Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak in support of this bill which in effect addresses a number of errors and omissions in the original bill when it was rushed through parliament by the previous government. This bill also provides the mechanisms for the government to deliver the Indigenous Boarding Initiative, which was announced in the budget. I intend to speak at length on Indigenous education later in this speech because it is by far the most important tool we have when it comes to addressing the disadvantage that has existed for far too long.

The bill ensures that the government delivers on our election commitment that schools would certainly not be worse off under our government, by ensuring continued transition arrangements for special schools and special assistance schools. In effect, this bill prevents cuts of approximately $2.4 million in 2014-15 that would have occurred under the legislation to certain independent special schools and special assistance schools. I point out that our government has been very serious about our commitment to improving education outcomes and delivering on our absolute commitment to education funding, despite the budgetary challenges we inherited from the previous government.

I think it is worth mentioning that just last month we found out the true extent of Labor's economic mismanagement. Having previously promised a surplus, in his last budget Wayne Swan admitted a budget deficit of $18 billion. That would have been bad enough, but now, with the final budget outcome for 2013-14, we know that it in fact ended up being a $48.5 billion deficit—a deterioration in excess of $30 billion. That is the real figure, not the fiction that was promised every budget night. In fact, Labor never got it right; every single budget estimate turned out to be so much worse.

The final budget outcome confirms that Labor delivered six successive deficits, totalling $240 billion with many more to come. So I think it is a bit rich that, no matter what the legislation—and we have seen it again today—we always witness a conga line of Labor MPs talking about funding cuts and decrying the fact that we are not spending more money on X, Y or Z. The fact is we do not have money to splash around. Thanks to Labor, we have a huge debt to pay back—and it is costing us more than $1 billion every month to service that debt. Just imagine what we could have done with that money had Labor not been so reckless. So members opposite ought to be honest enough to admit that the reason we have considerable constraints on government spending is because of their own inept economic management. The reality is that we have to prioritise—and we have a responsibility to ensure value for money, but we will always make sure that our approach is fair. That is exactly what our government is doing with the Students First education policy.

I want to report to the House that I have had very positive feedback on the recent review of the national curriculum. The curriculum is one example of how we can improve education outcomes without necessarily having to spend a lot more money. The feedback I have had from local parents—and I did a series of listening posts in my electorate late last week—is that the issues identified in the review are concerns that parents share: overcrowding of the curriculum and not enough focus on getting the basics right. So I think identifying those issues is a step in the right direction. Just as this bill is an important step in the right direction.

We want to make sure that special schools which provide support for students with a disability have the resources they need, and we want to ensure that our Indigenous students have the best possible opportunity, including when they attend boarding schools. Again, when it comes to Indigenous education, this government has already shown how serious we are about improving outcomes.

Part of the problem with the delivery of a range of Indigenous programs has been the complex layers of bureaucracy. The Australian National Audit Office reported that in 2011 there were 210 Indigenous-specific Australian government programs and subprograms included in its Closing the Gap activities, administered by more than 40 agencies, across 17 separate portfolios, with the best estimate of expenditure totalling $4.2 billion in 2011-12.

As promised, our government has delivered a new Indigenous Advancement Strategy, IAS, which began on 1 July 2014. Most Australians are probably unaware that under the IAS more than 150 individual programs and activities have been replaced with five flexible, broad-based programs based on the policy areas of: jobs, land and economy; children and schooling; safety and wellbeing; culture and capability; and remote Australia strategies. The objectives of the IAS reflect our strong belief that education is the key to truly closing the gap and improving the lives of Indigenous Australians.

The particular focus of the new strategy is: getting Indigenous Australians into work, fostering Indigenous business and ensuring Indigenous people receive economic and social benefits from the effective management of their land and native title rights; ensuring children go to school, improving literacy and numeracy and supporting families to give children a good start in life; increasing year 12 attainment and pathways to further training and education; making communities safer so that Indigenous people enjoy similar levels of physical, emotional and social wellbeing as that enjoyed by other Australians; increasing participation and acceptance of Indigenous Australians in the economic and social life of the nation; and addressing the disproportionate disadvantage in remote Australia. The new flexible program structure supports a new way of working with Indigenous people, communities, industries, business and service providers, allowing for joint development of solutions that will work over the long term, including through regional or local solutions.

I note that an open grant funding round of the IAS opened on 8 September, and applications closed last week. This new approach provides a simplified framework for government funding of programs that genuinely assist Indigenous Australians. But I note, especially in the area of education, there is also much that can be achieved with community and business support.

I wanted to make mention of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation which is a private-enterprise-led organisation that does tremendous work. It is chaired by Warren Mundine and offers scholarships to schools as well as tertiary education. I also note that earlier this month BHP Billiton, which is already a major partner of the Australian Indigenous Education Foundation, announced it was providing $28.8 million to the CSIRO to establish a new education program to support Indigenous students in science, technology, engineering and maths.

As chair of the Parliamentary Friends of Science, and having a degree in engineering, encouraging people into these disciplines is a subject very dear to my heart and on which I have spoken many times in this place. I think it is tremendous that this special five-year program, designed by the CSIRO and building on already successful Indigenous education programs, will encourage more Indigenous Australians to study in these fields and improve their career opportunities. I congratulate BHP Billiton and the CSIRO on their commitment to this new program.

It is clear there is so much good will and determination from within all levels of government, community and in business to help improve educational opportunities for our Indigenous students, and that is to be commended. In the years to come, we need to remain vigilant, to ensure that the good will and the funding provides real, sustainable outcomes which can be reflected in the Closing the Gap report, that has become an annual report card to the nation on Indigenous disadvantage.

The Indigenous Boarding Initiative, which was announced in the budget and is facilitated by this bill, is another $6.8 million investment that aims to meet an identified resourcing shortfall for those boarding schools with large numbers of students from remote areas. In 2013 a joint review was undertaken to analyse the costs borne by non-government boarding schools with substantial numbers of Indigenous students from remote communities. The review's report was the basis for our decision to allocate around $6.8 million in 2015 as an interim measure while a broader review is conducted. So this bill is very much a practical measure to address identified problems, and in that sense it reflects the common sense approach of our government.

We could debate all day the shortcomings of successive governments when it comes to Indigenous education. There have been failings all round despite a plethora of good intentions. As the Prime Minister pointed out in his Closing the Gap address earlier this year, last year in metropolitan areas, only 81 per cent of Indigenous year 9 students met the national minimum standards for reading. In very remote areas, just 31 per cent of Indigenous students reached the same minimum standard. As the Prime Minister pointed out, one of the worst forms of neglect is failing to give children the education they need for a decent life.

Our job, particularly in relation to remote Indigenous communities, is to break the tyranny of low expectations. I am very pleased that the Prime Minister indicated that Indigenous school attendance data will be part of the next Closing the Gap report and all subsequent reports under this government. Studies clearly show that the lower the attendance rate, the more likely it is that a school will have problems. That is why truancy laws exist. But we have not applied the same principles and expectations to Indigenous children and that is why there remains a significant gap between education outcomes.

But there are some very positive examples of how change can be implemented and produce outstanding results. The Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy has overseen a high-expectation education approach in a number of communities. Primary school attendance has radically improved as a result. In 2008, the school attendance rate in Aurukun was 36 per cent; now it is 73 per cent.

We have to keep striving and implementing policies that work, and we have to ensure that the expectations that we hold for the wider Australian community are also applicable to Indigenous communities. This bill, in ensuring funding to facilitate and support those students attending boarding schools, is just one example of how this government is working to close the gap. I commend this bill to the House.

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