Scott Ludlam (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I am getting requests that I do not do so but I am going to. I move amendment (7) on sheet 7229 without delay and commend this wonderful amendment to the chamber:

(7)   Schedule 2, item 8, page 15 (after line 5), after paragraph (aa), insert:

(ab)   a person who is a member of the school's Council, Board or other governing body;

Question negatived.

by leave—I move amendments (8) to (10) and (22) on sheet 7229:

(8)   Schedule 2, item 11, page 15 (line 18), before "This Division", insert "(1)".

(9)   Schedule 2, item 11, page 15 (line 24), at the end of paragraph 124NA(b), add "having regard to guidelines made under subsection (2)".

(10)   Schedule 2, item 11, page 15 (after line 24), at the end of section 124NA, add:

(2)   The Secretary must, by legislative instrument, determine guidelines for the purposes of subsection (1).

(3)   The guidelines:

  (a)   may make different provision in relation to schools in different areas; and

  (b)   must provide for relevant cultural practices and obligations to be taken into account for the purposes of subsection

(22)   Schedule 2, item 18, page 23 (line 14), omit "124NA(b)", substitute "124NA(1)(b)".

As with the first batch of amendments, Senator Siewert proposed an amendment which would simply remove the income management, or the withdrawal of welfare payment provisions, from the bill. I think Senator Siewert probably figured that that amendment would fail. I will briefly describe the amendments. These amendments basically relate to whether or not attendance is satisfactory. In the event that the scheme goes ahead, some important measures are needed to improve the operation of the measures, which, as I have indicated, we do not support, such as creating the requirement for guidelines for determining when attendance is satisfactory, including the consideration of relevant cultural practices and obligations. So these amendments reflect evidence given during the Senate committee inquiry, which heard that cultural practices and obligations were often not taken into account when considering school absences. To not consider cultural practices alienates Aboriginal children and their families and refuses recognition of Aboriginal culture, which is contrary to the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.