Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I think a response to that will require the minister to give the numbers that he alluded to earlier that are in the government’s knowledge—the number of children who are not attending schools who should be there and how many places will need to be created in schools in the Northern Territory to facilitate full attendance by the full population of school aged children in the Territory, both at primary and secondary level, right through to the end of secondary education age. I ask the minister if he can provide those and, if he cannot now, to get those figures overnight. Also, I ask if he can give an indication of the size of the program needed to provide those schools, what the cost will be and what the time line is for the government to meet the responsibility it is taking on here to ensure that every child has a place in a properly equipped classroom with numbers commensurate with those in other states and jurisdictions so that their education cannot be anything short of the education being given to children elsewhere in the country. This is now the Commonwealth responsibility. Senator Allison has talked about the long knowledge the government has had of the failure to provide proper education facilities for Indigenous people in the Northern Territory. The government has now taken that aboard. We have to say this is a good thing that this provision is being made. But let us have the numbers, the cost and the time line.

Finally, on a matter that was canvassed a little earlier about the unsatisfactory school attendance situation and a formal warning being given to people which will lead to financial penalty: will that be given in their first language?