Malarndirri McCarthy (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

More than 40 per cent of students in Northern Territory schools are Indigenous. Most of them are more likely to attend government schools, and many of these students are high-needs students, often because of issues of disadvantage and poverty. Studies have found nearly 90 per cent of Indigenous students in Northern Territory schools suffer from hearing loss, which affects language development and impacts on learning. So imagine sitting at school as a student with hearing loss and English as your second language. Sadly, that is the case for almost half of our Indigenous students at any given time, yet we wonder why these children are not learning. As a government, you wonder why the gap is not closing, Minister, but how do you learn when you cannot hear the teacher?

Let me give you some more facts about the reality of Northern Territory schools and students. The Northern Territory has the largest proportion of children aged nought to eight years of any state or territory in Australia—14.1 per cent compared to 11.5 per cent nationally. The Territory also has the largest proportion of Indigenous children—42 per cent compared to 6 per cent nationally. Geographically, 48 per cent of all children aged nought to 12 in the Territory live in remote areas, compared to three per cent nationally, and over 37 per cent of NT government schools have a language background other than English. Very remote students live in relatively small, highly dispersed communities and homelands, where families choose to remain living close to country and culture. In these areas there is limited infrastructure, little or no economy and populations that do not use English as a first language.

Minister, I have a number of questions in relation to the Northern Territory that I would like to put to you. Just before I do, I also have a letter here that I wish to table. It is a letter from the education minister, Eva Lawler, who is urging the Senate to delay this bill to allow time to negotiate arrangements that are more favourable to Australia's most disadvantaged and vulnerable children. Essentially, the key message is that jurisdictions have different capacities to fund their schools, and, while it does not seem like much, it is important to the Northern Territory. So I seek leave to table this document.