Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2013 amends the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 to increase the appropriation to reflect the inclusion of the Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education project to be delivered as part of the Sporting Chance Program currently funded under the Indigenous education targeted assistance. The Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education Academy is run by the Former Origin Greats organisation and uses sporting programs and cultural activities to help Indigenous students stay in school and get an education.

The programs funded and delivered under the Indigenous education targeted assistance are complementary to mainstream schooling. By including the Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education Former Origin Greats project in the Indigenous education targeted assistance, we will be spending more money from the 2012-13 appropriation than we currently have authority for, and that is why this legislation is necessary.

Indigenous education lies at the heart of overcoming Indigenous disadvantage, just as it lies at the heart of overcoming disadvantage for any sector within the community. If we are going to improve the quality of life of the Indigenous people of this country and 'close the gap', as we often say, then a good place to start is through improving the educational outcomes. I have to say that over recent decades, there has not been a want of effort by governments of all persuasions to do exactly that. But the reality is that we still have a long way to go if we are going to achieve the kinds of results that we are all looking for. With respect to that, I just want to quote some statistics with respect to recent trends in detention that were highlighted in the 2012 Australian Institute of Health and Welfare report on juvenile detention population in Australia, because the statistics are quite pertinent to this discussion. I will quote the statistics from the report. It says:

There were 1,024 young people in detention on an average night in the June quarter of 2012 …

Seventy-eight per cent of them were aged 10 to 17, which is a rate of .35 per one thousand young people aged between 10 and 17. Just over half of them—that is, 53 per cent of all those in detention—were Indigenous young people, and 91 per cent were boys and young men. The statistics go on to say:

In other words, we appear to be going backwards with respect to keeping young Indigenous people out of our detention systems. In fact, that figure correlates with another statistic, and whilst it is some three years old now—I am referring to the deaths in custody statistics that were available for the year 2009-10; I believe that is the last year for which they were available—that statistic shows that there were 14 deaths of Indigenous people in custody.

That number is equal to the highest on record, to date. Whilst the numbers of deaths in custody had begun to fall after the commission of inquiry two decades ago, it would appear from the most recent statistics that they might be on the rise again. So we have two groups of statistics that I believe are very concerning, and very relevant to the bill that is before this parliament, because the bill that is before this parliament is about taking complementary initiatives to those already underway to try and reverse those very trends.

It is true that there are many initiatives that the government is supporting at the moment. Whilst I have picked up on the comments from the member for Aston that we need to do a lot more, and that there are other things that we need to do, I want to stress that the measures in this bill are only one part of a range of measures and programs that are currently underway across the country that are, indeed, making a difference and transforming the lives of young Indigenous people. They include programs such as the Parental and Community Engagement Program, the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation Scholarship Program, the Indigenous Youth Leadership Program, the Indigenous Ranger Cadetship program and the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory national partnership.

All of these programs have an important role in trying to ensure that young people stay at school and complete their schooling. I note that the Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory national partnership program is one that will focus on attracting high-quality teachers to Northern Territory schools. That is terribly important. If we want kids to stay at school we need not only to push them into schools but to ensure that the teachers are available in those schools and that the teachers are quality teachers who know how to deal with the needs of the young people they are teaching. In addition, a new model for school enrolment and for an attendance measure have been introduced as has a school nutrition program, which we have heard others speak about. Again, all these measures complement each other.

Also, since 2010 the government has committed $2.8 million to the Governor-General's Indigenous Student Teacher Scholarships program. That program supports Indigenous students to take up a teaching degree. There can be nothing more inspirational for a young person at school than to have the person who is teaching them come from the same pathway as them. It shows them that it can be done. It gives them something to look up to and it encourages them because they know that it is possible.

Under the government's National Plan for School Improvement there will be dedicated extra funds for Indigenous students. And under this plan, the government has made it clear there will be additional funding for special needs. The needs of Indigenous students will be one of those special needs. An Indigenous loading will be applied for Indigenous students across the country. In my state of South Australia, the loading will be worth $300 million over six years and that will support some 10,200 Indigenous students. Across the country, the loading is worth $5.5 billion over the next six years and that will support some 200,000 Indigenous students. These are not insignificant commitments by the government of the day to try to address the issues that we know need to be addressed if we are to close the gap and give young Indigenous people a real chance in life.

We also know that involving Indigenous people in sports and cultural activities is one way that has been proven to be successful time and time again in keeping young people engaged in the education system. In my own community I have seen it. I represent an urban electorate but we have a significant number of Indigenous families who live in the region. I am familiar with the high schools in the area and the work they are doing to try to ensure that Indigenous students complete their education to year 12 and go on to university. They do that not just by carrying out what I would call normal school programs but by engaging the students in areas of interest, such as sports and cultural activities. We know that across the country there is plenty of evidence to show that that has made a real difference.

In December 2012, the government committed an additional $4.43 million to the Achieving Results Through Indigenous Education program. That program now has the funding for a further four years in some 21 schools in south-east and central Queensland. The extra funding will also enable the Widening Success program to be expanded to three primary schools. This is an example of identifying what might work in a particular area and then providing the appropriate resources to ensure that the program can be rolled out.

I want to talk about that approach by governments across the country. I believe it is an approach that is being taken both by the Commonwealth and the state governments where they identify what is likely to work in a particular region or a particular area and then embark on the necessary program to ensure that the outcomes they want are achieved.

Earlier this month, the Minister for Higher Education and Skills came to my electorate of Makin and announced an additional $2.4 million for the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience program, AIME. This program operates throughout Australia, I believe, in about 15 different places and links high schools with universities in their area. It links them in two ways. If the high schools are in reasonable proximity to the university involved in the program, students from the high schools visit the university on a regular basis and mentors at the university guide them through the university system so that they become familiar with what to expect if they complete year 12 and go on to a university degree. The program also helps remote Indigenous students who do not have access to universities so easily. Those students will go to the city on a more infrequent basis but, again, they are linked with a mentor at the university and encouraged to attend university and shown the pathway to becoming a university student and gaining a degree.

These are the kinds of measures that I believe will make a difference and obviously are making a difference, and that is why the government is continuing to fund the AIME program across Australia. I welcome the additional $2.4 million that has been put into the northern region of Adelaide. The University of South Australia has embraced the program and will work with Indigenous young people in the area to try to ensure that more of those people go through to university. One of the great things about this program is that it links with a mindset that already exists amongst the high schools—that is, that they are individually doing what they can to mentor and guide Indigenous students within their high schools to ensure that they not only complete year 12 but go on to university. From my observations, those efforts are making a difference and we are seeing more Indigenous people attend the universities in South Australia as a result of those efforts.

This bill highlights the fact that if we are going to address Indigenous disadvantage then education is the key. It also highlights that there is no single solution to the problems that exist in the different communities across Australia. As a result of that, we need to bring together all the different propositions that are put to us by the communities around Australia who best understand what will work in their local regions. That is exactly what this legislation does. It complements the many programs that are already underway and that are making a difference, and I commend the legislation to the House.

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