Nova Peris (NT, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have been told throughout my life never to expect a handout and that from hard work you always get results. While it is a view that I broadly agree with, it did set me wondering: what would be the results of the latest federal education funding deal for the Northern Territory?

Northern Territory CLP Chief Minister Adam Giles made a lot of big-chested political statements when he was first elected, saying he would not accept the Labor government's education funding offer because it was not a good deal for the Northern Territory. I want to make it clear: he chose not to. Labor did not leave the Northern Territory out; the CLP said no. The original Labor education funding offer actually sought to make the Northern Territory government more accountable for education outcomes.

I want to be very clear on the differences between the Labor offer to the Territory and the current coalition offer. The Labor funding offer required the NT government to continue to invest in education. They had to sign up to not sack teachers, to not close schools, to continue to provide secondary education in the bush and to provide resources and support for Territory schoolkids.

The coalition's offer allows the CLP to keep sacking teachers, to close schools and to cut back on education in the bush. And that is what they are doing. Teachers are being sacked. Teachers today in the classrooms in the Northern Territory have been told that they will no longer have a job next year. And the CLP are slashing Indigenous education. The number of Indigenous students enrolled in senior school has decreased by 200 in the last 12 months. That is an 11 per cent cut in just one year.

We will never close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage in Australia if we do not improve education. If Indigenous children are not getting an education then they are missing out on a lifetime of opportunity. If we are not educating Indigenous children then, regardless of all other efforts, we will not close the gap. But this is what is happening: 200 fewer Indigenous students in senior schools in just one year. Remember, it was only 10 years ago that not one Indigenous child had graduated from high school in the bush in the Northern Territory. We have been going forward, but we are now going to go backwards.

The funding model from the coalition allows the CLP government in the Northern Territory to keep ripping funds away from Indigenous education in the bush. The original package—what we know as the Gonski package—was firmly based on the Labor principles. It sought to bring actual equality to the education funding system. This approach remains a real testament to former Prime Minister Gillard and was continued so well by Labor's current leader, Mr Bill Shorten, when he was the education minister. Labor is always more concerned about education than our opponents. We have a much better education record than our opponents. Labor built schools. Labour built homes to house our teachers.

In the Northern Territory, education results are the worst in the country. We know this because of the latest COAG report, which details the difficulties of delivering education in the Northern Territory, particularly in the remote context. We all know that the only way we can get better results is with the distribution of more resources. You can pretend that we do not need more money spent on education. However, we simply do. We must make this happen. We know that from all the evidence gathered by forums like COAG. According to The Conversation, Mr Bill Fogarty, a research associate at the National Centre for Indigenous Studies at the ANU, said in regard to the most recent COAG education outcomes:

On the less rosy side, we see that from 2008 to 2012 there's been no real improvement in school attendance at all for Indigenous students. And in fact, in the remote and very remote regions we've seen decreases. The Northern Territory as a whole has seen a 14% decrease in year 10 attendance which shows us that we still have a long way to go.

Attendance at school is a measure, and figures like these cannot be ignored. This is a real worry. The CLP are busily ripping the guts out of the Territory education system. They are sacking more than 100 teachers, including many in the most remote and disadvantaged areas. Territory education is currently in a shambles. Teachers have been taking unprecedented industrial action. The education minister has been forced into a humiliating backdown in front of angry education rallies at the front of Parliament House, and Adam Giles is trying desperately to tell mums and dads of Territory schoolkids that it is all okay. Well, it is not, and the CLP are making it far worse. Yet they are getting $272 million over the next four years from Canberra while they are doing it. It does not make any sense. What Mr Tony Abbott and his unhinged education minister are saying is: 'Here you go, Northern Territory. Rip the guts out of a system that is struggling to deliver results, and here's heaps more money while you're doing it.' It is just so wrong on many counts. To quote the blog PoliticOZ:

… but we know precisely how much they cost in monetary terms: $1.2 billion. That's what the Coalition paid QLD, WA and NT governments to sign up to a "national" education funding agreement. This money goes to them with no strings attached. They are not required to contribute anything in return, or even maintain their own funding—it's a gift from the Coalition.

We should fund better results. We should not give more money to the Territory government when its education results are in such obvious decline without demanding rigorous accountability.

The big question really remains around the Northern Territory government's accountability. Is there a proper federal mechanism in place to make sure the education funding is delivered to improve educational outcomes for our Territory kids? I might just add that almost 25 per cent—that is a quarter—of the Northern Territory population is under 15 years old. Education is for life. It is every Australian child's foundation. It is the way to breed a better life for our children. I simply ask the Prime Minister: given your commitment to be the Prime Minister for Indigenous Australians, will you insist that this extra money for education be spent where it is needed most?