Kim Carr (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the senator for his question. The boarding facilities initiative is a response, as I think his quote indicated, to the clear gap in the provision of postprimary education for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in the Northern Territory and it builds upon initiatives to provide more opportunities and more choice for students.

The policy also respects the fact that for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in particular connections to family and to land and to culture are central to their lives. The provision of access to good-quality schooling on country will help to fill the gap that otherwise has resulted in too many young remote people falling through the education cracks. That is why the government has allocated $28.9 million towards a construction operation of three new boarding facilities in remote locations in the Northern Territory to provide accommodation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander secondary students from remote and very remote communities and outstations. The initiative is also supported by a further capital contribution of $15 million for the Indigenous Lands Corporation.

I think we would all appreciate that the construction of these facilities faces many challenges. I believe that Senator Scullion would acknowledge the point that undertaking large capital works projects in very remote communities is always difficult, and that the complexity of the community consultations necessary to ensure there is strong, broadly based community support adds a further dimension to the difficulties. The government does take its responsibilities seriously in this regard and it has undertaken the necessary community consultations to ensure that there is a strong basis of community and other support, and that is a key element of this initiative. (Time expired)