Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

You cannot tell me that, because you are not doing that. That is the answer. You are not actually comparing this approach to a positive, incentives based approach, which a lot of Australian and overseas evidence shows actually increases school attendance more effectively. I still have a lot of questions but I think I have taken up a great deal of the Senate’s time asking these questions. I note that there are still many unanswered questions around how this trial is going to operate and how it is going to be evaluated. You cannot possibly consider these trials adequate if you are not trialling them against something else, particularly something which we know, from overseas evidence, works better.

Greens amendment (1) seeks to actually do what the government says it is doing. The government said that this is a trial in eight communities—we are being asked to pass the legislation before we know the eighth community—and that it is a trial for 12 months. What this amendment seeks to do is ensure that that is in fact the case, because the legislation at the moment is not based around a trial. It is legislation that can be rolled out across Australia to any community. It could be coming to you anytime. So Greens amendment (1) seeks to actually do what the government says it is doing, which is making this a trial for 12 months.