Senate debates

Tuesday, 2 December 2014

Questions without Notice: Take Note of Answers

Answers to Questions

3:06 pm

Photo of Simon BirminghamSimon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education and Training) Share this | Hansard source

One of the areas of policy pursuit of this government, particularly of social policy pursuit, that I am most proud of is the work in Indigenous advancement, is the work to ensure that we tackle an issue that has been a sad blight on Australia throughout our modern history, and that we take the necessary steps to make changes that can make a real difference, I hope, to the lives of current and in particular future generations.

We have made very clear that we want to focus on making a difference with the basics because we believe—from the Prime Minister to Minister Scullion and Parliamentary Secretary Tudge, right through the government—that if you get the basics right in Indigenous policy, then the benefits will flow right throughout the wellbeing of our Indigenous populations.

The basics we start with are our three key priorities: getting children to school, getting adults to work and ensuring communities are safe. The truth is that we have been failing as a country across those three priorities for far too long. In many cases, Indigenous school children do not make it to school even half of the time, according to the data. Indigenous employment fell to 48 per cent in 2012-13 after significant gains between 1994 and 2008, when it had risen from 38 per cent to 54 per cent. So we have gone backwards in Indigenous employment. The most recent data indicates that there was no significant change in family and community violence between 2002 and 2008. It is clear for all to see that levels of violence in Indigenous communities are far, far too high.

So we must admit, and I would hope that everyone must admit, that the policies that have been deployed to date simply do not work, they have not worked and a new approach is needed. That is exactly what this government has done. We often hear debates about how much is being invested. It is not about how much money you spend; it is about how you spend the money that you invest. It is most important in this space that we get the policy settings right to ensure that we are investing the dollars in Indigenous policies to actually generate outcomes. I hope that we are able to spend what is necessary. But it is not about the quantum as much as it is about what it is we do with it.

Our government's new Indigenous Advancement Strategy began on 1 July this year. It absolutely was unashamedly about shaking up and reshaping the way we deliver policies for Indigenous Australians. It replaced more than 150 different individual programs scattered across government—programs that lacked cohesion or coordination—with five flexible, broad-based programs under the leadership and direction of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. It ensured that the direction sits at the heart of government, that the coordination sits at the heart of government and that we have programs in place that are able to deliver what is required on the ground.

Those five streams focus on, firstly, jobs, land and economy; secondly, children and schooling; thirdly, safety and wellbeing; fourthly, culture and capability; and, fifthly, remote Australia. This refocusing is critical and accompanying it is a significant investment in Indigenous policy—$4.8 billion is being invested over four years with a clear focus to achieve the results our government desires of getting more children to school and more adults into work, and delivering safer communities. Already we are seeing some positive returns in this space. Already we are seeing that the investment in the remote school attendance strategy is delivering some positive results. But of course there is much, much more to be done. But I hope that rather than the nitpicking that we see from those opposite, we see constructive contributions from them that allow us to reshape these policies for the benefit of the Australians who need it most.

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