Alan Tudge (Aston, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill (No.2) 2013 makes administrative amendments to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. The IE(TA) Act enables targeted education funding to provide valuable additional support to Indigenous students. All children, but particularly disadvantaged Indigenous children, need access to a proper education. This bill ensures that the government can continue to deliver targeted education programs to Indigenous students through IE(TA) programs, including programs that have a clear focus on supporting the government's priority of increasing school attendance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

The bill addresses changes from the 2013-14 budget resulting in IE(TA) being administered as an annual appropriation rather than a special appropriation. This change to the funding mechanism better aligns IE(TA) programs and payments with other similar payments and provides greater transparency and accountability.

The amendment enables to Minister for Indigenous Affairs to enter into funding agreements with service providers from 1 January 2014 for targeted education programs delivered under the IE(TA) Act. The Australian government is committed to working with the states and territories to ensure that right around Australia Indigenous children go to school. This bill reconfirms our commitment to increasing school attendance and employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, families and communities through the delivery of targeted programs.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to speak on this most important bill, the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2013. I understand the member for Lingiari's concerns about Indigenous education. As he stated, he represents a very significant proportion of Indigenous Australians in Central Australia. I too represent a significant number of Indigenous Australians, in my electorate of Murray.

The thing that made me very concerned was that during the period of the Labor government student school-retention rates declined, right across the country. They declined in the Northern Territory, all across the eastern states, in both remote and rural areas, and in metropolitan areas. I find that absolutely appalling. It is not right that a developed nation like Australia—a country that boasts having doubled the education budget over the last 15 or so years—stood by and saw, particularly over the last six or seven years, a decline in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander retention rates in schools.

The statistics from my own electorate are sad, if not compelling. In 2010, some 6,000 Indigenous Australians were in Shepparton, in my electorate. In year 7, 58 Indigenous people were enrolled in Shepparton in the secondary school system but, by year 12, there was not one. There were no year 12 secondary school Indigenous students enrolled in Shepparton in 2010. You would expect primary students and children still to be there in grade 6, but in Shepparton we went from 50 enrolled in preschools to only 44 in grade 6, a decline. Some might have shifted away; that could be the case. But it is sad that in the secondary level 58 started in year 7 and none were still there in year 12. That was on Labor's watch, in 2010. So I do not think we can stand up and beat our chests and say that the previous government was amazing and 'What's going to happen from now on in?'

I remind this place and the public of Australia that this is the first time we have had a Prime Minister who has said that he will be the Prime Minister specifically—amongst his other duties—for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. This is a Prime Minister committed to making sure that in Australia we no longer have this extraordinary gap between the life experiences and expectations of our first Australians and those of other Australians. It is not acceptable, and it is not going to be tolerated by this government, which takes its responsibilities towards all of our children very seriously. We take particularly seriously our responsibilities towards disadvantaged children—among whom, unfortunately, are our Indigenous Australians.

The Prime Minister has declared that this government has three main planks in its Indigenous platform: the first and most relevant to this bill is that we will get the kids—meaning our Indigenous children—into school, and we will keep them in school; the second is that we will make sure that there is meaningful work for our Indigenous population—and, as the previous speaker noted, unless you have had a formal education in Australia and have learned functional English, it is virtually impossible to get employment in Australia; and the third plank is a commitment to creating safer communities for our Indigenous Australians.

We are going to make sure that it is not just a case of standing back and saying, 'Look at us; we have thrown more dollars at Indigenous education.' Dollars are not, unfortunately, the answer to the problems in Indigenous education, outcomes and school retention. Dollars are not the answer to the problems in non-Indigenous education and student numbers either. The introduction of Labor's Building the Education Revolution program, which spent billions of dollars on bricks and mortar, neglected the fact that the most important factors in educational outcomes for students are not bricks and mortar but teacher quality, parental support and the socioeconomic status of the children themselves.

As this bill makes quite clear, we now have to address school retention. We have to make sure that Indigenous students in particular, when they begin their years of formal education, hopefully at preschool level, are supported all the way through and that any issues they have with their health—their development, their hearing, their eyesight or their nutrition—are dealt with at the very earliest age; even, in fact, while their mother is still bearing them in the womb.

We need to make sure that children are not forced into schools—no-one can really force a child to stay in school—but rather that they choose to stay in school because the education offered there is relevant to them and because the teachers and teachers' assistants who educate them are skilled and offer meaningful engagement using the students' first language, whether it be a creole language or a traditional first language of our first Australians, if that is what the child presents with at school in the first instance.

I commend to all a report of an inquiry undertaken during the term of the last government by the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, where we looked at the languages spoken across Australia by our Indigenous Australians. We noted that one of the biggest problems associated with lack of school attendance and failing at school was the fact that young Indigenous students who were presenting at preschool level often came with English as a second or third language—or with no English at all—but were taught as if they had arrived with functional Standard Australian English. The teachers were not qualified or experienced in teaching English as a second language. Often there was no respect for or understanding of the fact that the children were arriving to learn with a language other than English. No doubt the parents of some children, in looking at their children's experience, had a terrible historical backward glance at when they were forbidden to speak their native languages. Some of the children who arrive in the pre-schools and remote Australian schools are not allowed to learn in their first languages; they are taught as if they have English. We know that that is detrimental to the educational outcomes of these young students.

So there is a lot we have to do, and our government will do it because we do not simply yell loudly about trying to change policies which do not work and we do not simply quote budgets and say, 'Look: a lot more dollars spent; it must be okay.' We actually look at outcomes. We are going to carefully measure the school retention rates and educational outcomes of our Indigenous students. How are they going in the NAPLAN scores? How are they comparing with non-Indigenous students in the same remote areas or suburban schools? Are they able to stand toe to toe on their outcomes in maths, literacy and all of the other key parameters which show that a student is succeeding in their school?

As I said at the beginning of my remarks, we have shocking evidence that school retention rates among our Indigenous students are falling. Sadly also, we have data which shows that on almost every front our Indigenous students perform at a level far below that at which our non-Indigenous students perform. IETA funding of programs is intended to achieve equality in the educational outcomes of Indigenous students. We are not being discriminatory. We acknowledge that there have to be special measures for Indigenous students. Such special measures do not trigger the Racial Discrimination Act, because they are forms of affirmative action designed to give support to our minority groups.

As I said, our Indigenous students are underperforming compared to non-Indigenous students. In 2010, the proportion of Indigenous 20- to 24-year-olds who had completed year 12 or equivalent was around half that of the proportion of non-Indigenous students in the 20- to 24-year-old age group. Participation rates in the NAPLAN, the National Assessment Program—Literacy and Numeracy tests, were much lower for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students than they were for non-Indigenous students in 2010. In remote areas participation rates were similar among Indigenous and non-Indigenous students. Of Indigenous people aged 15 years and older, 34.1 per cent reported year 9 or below as their highest level of schooling—in other words, they are probably still functionally illiterate and innumerate and therefore have no hope of getting a job. This 34.1 per cent compares to just 16 per cent of non-Indigenous people of the same age reporting year 9 as their highest level of schooling. About one third of Indigenous students achieved the minimum proficiency level in international tests for science, maths, reading and literacy in 2009 compared to two thirds of non-Indigenous students—so, among the Indigenous, there was half the number of students who achieved minimum proficiency compared with non-Indigenous students. These statistics are intolerable and unacceptable in a country such as Australia, which declares itself egalitarian, all-caring and all-knowing.

Of course, attendance rates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are well below those of other students in every jurisdiction and year level—and, unfortunately, no sustained improvement has been observed over the last 10 years.

So let's be absolutely serious about this. Let's not just take a partisan view and try to beat up on the government of the day and say, 'It's all the fault of the states, so why isn't the Commonwealth beating up on the states?' We have a significant problem in Australia where our teaching quality, our teaching resources and our parental support for our Indigenous students, both Torres Strait Islanders and Aboriginals, is not adequate. It is not anywhere near the standards which non-Indigenous students expect in schools.

I was saddened recently. I was at the graduation in Shepparton of my Ganbina student support group. This is a magnificent program, which began some 17 years ago. Mr Adrian Appo has been the chief executive officer right through the time of that program. He is now moving on to other things. I note in this place the excellent work of Mr Adrian Appo, himself an Aboriginal person, as he has mentored literally hundreds of young Indigenous people in my electorate. He has mentored them, given them a sense of what they might achieve and helped them with special leadership programs. I was saddened when I talked to him about the aspirations of the young people. As they went up on stage to receive their awards, they gave a brief talk. One said, 'I want to go to university.' A second said, 'I want to go to university too. I want to study engineering or teaching.' I said to Adrian, 'Isn't this wonderful?' He turned to me and said, 'Yes, but they won't get there at the moment with their results.' I asked, 'What do you mean?' He said, 'It used to be the case that at Mooroopna and Shepparton high schools, when we talked to the teachers, they said, "Your Indigenous students are underachieving because they're not going to school. Their retention rates are very poor. Their attendance is very poor."' He said, 'Now these students are going to school. They're not missing school. These Indigenous students are there every day, but their results are not significantly improving in many cases.'

We talked together and agreed that the problem is too often that teachers' aspirations or expectations of the students had not changed. Too many students were still not gaining sufficient support in the classroom or sufficient recognition of their deficits as they began each new year level in order to give them special support. So it is not just a case of getting the retention rates up; we also have to make sure that the teachers in the classrooms recognise where extra help might be needed, that they cast away their stereotypes about Indigenous students in the classroom and that, if a young person aspires to go to university and she or he is in year 10 or 11, they are actively supported to gain the results they need to succeed in tertiary education—first gaining entrance and then succeeding. I want to commend the Ganbina project for working so well. They have had some stunning outcomes with young Indigenous people from the Murray electorate going on to university, completing apprenticeships, going into small business and exceeding in some very high-tech areas. But, unfortunately, we still have too many in our schools who do not even make it to year 12.

This is a bill which, on the surface, looks like it is just process—it is noncontroversial; it is just administrative—but behind the pure process of this bill is a deeply serious matter: the business of equal opportunity for our Indigenous Australians, our First Australians. This bill is about making up for the earlier generations of neglect. This is a bill to make up for the stolen children who were removed from their parents, who were supposed to be educated in the broader Australian education system to a point where they could gain useful work, when in fact too often they were taken to institutions, like the Alice Springs institution or the Darwin institution, where their education was ignored. They received next to no education or training except in the most menial of tasks. We have a lot of catching up to do in this country. Our government is committed to that; our Prime Minister is committed to that. I commend this bill to the House and say: let's get away from party politics here—that is just cheap tricks. Let's look at realities. I commend this bill to the House.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I speak in support of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2013. Labor is supporting this bill, and I say that as the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs. Yesterday I attended the Australian Medical Association launch of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Report Card titled The healthy early years—getting the right start in life. If members take nothing else away from that report—and I encourage those opposite to read the report—it is this: Indigenous policy cannot be treated in isolation. Health outcomes are linked, inevitably and invariably, to justice outcomes, which are linked to educational outcomes, and so forth. That is why the previous federal Labor government committed itself to closing the gap targets. Each outcome impacts on every other.

The AMA's report made recommendations to improve health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in their early years, addressing justice issues and education. Targeted education is essential to improving the lives of Indigenous people. It improves their chances of employment, it improves their chances of avoiding incarceration, it improves their health and it improves their chances of living longer and better lives.

I am aware that this House has seen many passionate debates in recent days about the importance of quality education, but it is important to note that the Labor Party has always been a champion of universal, world-class education. We believe that every Australian student, no matter their circumstances, should have the opportunity to have the best education. That applies to all Australians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children included. That is why we have demonstrated a strong commitment in the last six years to improving the outcomes of Indigenous students and improving Indigenous learning outcomes.

Since 2008 we have seen unprecedented investment, with more than $5.5 billion through the Closing the Gap framework, resetting the terms of relations between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. It is important in terms of improving health, education, housing, essential services, welfare reform, recognition and advocacy, Indigenous languages and art. While I am addressing the last issue, I want to commend, in my own electorate, Annie Clarke for the opening of the Ipswich Indigenous Art and Culture Hub in Collingwood Park at the old Colliers house last Saturday. I was very pleased to see the first performance of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at that facility. The kids were from Riverview State School. They were nervous at first but showed tremendous commitment and enthusiasm. I thank them for the way in which they were prepared to be bold in front of a lot of people.

I welcome that particular hub to my electorate. My electorate of Blair has many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. We have schools in Ipswich North with 40 per cent Indigenous population. Riverview State School has about 25 per cent Indigenous population. Even the big high schools like Redbank Plains State High School and Bremer State High School have hundreds and hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders attending. I have seen the benefit of targeted education funding in terms of nutrition programs in schools like Bundamba State Secondary College, which I attended when I was a young fellow.

Under Labor's Better Schools Plan every one of the 170,000 Indigenous students in schools across the country would have received more funding, extra loading with a sliding scale. Increasing the proportion of Indigenous students in every school will result in increased funding. It is important that we get Indigenous students into preschool, into high school and into university. We have seen universities in my home state of Queensland, like USQ, not just achieving their Bradley target but also dramatically increasing the number of students at tertiary colleges doing education, law and arts.

Contrary to what the member for Murray has had to say in this place we have made progress. We will meet our first close the gap target of ensuring access to early childhood education for all Indigenous four-year-olds from remote communities. We will do it this year. Our historical level of investment under the National Partnership Agreement on Early Childhood Education means there are now more children than ever attending and participating in preschool and early education programs. In 2007, the Council of Australian Governments agreed to six targets for closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. These included two education targets. These were to halve the gap in reading and writing and numeracy achievements for Indigenous children within a decade, and to halve the gap for Indigenous students in year 12 attainment or equivalent rates by 2020. We formalised those close the gap targets in a National Indigenous Reform Agreement in 2008 and renewed that commitment in 2012. So no-one should come into this place and say that Labor in government failed in its commitment in funding and its effort of making sure that we close the gap.

Our commitment did not end there. In 2011, as part of the COAG reform agenda we endorsed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Action Plan 2010-14. We committed the Australian government to 55 actions aimed at accelerating improvements in the outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and young people.

Every child is different. Every student is different. Every teacher will tell you that. Every parent will tell you that. Every school has its own individual needs. We understand these things, because we spoke to teachers and parents in communities, to principals right across the country, and we continued to engage with them.

Indigenous students often face challenges in their learning environment different from those who might be from a non-Indigenous background or from a CALD background. They require assistance in a range of areas, not just in the Northern Territory and regional and remote areas but in capital cities as well. They require assistance in areas including culture, language, nutrition and health, just to name a few. Most Indigenous people actually live in the major cities of this country and in provincial cities, places like Newcastle, Toowoomba, Ipswich, Logan, as well as the Illawarra and other places. Most Indigenous people in this country live in states like Queensland and New South Wales. We should never forget the Northern Territory and make sure we can assist in any way we can, but it is important to remember that these programs need to be targeted across the length and breadth of this country as well. We understand that Indigenous students in a classroom in Arnhem Land have different needs to those Indigenous students in a classroom in Hymba Yumba, a school in Ipswich close to my electorate.

That is why this legislation before the chamber is really important. It amends the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000. The IE(TA) Act currently provides a range of targeted Indigenous education programs to assist the education outcomes and achievement of Indigenous students. The amendments before the House change the funding arrangements for these programs, collectively known as non-Abstudy payments, from a special appropriation to an annual appropriation, from 1 July 2014. The bill itself implements a decision made by the previous federal Labor government in the 2013-14 budget process to change the way that funding on this particular basis is administered, to secure important funding for the long-term future. It means that appropriations for non-Abstudy payments are to be included in annual appropriations acts so that the IE(TA) Act will no longer have to be amended for each new funding period as currently occurs. It is a sensible outcome and we support the current government doing that which we proposed before the election.

These amendments are important and significant in that Indigenous students will continue to benefit from the former federal Labor government's investment in targeted education and training programs beyond 2014 and well into the future. These programs include the School Nutrition Program, encouraging and supporting school attendance by providing meals to school children in Northern Territory communities. It is a program that involves parents and school communities. And it is working. Between 1 January 2013 and 30 June 2013, 2,972 breakfasts and 5,419 lunches were provided each day to children attending 67 schools. Of the 276 people directly employed by the program, 186 are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It is a very important piece of legislation. An evaluation in 2011 by KPMG found that there was consistent anecdotal evidence that the program had a positive impact on student engagement and behaviour, and noted that the program:

… represents a solid platform from which government and communities can build other health and education initiatives, as well as increase avenues for local employment for community members …

This funding supports Indigenous Youth Leadership programs, offering scholarships and leadership opportunities to young Indigenous Australians. The IETA legislation supports 200 additional teachers, and the Achieving Results Through Additional Education project, which encourages and supports school attendance through sporting and recreation activities. The role of sport in closing the gap cannot be underestimated.

These are successful and effective programs and initiatives of the former federal Labor government that have been lifting results. We have seen success under this legislation and funding and it cannot stand alone. If we are going to close the gap in educational outcomes, we need a range of complementary measures in place to support Indigenous students and improve learning outcomes. It is vital that we maintain consistent funding so that individuals, communities and educators can plan to ensure we close the gap that still exists between the educational results of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students and, to that extent, we have placed a big emphasis on loading in terms of the Gonski reforms and Better Schools Plan.

Contrary to what the member for Murray mentioned, we are seeing real and measurable progress towards halving the gap in reading, writing and numeracy achievement between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and our goal is to do that by 2018. Under our unprecedented investment in closing the gap, we have seen improvement in primary school student outcomes. The 2012 NAPLAN results showed that, from 2008 to 2012, reading improved for year 3 students, with 74.2 per cent of Indigenous students meeting the basic year 3 reading levels, up from 68.3 per cent when the Closing the Gap framework began in 2008. We are seeing more of our young Indigenous people completing year 12 and certificate II equivalency, with the percentage of Indigenous students attaining their qualifications improving to 53.9 per cent in 2011, from 47.7 per cent in 2006. But the challenge remains to lift those outcomes into the future.

The Australian Early Development Index for 2012 showed that Indigenous students are more than twice as likely to be developmentally vulnerable as non-Indigenous children. The latest COAG report showed a drop, sadly, in meeting basic levels of numeracy, down to 72.7 per cent from 78.6 per cent in 2008. So more work is to be done in the future there.

There are some improvements in students' school attendance. I note that the current government is funding the Cape York welfare outcome for $24.5 million. We funded that as well when we were in government, and we are supporting that and have done so in this parliament. We introduced the School Enrolment and Attendance Measure, known as SEAM, into remote communities, and evaluations have shown that we are seeing better outcomes there.

We can close the gap, but we need to maintain our commitment, and funding is a great demonstration of the need to close the gap. Sadly, and contrary to what the member from Murray said when she talked about carefully-measured outcomes, there is no reference in the current government's ministerial council to closing the gap in the terms of reference. I cannot understand why they established a ministerial advisory council led by Warren Mundine without any reference to closing the gap in the terms of reference. If they are fair dinkum about closing the gap and in terms of Indigenous educational outcomes, you would have thought that getting a good education and better educational outcomes would have resulted in better employment outcomes in the future. Sadly, we have not seen any real commitment on the other side of politics to inclusion in justice targets and disability targets. The member for Murray also talked about safer communities. Well, we would like to see funding for the Safe Communities building blocks with the national partnership agreement entered into by those opposite.

You cannot divorce Indigenous health from Indigenous education. I mentioned the AMA report. It was also mentioned by the member for Murray and of course health was also mentioned by the member for Lingiari. But I urge the government opposite to do what we were proposing to do and were working on—that is, the $777 million national partnership agreement with the states and territories for Indigenous health, because better health for Indigenous young people results in better educational outcomes. I would also like to see those opposite commit themselves to the 10-year Indigenous health plan that was announced and in fact launched by the member for Lingiari as Minister for Indigenous Health when we were in government.

If we are to close the gap in education, we need those types of measures undertaken by the current coalition government. I do urge them to commit themselves to Labor's Better Schools Plan funding. It is so crucial, as I referred to before. It is simply not good enough to write blank cheques from Canberra to the states without any conditionality in terms of that loading for Indigenous young people and Indigenous schools. It is not good enough for the Prime Minister to offer a hollow promise on Indigenous loading without any explanation about its delivery and making sure that Indigenous students receive the support they need and deserve. Our Indigenous students deserve better than simply a blank cheque from the current government and no commitment by the states and territories to roll it out.

We have seen in the Northern Territory, as the member for Lingiari mentioned, cuts to education funding. We have also seen that in my home state of Queensland under the current LNP government; it seems they cannot find a program they do not want to axe, or a public servant they do not want to get rid of. So that is what is happening in Queensland and the Northern Territory. I hope those in this government, who have raised the bar in terms of its rhetoric—certainly by the Prime Minister referring to himself as the 'Indigenous Prime Minister'—will match our commitment when in office and provide the kind of funding that is necessary.

I support this legislation. The Labor Party supports the legislation. It is a good step that the coalition has seen fit to introduce this legislation into the chamber. But we deserve guarantees from those opposite in terms of Indigenous funding. If we want good-quality educational outcomes for Indigenous people, to lead a pathway away from Indigenous disadvantage, the other side of politics, now in government, need to match their rhetoric with the reality of funding.

Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2013. As we consider the proposition, I want to quote Nelson Mandela. He said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Equally, education and the acquisition of skills in literacy and numeracy, and an understanding of the globe on which we live and our role within it, are important steps in the transition from a cycle of welfare dependency or from levels of disadvantage into the opportunities that are so well founded within our own economy.

What I like and strongly endorse in this bill is that funding is now guaranteed.

In my electorate I serve on two school boards. One, Yule Brook, has an emphasis on community engagement. It has a number of programs, but when there is uncertainty about the funding then they have to make decisions as to whether there is continuity in that program. When you do not have continuity there is a sense of whether we continue to provide that level of support, the fact being that there is no guaranteed funding that goes beyond the scope of the annualised allocation that is often a hallmark of these particular sets of programs. Each of the programs has been designed over a period of time.

The Abbott government is committed to improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians and is strongly supportive of the propositions that came out of the National Indigenous Advisory Council, chaired by Warren Mundine, which I had the privilege of attending in an ex officio capacity. The debate the members of the committee had was around the fact that if we want to bring change we have to focus on school attendance, literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. Part of the advice they gave the Prime Minister was on the strengthening of the commitment to educational outcomes. In those discussions there was also a plea and advice that COAG needed to enjoin states and territories to work towards addressing the disadvantage within education.

If we take the politics totally out of this and we rely on the COAG reform report, we see that there are areas in which we have not made significant gains—not to the extent that you would expect and would anticipate. In 2006 I was on a committee with Fiona Stanley in which we surveyed 4,000 Aboriginal children and their families in Western Australia. Four reports were produced, one being the report on education. The education report fundamentally said that all of the programs that were provided had beneficial derivatives with respect to the community and to the needs of Aboriginal children but the educational attainment was not delivered in a way that you would expect over three decades.

One message that came through very clearly was the lack of continuity in funding. The uncertainty in planning each year for the programs that were required to make a difference, including, improving attendance and engaging with the community, meant that developing and designing programs in concert with the community was a missing ingredient.

In proposing the amended changes to the act, the minister is giving schools, such as the ones in my electorate that have large Aboriginal enrolments— Sevenoaks College, Yule Brook College, Guildford Grammar, St Brigid's College, La Salle College and Thornlie Senior High School—the certainty they need to have the capacity to design a course of study and programs that intervene and are interventionist but at the same time build on the learning foundation that is required in the pathway to lifelong learning.

It is disappointing sometimes when we politicise the debate, because the education of any child in a society, and in this instance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, is the responsibility of all of us. It is the responsibility of every jurisdiction to ensure that we do not have gaps that leave people at a level of disadvantage that does not allow them to participate in the workforce and be part of the economic opportunities that will prevail for them.

The Abbott government is totally committed to ensuring that the gap in education that exists now is addressed and that the initiatives of all previous governments are built upon. But we also have to examine what the opportunities are for change and reform that will make a difference.

If we do not improve the literacy and numeracy we do not create the journey into the higher education pathways and we do not create the journey into the employment industry. When I talk with companies in Western Australia about employing young Indigenous males in the mining sector—the focus in these discussions was on males but there are key initiatives to encourage young Aboriginal women to become part of the mining and resource sector workforce—two things were always stated. One was the educational attainment level in terms of literacy. Literacy is absolutely important in the workplace in terms of occupational health and safety.

The second was around the health issues. I recall that from the early 1980s until 1985 some work was done showing the nexus between health and education. They are interrelated. There was a need to ensure that we addressed both equally. Without literacy your health does not improve. The WA child health survey showed that if a girl left school at year 10 she was likely to exhibit harmful behaviours when she was pregnant. Substance abuse would not cease. Some of the judgements around looking after a child in utero were problematic.

If they exited year 10 but went into year 11, they made some more discernable choices. So education is an influential factor that is absolutely critical to the early years of life. More importantly, those who exited year 12 showed that they did have the capacity to make informed choices. They ceased all harmful substances. They made sure they looked after themselves. In the process, when their children started to go to school, they engaged them in education.

But one of the frustrations that I have often seen in the education arena is the establishment of targeted programs that cease at the end of 12 months. That means that, in the context of a working environment, when you are planning you cannot give certainty to continuity. From the discussions that I have had with him, Minister Scullion's thinking is that it is about a commitment to continuity and to reliable funding that will enable schools to better plan educational opportunities. It is about making sure that the targeted funding makes a difference in the educational pathways and opportunities offered.

I would hope that all political differences will be set aside in the debates that we have on education and that, regarding Indigenous students in this nation, we enjoin and make sure that the continuity of programs becomes the underlying factor. This will enable educators and teachers who are totally committed and passionate and a driving force behind children in their classrooms achieve literacy and numeracy outcomes to be supported by knowing with a high degree of certainty that they have the required level of funding. When you have that certainty, you can plan for three, four or five years.

Having been on the staff of a school, I know that when you have certainty of funding, from both the state and the Commonwealth, you are able to project your thinking forward regarding the initiatives and the programs that you provide. Your ultimate goal as a teacher is always to give the children you teach a very rich tapestry of learning and experiences that build on the foundation of what they require to be successful not only in the year that you teach them but in the following years as they progress through each stage of schooling. This bill proposes to give that certainty.

Without education, you cannot make an impact on the distinguishing differences caused by the social determinants that impact on any individual child or family. When you are equipped with the power of education, then you can make choices and can understand the opportunities and avenues opened for you to access not only government services but employment opportunities in the long term that generate your own wealth such that you do not require intervention. I hope that by the end of this decade the work that all of us do in this parliament with respect to targeted educational programs will change those incredible gaps that have been and are reported so frequently. The benefits that will be derived from giving continuity and assurance to the education systems in both the government and non-government sectors will mean that the gaps will be tackled in a way that makes a difference.

All of us have had some incremental success. Over the last 20 years, change has happened. But it has not been sufficient. The COAG reform council's report indicates that. Attendance is critical. I acknowledge the thinking of Minister Scullion regarding the work that he intends to do on truancy and school attendance. Certainty will come through this amendment bill. Schools will know with certainty what resources will be available to them to use to engage individuals. In five years, that will enable COAG to produce a report that will show that there is substance to what we are agreeing to and endorsing.

That difference will be the beginning of a journey for many young people across this nation. It will enable them to stand as equals among their peers and be equal in the opportunities available to them. It will enable them to stand as equals in being capable on merit to gain opportunities in workplaces, in further studies and wherever their aspirations take them. On that basis, I commend the bill to the House. I support the intent of Minister Scullion and Minister Pyne in putting forward this amendment bill.

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Indigenous Education Targeted Assistance Act is an important act. I was pleased to have the opportunity to speak on it in May this year and I am pleased to speak on it again today. The amendment bill that we are talking about today enables the delivery of programs that complement mainstream schooling, programs that encourage and reward improvements in school attendance, behaviour, academic achievement and effort. The amendment bill that we are debating today gives effect to the decision of the previous Labor government to better secure this important education funding for the future. The bill reflects Labor's ongoing commitment to ensuring that Indigenous students are supported in their school setting so that they are best able to achieve their potential and to ensure that the significant gap that still exists between the education results of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is closed.

The amendment bill will ensure that Indigenous students will continue to benefit from Labor's investment in targeted education and training programs beyond 2014 and well into the future. This change to the funding mechanism better aligns the programs under the act with similar payments and provides greater transparency and accountability.

If we are to close the gap between the education results of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, we must have continued investment in programs that we know can lift results. That is why it is so important for the Abbott government to honour its commitment to Labor's education reforms and to commit to the Gonski model of school funding that guarantees extra funding and extra loading for every Indigenous student across this country, no matter what school they attend.

I have witnessed in my electorate of Canberra how such targeted complementary programs such as those that are funded under the act can have a significant impact. In my electorate of Canberra there is a wonderful school called Richardson Primary School. About 20 per cent of the students at Richardson are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander. This is the highest percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students at any school in the ACT. The community of Richardson Primary School proudly celebrates its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identity and culture, as does the whole of the Canberra electorate. Richardson Primary School embraces the inclusion of all Indigenous Australians in the school community and supports their hopes and aspirations.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour and the honourable member will have leave to continue her remarks at that time.