Judith Troeth (Victoria, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In February 2008, the Victorian Minister for Education, Bronwyn Pike, launched the Wannik, Learning Together—Journey to Our Future education strategy for Koori Indigenous students. In her foreword, the minister conceded that the Brumby government’s previous attempts to address the issues in Koori education had failed. She went on to state that Wannik represents a renewed level of commitment from the Brumby government to ensue that every Koori child receives a first-class education in Victoria’s government schools. The strategy paper then detailed the approach it would take, including intensive literacy and numeracy programs, and the strategy was to be underpinned with ‘explicit accountability mechanisms for improvement in outcomes for Koori students’. The strategy further promised that funding to schools would be innovative and meet local needs.

Recently, on 3 March 2009, the Age had a story entitled ‘Promised funds prove elusive for students’—and I need hazard no guess as to which group of students this referred to. It seems that the higher levels of accountability stopped at the students and teachers and did not quite get as far as the government demanding them. The story details the breathtaking hypocrisy of the Brumby government and its failure to follow through on its so-called renewed level of commitment. It quotes a country school principal as saying that she has to fund Indigenous support services from her existing budgets because no money was available under the government’s strategy. The Principal of Thornbury High School, Mr Peter Egeberg, also has to fund a teaching assistant for Koori students from existing budgets. He said:

Millions of dollars have been set aside, but they’re taking so long to get it to schools.

Mr Brian Burgess, the President of the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals, commented on how frustrated the principals were becoming at not getting the funding and support they were promised. Mr Burgess stated:

If you’re going to announce these things back it up.

The article cites alarming statistics, including the fact that 10 per cent of Koori students fail to meet basic reading and numeracy standard in years 5, 7 and 9 and that up to 25 per cent are unable to spell or write properly by year 9. The Auditor-General’s report on Aboriginal services states that, compared to non-Indigenous Victorians, Indigenous Victorians face a significant disparity in life expectancy, dying on average 17.5 years earlier; have significantly lower high school retention rates at 38 per cent, compared with 80 per cent; experience higher unemployment levels, with an unemployment rate nearly three times greater; are over 12 times more likely to be placed in an adult prison; have significantly higher rates of care and protection orders for children with 68 per 1,000, compared with six per 1,000 for non-Indigenous students. The Auditor-General went on to say:

On any measure, Victorians should be deeply concerned at the performance against these well-being indicators. The audited agencies agreed with the Victorian Auditor-General’s Office (VAGO) that the outcomes against these indicators were unacceptable.

I could not agree more. The report further stated that many of the recommendations of previous reviews, particularly the 2002 review, have not been implemented. In a modern, relatively prosperous nation such as ours, this is a damning indictment of the incompetence and mismanagement of the education system and Aboriginal affairs in Victoria under this minister, and it is symptomatic of the disease which has taken hold of the entire Victorian government. The strategy outlines clear objectives, including providing additional support—objectives which the government set itself and is now failing to meet. The strategy talked about reducing the social exclusion and isolation of Koori students. Is it any wonder that those feelings of social exclusion and isolation permeate through the Koori community when the government proves so ineffective and incompetent that it is unable to back up its own major announcements after only one year?

One of the major reasons for this failure is that there is no effective reporting or evaluation mechanism in place to review this program—a point which is noted in the Attorney-General’s report. Students and teachings are judged by the learning outcomes and the national standards testing, but the Brumby government decided it did not need to have in place any benchmarks for its own delivery of the program or its effectiveness in meeting its objectives. The failure to adequately fund the Wannik program is indicative of the total mismanagement of the Brumby government. It is a policy process driven by media cycles and headlines rather than results. In this and many other portfolio areas, the Brumby government is letting Victoria down.

The flow-on effects of the Brumby government’s incompetence was not really covered in the article, so I will briefly refer to it by saying that every dollar that is taken out of an existing budget to make up for the government’s shortfall reduces the effectives of the original programs for other students. In short, everyone loses and is affected. That is yet another demonstration that it will be time for a change of government in Victoria in 2010. The charges are piling up against the Brumby government: the train system is on the verge of collapse, our water security is already in dire straits—no pun intended—and there are reports that the proposed solutions may well not go ahead. Not only that but people cannot find hospital beds, and the literacy and numeracy standards of Victorian students—and by that I mean all Victorian students—need to be improved.

Throughout Australia we are seeing the consequences of Labor administered state governments that can no longer rely on the sound economic management of the coalition to preserve their credit ratings and provide revenue to make up for their waste and mismanagement. New South Wales has possibly the worst government this country has ever seen. It even makes former Prime Minister Gough Whitlam look as though he had a clue. Victoria and New South Wales traditionally have a rivalry over who is the biggest and best, but at present it could be a race to the bottom. Victoria is quickly following the lead of New South Wales: a change of Premier without an election, a ministry that has become a shadow of its former self, and too many ministers being carried by spin doctors and the Premier’s media unit instead of being genuine reformers. The people of Victoria, and in particular the Koori people, deserve better. As a Victorian, it is my responsibility to comment on these matters. I leave this for the judgment of the Senate.