Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, Senator Kim Carr. On 24 July 2008 in a media release the Hon. Julia Gillard, the then minister for education, said:

This is an important step in meeting the Government’s commitment to at least halve the gap for Indigenous students in Year 12 or equivalent attainment rates by 2020.

The new facilities will provide more than 150 beds across a range of accommodation styles.

Are newspaper reports that the government will now not build 152 beds in three boarding hostels in the Northern Territory as promised correct or is this just simply another broken promise?

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

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I will take from that answer that, no, they are not going to be built and that it is a broken promise. I wonder if the minister is then able to answer a supplementary question. I understand that the purpose of the school hostels was to give young people the opportunity to go to a school that at least meets the national secondary education standards. Is it true that at the facility at Wadeye 20 out of 21 students boarding are actually from the local community and attending the same school they would have attended in any event?

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

I think that you would be aware, Senator, that the provision of the facilities at Wadeye are extremely good, that the hostel arrangements have commenced operations and that the staff at the boarding facilities conducted an orientation program for 25 prospective students in early December 2012. It is equally true that this is a new experience for these remote families and for some it provides an opportunity that they otherwise would not have. It is not simply a case of saying that there is another facility in the region; it is about ensuring the successful completion of education programs, and I think that the students and families at Wadeye are entitled to a good education—

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, on a point of order on relevance—and I know we only have 12 seconds. My question was very simple. I wondered whether there was an explanation why 20 of the 21 students currently living within metres of the boarding facility and attending exactly the same school they would have attended in any event, somehow attempts to meet the motivation of the program.

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! I do draw the minister's attention to the question.

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

I think that it is fair to say that an unfortunate fact of life is that many parents in the Wadeye community have missed out on a decent education. (Time expired)

Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I have a further supplementary question. Why is the government wasting tens of millions of dollars on your unworkable plan whilst Kormilda College in Darwin is having to turn away Indigenous boarders and close residential facilities because of a funding cut, a cut which will grow under the Gonski funding model?

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

Senator Scullion, I am advised, and Senator Crossin has been only too happy to point out here to you directly, that that claim is simply not the case. What we have said is that the planning for the construction and the ongoing operation of these facilities is being developed in close collaboration with the communities affected, and we will continue to work with those communities to ensure that these facilities are well placed, well situated, well designed and well operated, and that they are supported by the local communities. It is all very well for you to try to make petty points on this matter, but I think you appreciate how serious this issue is of ensuring that Indigenous people get a high-quality education in their communities and that we have the opportunities for all Australians to benefit from the education they are entitled to. The sorts of petty points that you are making here— (Time expired)