Kim Wilkie (Swan, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to raise the deplorable threat posed to one of Western Australia’s most successful Aboriginal training programs by the federal government. I was alarmed to learn today that the federal government will not undertake a long-term funding commitment to the Aboriginal School Based Traineeships scheme beyond 2008. Aboriginal School Based Traineeships are part of the Vocational Education and Training in Schools programs. A number of schools in my electorate, namely Belmont City College and Sevenoaks College, participate in this scheme.

For the information of the House, this program was developed to achieve a number of outcomes for students, including to increase the number of Indigenous teenagers starting work after leaving school, to encourage Indigenous students to finish years 11 and 12, to encourage Indigenous students to access a broad range of education and training programs and to improve the relevance of education and training for Indigenous teenagers in school. In addition, the traineeships scheme provides paid on-the-job and off-the-job accredited training that forms part of the student’s study towards the Western Australian Certificate of Education.

The history of the scheme is that, since the inception of the Aboriginal School Based Traineeships in 1997, the program has operated on a full 100 per cent wage subsidy for employers. All ASBT trainees are employed by the group training schemes and hired out to host employers. The 100 per cent wage subsidy has encouraged employers to host Aboriginal trainees in their workplace without the financial commitment. The 100 per cent wage subsidy was initially funded by ATSIC through the Community Development Employment Program. However, due to the uncertainty of CDEP funding arrangements, the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations allocated $915,200 to the program from July 2001 to December 2003 for the certificate II trainees.

A further $2.93 million was allocated for the period July 2003 to December 2005. That contract allowed for the subsidisation of up to 500 certificate I trainees across 2003-04, based on completion payments only, and up to 375 certificate II trainees across 2004-05. Apparently, no further funding has been committed by DEWR. The department expects a commencement of approximately 350 certificate I trainees and 275 certificate II trainees in 2005-06, of which only 101 certificate II places are funded under the current contract, leaving the department to fund approximately 174 certificate II trainees and an entire 350 certificate I trainees. That leaves a significant gap.

Since 1998, 2,000 young people have undertaken traineeships in this state-wide program. These traineeships cover industries such as horticulture, hospitality, information technology and business administration. This spectacularly successful program has boosted year 11 and year 12 retention rates for Indigenous students by 10 per cent. I know that many members of this House share my concerns about Indigenous education and training. It is amazing to me that the federal government can now turn its back on giving a long-term commitment to this program. More than 600 young Indigenous students stand to miss out next year and every year if the federal government goes ahead and allows this program to be axed.

There are also, of course, enormous benefits for host employers, including raising awareness about their industry as a career choice, training and motivating students in the specific needs of their business for a known period of time and gaining support from schools, parents and the wider community. The program also enables employers to become more cost-efficient in training and recruitment and provides more recognition and promotion in the community. It provides access to professional development for mentoring and cultural awareness, as well as workplace assessment and training qualifications at nominal cost. It also creates an opportunity to further develop the communication and interpersonal skills of current staff. It provides an opportunity for direct input into the State Training Strategy. The key output of the State Training Strategy is the state training profile. The profile gives a summary of state-wide skills priorities and shows what types of training the Department of Education and Training intends to purchase over the next three years. It is vital that employers participate in that sort of program.

As a former YMCA employment placement officer who worked to find jobs for young people, including Indigenous youth, I know full well how vital it is for kids to find education and training which is relevant and engaging. This program does just that. It keeps teenagers in the education system and provides them with the skills and the desire to become productive members of the workforce and society. As well, participants in the scheme act as role models for their peers. In my experience, the importance of role models for Indigenous youth cannot be overstated. In a previous employment program, similar to this but for adults, I was able to employ an Aboriginal senior elder in an employment and training role specifically to work in mentoring young Aboriginal people in employment and training related activities. That was through a traineeship program of this nature, which, again, was unfortunately axed by this government in the past. You cannot underestimate the value that these sorts of programs have when working with Indigenous people.

I can only concur with the views expressed by the WA Minister for Education and Training, Ljiljanna Ravlich, who finds it hypocritical that the federal government highlights the plight of Indigenous Australians yet at the same time refuses to adequately commit to a program which actually makes a difference. I am not sure why the federal government has such a narrow vision of education and training in this country. I suppose it really confirms that its priorities are pretty short term.

I urge the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training to reconsider the funding arrangements for this successful and unique program to ensure that this vital work is continued. It is absolutely imperative that we make sure we commit to these sorts of activities into the future. We need to ensure that our Indigenous youth are looked after and provided with the sorts of opportunities that should be available to all Australians, wherever they live and wherever they are in this community. The fact that I have two fantastic schools in my electorate, Sevenoaks Senior College and Belmont City College, that are prepared to participate in this program, find employment opportunities for the kids, get out there and work with employers and make these sorts of programs happen is commendable.

The federal government has to get behind this sort of program. Without federal government funding, these programs just do not exist. Right now what it is doing is trotting out the usual hoary old chestnut—that is, arguing over who has the priority for this sort of funding and whether it is a state or federal responsibility. This cannot go on. Clearly, the federal government, through DEWR, has a responsibility to provide employment program subsidies. Having also run the employment and training division of the YMCA, I know that these subsidies are vitally important if you are going to get people long-term work. You need to be able to go to an employer and say: ‘Look, we know you might have some concerns about employing people this way, but what we are going to do for you is offer you an opportunity so that you can see just how good these people are. If you give them an opportunity to participate in your workforce, we will not only fund their wages but also provide training.’

My experience was that those people who completed the programs were, at the end of the day, producing a very positive outcome for the employers and a really positive outcome for the workplace and the community. And back at home they were providing the great role model that I talked about before. I found that at the end of the program people were employed by that employer. The employer’s attitude greatly changed as well, because the employer noticed that these people were making an absolutely wonderful contribution to their business and were earning them money. Not only had employers got this benefit from the employment subsidy in the past but they were in a situation where these people were producing a great income benefit to them. At the end of the subsidy period most employers were crying out to retain these people in their business.

That is the sort of result that we want from programs that operate with both Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, but in this case we are dealing with Indigenous youth. It is what we need; it is what we want. It is high time that this government decided that it is something that should be supported. I notice that on a number of occasions the minister has overturned the decision not to fund this program and has continued funding it. I urge the minister to, in this case, sit back, review the positives, forget about the state-federal argument and decide that this money needs to go where it is deserved. It needs to go where it is going to achieve some worthwhile result. The minister needs to increase and continue this funding in the long term.