Ms Julie Bishop (Curtin, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for Women's Issues) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kalgoorlie for his question. All Australians want to see the gap in educational outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students closed. All Australians know that education is the key to greater opportunities for Indigenous Australians and for economic independence. There have been some improvements in education and training outcomes—for example, over the last 10 years the attendance rate of Indigenous students at school has increased by some 50 per cent. There have been increases in the number of Indigenous students in training, in trades and in higher education. But we all acknowledge that more must be done, and in this year’s budget the Australian government focused on programs that are proving to work, that are showing that that educational divide can be closed. In particular, there will now be 1,000 scholarships for Indigenous students who have been identified as young leaders within their community and who will have the opportunity to further their education in regional and metropolitan areas. There is an additional $4,000 that will be paid to Indigenous students wanting to undertake higher education. There are improvements to Abstudy, and there is a $65 million investment in boarding schools in rural and remote Australia that accommodate Indigenous students. All told, this year we will invest some $600 million in Indigenous-specific education programs.

We of course welcome any constructive or genuine contribution to this policy debate. So when Labor produced a document this week called New Directions I thought that there would be some new policy ideas, some well thought out policies and some fresh thinking—after all, that is how they marketed it. But there was something eerily familiar about New Directions: Indigenous Children, so I did a little research and of course I found Australian Directions in Indigenous Education. This was a document that was prepared, published and endorsed by federal, state and territory education ministers last July. This policy document is already in place.

What the Labor Party have done with New Directions: Indigenous Children is just take Australian Directions in Indigenous Education and put a Labor wrap on it. This is not the first time that they have done it—just put a new wrap on it and change a couple of words. Let me take you to—

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