Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week I was honoured to visit the Stars program at Heatley Secondary College with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition and shadow minister for education, Tanya Plibersek, where Labor announced a $19.5 million boost to intensive in-school mentoring designed to lift school attendance, year 12 completions and employment rates. Labor's investment will create almost 8,000 new places in the Stars Foundation's successful program to tackle educational disadvantage faced by First Nations young women. This will triple the number of girls supported each year.

The Stars Foundation offers full-time in school mentoring and engagement programs for young women to help them realise their full potential in all aspects of their lives. Existing Stars programs have raised the year 12 completion rates for stars students to 96 per cent. In 2017 stars closed the school attendance gap by 39 per cent in the Northern Territory programs, and more than 90 per cent of the 2016-17 graduates remained in employment or further study a year later. The $9.5 million commitment will allow the Stars Foundation to build on its successful programs in the Northern Territory and Queensland to expand in schools across the country.

Empowering First Nations women through education delivers improved economic, health and social outcomes for young women themselves, and their families and communities. Labor's investment in stars will change these young women's lives and build upon a terrific start— (Time expired)