Ken Wyatt (Hasluck, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk on the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill (No. 2) 2013. As we consider the proposition, I want to quote Nelson Mandela. He said that education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Equally, education and the acquisition of skills in literacy and numeracy, and an understanding of the globe on which we live and our role within it, are important steps in the transition from a cycle of welfare dependency or from levels of disadvantage into the opportunities that are so well founded within our own economy.

What I like and strongly endorse in this bill is that funding is now guaranteed.

In my electorate I serve on two school boards. One, Yule Brook, has an emphasis on community engagement. It has a number of programs, but when there is uncertainty about the funding then they have to make decisions as to whether there is continuity in that program. When you do not have continuity there is a sense of whether we continue to provide that level of support, the fact being that there is no guaranteed funding that goes beyond the scope of the annualised allocation that is often a hallmark of these particular sets of programs. Each of the programs has been designed over a period of time.

The Abbott government is committed to improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians and is strongly supportive of the propositions that came out of the National Indigenous Advisory Council, chaired by Warren Mundine, which I had the privilege of attending in an ex officio capacity. The debate the members of the committee had was around the fact that if we want to bring change we have to focus on school attendance, literacy, numeracy and educational attainment. Part of the advice they gave the Prime Minister was on the strengthening of the commitment to educational outcomes. In those discussions there was also a plea and advice that COAG needed to enjoin states and territories to work towards addressing the disadvantage within education.

If we take the politics totally out of this and we rely on the COAG reform report, we see that there are areas in which we have not made significant gains—not to the extent that you would expect and would anticipate. In 2006 I was on a committee with Fiona Stanley in which we surveyed 4,000 Aboriginal children and their families in Western Australia. Four reports were produced, one being the report on education. The education report fundamentally said that all of the programs that were provided had beneficial derivatives with respect to the community and to the needs of Aboriginal children but the educational attainment was not delivered in a way that you would expect over three decades.

One message that came through very clearly was the lack of continuity in funding. The uncertainty in planning each year for the programs that were required to make a difference, including, improving attendance and engaging with the community, meant that developing and designing programs in concert with the community was a missing ingredient.

In proposing the amended changes to the act, the minister is giving schools, such as the ones in my electorate that have large Aboriginal enrolments— Sevenoaks College, Yule Brook College, Guildford Grammar, St Brigid's College, La Salle College and Thornlie Senior High School—the certainty they need to have the capacity to design a course of study and programs that intervene and are interventionist but at the same time build on the learning foundation that is required in the pathway to lifelong learning.

It is disappointing sometimes when we politicise the debate, because the education of any child in a society, and in this instance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, is the responsibility of all of us. It is the responsibility of every jurisdiction to ensure that we do not have gaps that leave people at a level of disadvantage that does not allow them to participate in the workforce and be part of the economic opportunities that will prevail for them.

The Abbott government is totally committed to ensuring that the gap in education that exists now is addressed and that the initiatives of all previous governments are built upon. But we also have to examine what the opportunities are for change and reform that will make a difference.

If we do not improve the literacy and numeracy we do not create the journey into the higher education pathways and we do not create the journey into the employment industry. When I talk with companies in Western Australia about employing young Indigenous males in the mining sector—the focus in these discussions was on males but there are key initiatives to encourage young Aboriginal women to become part of the mining and resource sector workforce—two things were always stated. One was the educational attainment level in terms of literacy. Literacy is absolutely important in the workplace in terms of occupational health and safety.

The second was around the health issues. I recall that from the early 1980s until 1985 some work was done showing the nexus between health and education. They are interrelated. There was a need to ensure that we addressed both equally. Without literacy your health does not improve. The WA child health survey showed that if a girl left school at year 10 she was likely to exhibit harmful behaviours when she was pregnant. Substance abuse would not cease. Some of the judgements around looking after a child in utero were problematic.

If they exited year 10 but went into year 11, they made some more discernable choices. So education is an influential factor that is absolutely critical to the early years of life. More importantly, those who exited year 12 showed that they did have the capacity to make informed choices. They ceased all harmful substances. They made sure they looked after themselves. In the process, when their children started to go to school, they engaged them in education.

But one of the frustrations that I have often seen in the education arena is the establishment of targeted programs that cease at the end of 12 months. That means that, in the context of a working environment, when you are planning you cannot give certainty to continuity. From the discussions that I have had with him, Minister Scullion's thinking is that it is about a commitment to continuity and to reliable funding that will enable schools to better plan educational opportunities. It is about making sure that the targeted funding makes a difference in the educational pathways and opportunities offered.

I would hope that all political differences will be set aside in the debates that we have on education and that, regarding Indigenous students in this nation, we enjoin and make sure that the continuity of programs becomes the underlying factor. This will enable educators and teachers who are totally committed and passionate and a driving force behind children in their classrooms achieve literacy and numeracy outcomes to be supported by knowing with a high degree of certainty that they have the required level of funding. When you have that certainty, you can plan for three, four or five years.

Having been on the staff of a school, I know that when you have certainty of funding, from both the state and the Commonwealth, you are able to project your thinking forward regarding the initiatives and the programs that you provide. Your ultimate goal as a teacher is always to give the children you teach a very rich tapestry of learning and experiences that build on the foundation of what they require to be successful not only in the year that you teach them but in the following years as they progress through each stage of schooling. This bill proposes to give that certainty.

Without education, you cannot make an impact on the distinguishing differences caused by the social determinants that impact on any individual child or family. When you are equipped with the power of education, then you can make choices and can understand the opportunities and avenues opened for you to access not only government services but employment opportunities in the long term that generate your own wealth such that you do not require intervention. I hope that by the end of this decade the work that all of us do in this parliament with respect to targeted educational programs will change those incredible gaps that have been and are reported so frequently. The benefits that will be derived from giving continuity and assurance to the education systems in both the government and non-government sectors will mean that the gaps will be tackled in a way that makes a difference.

All of us have had some incremental success. Over the last 20 years, change has happened. But it has not been sufficient. The COAG reform council's report indicates that. Attendance is critical. I acknowledge the thinking of Minister Scullion regarding the work that he intends to do on truancy and school attendance. Certainty will come through this amendment bill. Schools will know with certainty what resources will be available to them to use to engage individuals. In five years, that will enable COAG to produce a report that will show that there is substance to what we are agreeing to and endorsing.

That difference will be the beginning of a journey for many young people across this nation. It will enable them to stand as equals among their peers and be equal in the opportunities available to them. It will enable them to stand as equals in being capable on merit to gain opportunities in workplaces, in further studies and wherever their aspirations take them. On that basis, I commend the bill to the House. I support the intent of Minister Scullion and Minister Pyne in putting forward this amendment bill.

See this speech in context