Gary Gray (Brand, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak in support of the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2010. It is an important bill for a number of reasons. It will amend the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 and in so doing deliver real benefits to Indigenous students around Australia. By adjusting the 2010-12 financial appropriations to cover the cost of the Sporting Chance Program, the bill will make a significant contribution to closing the gap in education outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

By adjusting the 2010-12 financial appropriations to cover the cost of the Sporting Chance program, the bill will make a significant contribution to closing the gap in education outcomes of Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. As the Parliamentary Secretary for Western and Northern Australia, I am acutely aware of the challenges Indigenous students face, particularly in rural and remote communities. That is why the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Bill 2010 is so important. We know that education is the pathway to opportunity and secure, well-paid jobs. But only a bit more than 47 per cent of Indigenous young people in 2006 got to year 12 or equivalent.

In 2008 the employment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aged 15 to 64 stood at around 21 per cent. This bill amends the act to include ongoing funding through the Sporting Chance program, a program which uses sport as a hook to engage Indigenous students in learning and, through the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program, move from remote areas for post-secondary education and training. The funding provided under this bill will help ensure Indigenous students are supported to overcome barriers to education and deliver very real benefits to rural communities. It is absolutely essential that both sides of the parliament work together to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, to maximise educational opportunities and to ensure as many Indigenous students as possible complete their high school education. We need Indigenous people job ready, and education is a critical part of that process.

This is the first time that a government has recognised Indigenous disadvantage as a national problem which requires a targeted and measurable approach. This is a significant but necessary challenge. In November 2008 the government committed to reduce the gap in life expectancy and opportunities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. This will not be an easy task, but it is one that we as a government are determined to take on. One of the main reasons I stood for parliament was my belief that as a country we can overcome the very real social challenges in our Indigenous communities—and this is not restricted to education. Indigenous Australians have higher infant mortality rates and lower life expectancies, and higher levels of alcohol and substance abuse are prevalent amongst Indigenous communities. The Closing the Gap report 2010, released by the Prime Minister earlier this year, affirmed and underlined what we already knew: that the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy at birth is almost 20 years—it is in fact 17 years.

Indigenous children in Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory are almost four times more likely to die before they reach the age of five than non-Indigenous children. This is an absolute disgrace. The Closing the Gap report provides a framework to move forward. It has redefined the way we as a government approach the issues we face as Australians. As a government we will achieve a halving of the gap in literacy and numeracy within a decade. We will halve the gap in year 12 attainment or its equivalent by 2020. We are working towards this goal and making progress that this bill will ensure continues. This bill will complement the government’s other initiatives to close the gap in Indigenous education. Examples of our goals are to halve the gap for Indigenous students in reading, writing and numeracy before 2018, and by 2020 to have reduced by half the Indigenous young people aged between 20 and 24 years who have not completed year 12. As it stands today, the gap between the proportion of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students who complete secondary school is huge. In 2006 only 47.4 per cent of Indigenous young people got their year 12 equivalent. In 2008 the employment gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians aged 15 to 64 was 21 per cent.

Some of the most insightful programs to help young people both to stay at school and, by staying at school, become job ready, are the Clontarf programs. A program which I have become closely associated with in Western Australia is the Clontarf Girls Academy. I would like to read a couple of case studies, examples of young students who, in taking advantage of the sports based Clontarf program, have been not only to stay in school but, by staying in school, have been able to, firstly, perform better, but secondly, have a better opportunity at getting their lives on track. I will read the example here of someone who, in my case study, is anonymously ‘student A’. A year 11 student transferred to Clontarf from Kalgoorlie in the middle of the year.

See this speech in context