an example of her writing as seen in her Academy journal in response to a guest speaker:

I thought the guest speaker spoke about a lot of important things in regards to our Indigenous mentality. She also addressed a few issues that we have here at school, such as the listening part. She was very inspirational and I really enjoyed her life stories, especially about the missions and the dreamtime.

I could go on with outstanding case studies that demonstrate the importance of the Clontarf Academy. I could go on with case studies that point to the importance of the work that Ricky Grace and Role Models does, but I do not need to do that. Suffice to say that these institutions are wonderful. They do a great job and it is appropriate that the government, through this initiative, supports these programs. It provides the right enduring mechanism to help get young Indigenous people job ready so that they can take up job opportunities such as those made available through Generation One through a whole range of companies, today. I commend this bill to the House.

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Education, Apprenticeships and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010. The bill amends the funding tables in the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 to include the additional $10.93 million allocated to the Sporting Chance program announced in the 2009-10 budget. There is no additional appropriation in this bill; it simply transfers $10.93 million from Appropriations Act (No. 1) to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 from 1 January 2010.

The Sporting Chance program is an initiative of the previous, coalition government, originally announced in the 2006-07 budget. The initial commitment was for $19.6 million over four years to 30 June 2010 to establish 20 sporting academies. This initiative was inspired by the Clontarf Foundation Football Academy, Western Australia, which was established in January 2000, and which my colleague the member for Canning has had so much to do with and has been so supportive of. In passing, I might say that the member for Canning has been praised not only by the opposition side of the House, as one might expect, but also by the parliamentary secretary, for his work with the Clontarf Foundation Football Academy and the great support he has given them.

I note that in December 2008, as part of the Rudd government’s Closing the Gap strategy to address Indigenous disadvantage, the government provided a further $10 million over four years to expand the former coalition government’s program. This continued support is a testimony to the success of the program. It is one initiative actually achieving its desired outcomes in engaging Indigenous boys and girls in school through involvement with sport.

The Sporting Chance program is delivering positive results for Indigenous students, particularly from remote and rural areas of Australia. I am pleased to note that the results collected in 2009 indicate attendance rates are starting to climb and are, on average, better than attendance rates for Indigenous students not involved in the program. What is equally pleasing to note is that more than half of the academy students were reported by the schools to be improving their academic performance and many were also reported to have made significant gains with respect to behaviour and self-esteem.

Without education, trying to excel in life on the whole, and obtain employment in Australia, is very difficult. It is a given that we must provide every Australian the best educational opportunities we can, but it is particularly important for young Indigenous people. No matter where you look around the globe, education remains the fundamental means to improving living standards and decreasing poverty. I cannot stand here today and say that I am proud when I read statistics which show Indigenous life expectancy in this country remains lower than average life expectancy in Australia. It is an issue we all remain concerned about and I know that those on both sides of the House would like to improve it.

While acknowledging that we have a long way to go to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, we certainly did make progress under the coalition government. Under the 11 years of the previous government, incremental progress occurred across all sectors of Indigenous education as a result of targeted federal government programs such as the one we are speaking about today in the House.

We know that Indigenous participation in the vocational and educational training area improved in all locations between 1996 and 2005, with much of this improvement occurring in remote areas. Indigenous higher education graduates also continued to have higher take-up rates into full-time employment. A notable contribution toward this improvement was the former coalition government’s funding towards tutorial assistance to help Indigenous students improve their literacy and numeracy.

But we still have a long way to go in improving literacy and numeracy. Trends show that Indigenous Australians fall behind the rest of the population when it comes to literacy and numeracy performance. Results from last year’s NAPLAN tests are mixed. Literacy and numeracy improvements for years 3, 5 and 7 have been countered by a decline for year 9. As the Centre for Independent Studies concluded this year in a major policy paper on Indigenous education, there is negligible improvement in student performance.

So, for a moment, let us talk about other markers of improvement. Recent reports tell us that Indigenous school retention rates from the start of high school to year 12 have risen from 30.7 per cent in 1995 to 46.5 per cent in 2008. Even with these signs of some improvement, what hope for an education does any child in this country have if we cannot even keep them in our school system? Needless to say, when it comes to Indigenous attendance in schools, there is still much to be done. We all know that the reality is that secondary education and training opportunities are limited for those living in remote communities. These young people need the extra support to become leaders, mentors and role models within their home communities.

A young Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person should and can be encouraged to undertake study or training opportunities and then return to their home town and contribute to their community through their improved knowledge, life or skill sets. I know that the member for Canning, who will make a contribution to this debate tonight, has a significant Aboriginal population and a significant interest in his electorate because of the basing of the Clontarf Foundation in Canning. I am sure he will have some success stories to share with the House and I am sure that he has seen such situations occur many times.

It is true that some of us in city seats do not see the real life examples day by day, but we do want to encourage those who are working amongst the communities. Some young people may never return to their home towns but still will create a sense of hope and opportunity for younger members of their community. This is what we need: role models who will demonstrate that education opens doors and enriches lives. There is a real need to expand on the opportunities so that Indigenous students can have these role models as their teachers and educators.

The government has made promises to Indigenous Australians through Closing the Gap, but it has failed to deliver on any real reform. But we certainly will not be opposing this bill. We want to continue supporting the work of those who are directly involved in this program. We need to give Indigenous students across our country the best possible access to quality education. I commend this bill to the House.

Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to speak in support of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010. It is a bill that will make valuable and important amendments to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act, effectively providing scope for the improvement of education outcomes of Indigenous Australians. The bill will maintain commitments to initiatives introduced by the former government, including the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and the Sporting Chance Program. The bill will increase appropriations for non-Abstudy payments by $10.3 million between 1 January 2010 and 30 June 2013. This funding is as a result of a 2009-10 budget measure, which provided an additional $10 million worth of funding over four years for the Sporting Chance Program. The government’s arrangements will see more funding flow to Indigenous students. The current forward estimates of Commonwealth funding for Indigenous education over 2009-12 total approximately $2.3 billion, some $200 million more than the estimated $2.1 billion announced by the former government prior to the commencement of the 2005-08 quadrennium.

The appropriations outlined in this bill will enable the Commonwealth to continue to exercise public leadership and maintain its dedicated support for localised initiatives which improve Indigenous education outcomes. This role includes collaboratively setting policy directions and priorities in Indigenous education, as well as engagement with stakeholders and investment in research and evidence in conjunction with states, territories and non-government education providers to support future reforms and systemic improvements in the education and training sectors for Indigenous Australians. The act has appropriated funding for two quadrenniums for the purpose of improving education outcomes for Indigenous Australians. The bill will transfer funding for the 2009-10 budget measure Closing the Gap Sporting Chance Program from the annual administered expense of the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. This is necessary because funding under the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act did not include the additional appropriation of these funds for this program. This will allow all funding for the program to be combined under the one act.

The new arrangements for supplement recurrent funding will provide states and other education providers with greater flexibility in how they use Commonwealth funding to address the needs of their Indigenous students. However, the bill will allow the Commonwealth to continue its national leadership role in Indigenous education through the retention of targeted initiatives as Commonwealth own purpose expenses. It should also be noted that funding for some initiatives appropriated under this bill is not evenly spread across the quadrennium. This may create the illusion that funding under the bill decreases in 2011 and 2012, but the reality is that both the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and Indigenous Youth Leadership Program finish their expansion phases and will see increasing numbers of participants completing from the end of 2010.

This bill is important for Indigenous Australians. It is an important step that will assist in closing the gap in education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. The provision of this funding will allow improvements in Indigenous education outcomes. The Indigenous students of our country are at a severe disadvantage because of significant gaps between the Indigenous and non-Indigenous levels of literacy and numeracy skills, year 12 or equivalent attainment and employment outcomes. The funding in this bill aims at reducing these gaps through the programs that it will support.

There is certainly no denying the fact that there is a significant gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students in education. Despite the fact that the majority of Indigenous students meet the minimum standards of reading, writing and numeracy, the success rate of them meeting this standard is far lower than the number of their non-Indigenous classmates that do so. The government is committed to ensuring that students from all backgrounds and all locations have a chance to access good education. The government is working with both government and non-government training providers to achieve numerous very important goals that will provide greater opportunities for Indigenous students. One of these goals is the halving of the gaps in literacy and numeracy achievement. The target is to halve each of the gaps in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 reading, writing and numeracy achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students by 2018. Other goals include halving the gaps in year 12 or equivalent attainment and also halving the gaps in employment outcome for Indigenous Australians.

The government and non-government training providers also aim to see every Indigenous four-year-old in remote communities have the opportunity to access an early learning program. This aim in particular is of critical importance to achieving the goals of halving the gaps, because, as with any endeavour, it is important that people get the best start and the best opportunities from the outset. By starting Indigenous people in remote communities on the path of learning at a young age we can provide them with the same chances of success that most young people receive, and encourage them to continue learning as they grow and develop. It will, in effect, significantly contribute to the achievement of the goals of halving the gaps.

The government has committed to establishing national collaborative arrangements that will assist us to collectively work towards these targets. However, the Commonwealth must maintain an ability to provide national leadership and perspectives to close the gaps. An important component of the plan to close the gaps is the Sporting Chance Program, which uses sport to engage Indigenous students and show the value of education, and $10 million dollars was committed to the program in the 2009-10 budget, with $5 million dollars directed towards establishing 10 new sports based academies, with a specific focus on improving the participation and engagement of girls, and $5 million going to the Former Origin Greats which will be used to establish academies that will focus on rugby league in Queensland and New South Wales.

Past evidence has shown that this program has been successful at achieving improvements and working effectively towards closing the gap. Under the Sporting Chance Program, improvements in attendance and considerable success in retaining students to the end of year 12 at the schools in which they have been operating have been achieved. Average attendance rates are climbing and the attendance rates of Indigenous students involved with the program are better on average than those of Indigenous students not involved with the program. This is quite significant and demonstrates the effectiveness of this program.

These facts also demonstrate why the program should continue and why the appropriation of funds for it is so important. The success that the Sporting Chance Program has achieved is substantial and it would be irrational to allow it to end. This bill will ensure it continues, helping to achieve the government’s goal of delivering better education outcomes for Indigenous students and closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous education outcomes. This bill amends the table in subsection 14B(1) of the act to include additional funding for the Sporting Chance Program. This will bring it into line with the Commonwealth’s suite of targeted assistance measures and adjust the 2010-12 appropriations agreed as part of the new federal financial relations framework.

By extending the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 we provide appropriations to continue our election commitments such as providing funding for additional teachers in the Northern Territory, and, in a bipartisan way, continue good programs introduced by the opposition such as the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and the Sporting Chance Program. This funding will also allow us to continue to work with Indigenous communities, philanthropic organisations, corporate leaders and national organisations to build the partnerships that are so critical to improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians. By amending the appropriations under the act the Australian government can continue working with a range of stakeholders to develop and implement innovative measures to close the gaps in reading, writing and numeracy achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students by 2018.

There is no denying the irrefutable fact that Indigenous students are at a severe disadvantage in comparison with their non-Indigenous peers. The statistics demonstrate this unmistakable fact. The government is committed to the goals of halving each of the 2008 gaps in years 3, 5, 7 and 9 reading, writing and numeracy achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students by 2018. The funding appropriated under this bill will go a long way towards helping achieve this goal, which is why this bill is of such importance. The government needs to ensure that Indigenous students are not forgotten. It is our duty and the government’s goal to work towards closing the gap that has for a long time created a huge difference between education outcomes and employment opportunities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. This bill is a step towards achieving a closing of the gap and creating a higher level of equality, which is why I commend the bill to the House.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to rise to speak this evening on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010 for the main purpose of supporting, and bringing to the House’s attention, the tireless efforts of the Clontarf Football Academy, its programs and some of the magnificent outcomes that it achieves. As we have heard, this bill is procedural in nature, bipartisan and to include the additional $10.93 million allocated to the Sporting Chance Program in the 2009-10 budget. The Sporting Chance Program is an initiative of the previous coalition government that was originally announced in the 2006-07 budget. This program is one of the few initiatives actually achieving its desired outcomes of engaging both Indigenous boys and girls in school through involvement with sport. The principle is very simple. Through sport we encourage young children to stay at or to go back to school, in turn improving their employment prospects for the future and their all-round wellbeing for having done so. We have seen the value in using incentives to keep kids in schools, using sporting activities and high-profile sporting identities as a vehicle to increase the level of engagement of Indigenous students to improve their educational outcomes. Unlike the Labor government’s inaction on its closing the gap strategy, the Sporting Chance Program delivers real results and I am pleased to say it is one of the few programs that have continued relatively untouched.

In last night’s big taxing, big spending budget, the money allocated to the Sporting Chance Program through to 2012 was confirmed. In addition to the $22 million committed to the program in December 2008, the Prime Minister’s additional commitment of $10 million to Clontarf directly over four years, to expand the football academy, is the money we here are speaking about transferring today, which has essentially already been expended by Clontarf and they need more. At this stage I say that I was very grateful for the kind words spoken by the member for Brand, Gary Gray, in relation to my association with the Clontarf Football Academy and this program generally. I say, on behalf of the member for Brand, that he also needs to be recognised as a new champion in this government, given his tireless work for and on behalf of this program, of the Aboriginal football program at Clontarf. Obviously, we in opposition do not have the same ability to necessarily get the message through to the government of the day. The member for Brand has taken that up and, as a champion of this program in Western Australia, he has seen that those involved have had access to the highest levels of government, which include the Prime Minister. I know that we are not meant to hold up things in the House, but as this is about the Prime Minister, Madam Deputy Speaker Burke, I am sure you will not mind! What I am holding up is about the Prime Minister attending Clontarf in Perth last year, announcing the $10 million program over the four-year period, which was very much welcomed. That had a lot to do with the member for Brand making sure, as I suspect, that every member of the cabinet up to the level of Prime Minister appreciated what was going on at Clontarf. That was well done. It is good to see we are all working to the same ends.

In the short period of time that I have left I will talk about Clontarf, but hopefully I will continue on this at a later date. As I said, the Clontarf Football Academy uses sport as a means of ensuring young Indigenous boys get an education. When it was first rolled out, people said, ‘But why is it only for boys? How come there’s not much for girls in this program?’ Gerard Neesham’s view of that, and it might sound a bit unusual to some, is that where the boys are the girls will be. That is true of this program. They provide the sporting program for the boys to play football, because that is the great hook to get them to school, and we know how good Indigenous boys in this country are at Australian Rules football. It seems to come to them so easily. Sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I remind everybody that phones are not to ring in the chamber.

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The fact is that while providing the program for the boys in this instance they also provide programs for the girls at the same academy on the Clontarf campus. Sorry, Madam Deputy Speaker.

Ms Anna Burke (Chisholm, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Take it out or you might be following it!

Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Roads and Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes. I have only a couple of seconds to go. I need to compose myself. It has been said that a lot of these boys do not actually proceed to a high level in football. I can tell you that many of the boys that have been in this program have been drafted at the AFL level. This template that Gerard Neesham uses could be transferred to other sports, and I am sure it has been to rugby. It is a very good template which could also be transferred to the sports that girls are involved in. As a result, it needs a huge amount of funding.

In the time left I would like to give you a bit of history about this. Gerard Neesham went to Graylands Teachers College with me many years ago. He reached a high level in football. He played for the Sydney Swans and, as we know, he was the inaugural coach of the Fremantle Dockers. Once he had finished coaching the Dockers, he had been looking for another direction in life and he went to teach Indigenous kids at Clontarf. At that stage they did not have a football program so he decided that it would be an opportune time to introduce role models in a program, because obviously he himself was a very good role model having been an achiever at such a high level in sport. As he says to me, ‘Don, when you go all throughout the deserts of outback Australia you see that one thing that combines the Indigenous people is their love of Australian Rules football. They can all tell you who played in the grand final for Carlton several years or who won the Brownlow Medal and in what year. They wear their colours and their football beanies.’ He saw that as a unifying opportunity in education to get the kids to school. When I return to this speech, hopefully some time later, I will be able to tell members about the retention rates, how the program is spread out, how it is funded, why it is such a necessary program into the future and why all forms of government, both federal and state, and businesses need to continue their support.