Indigenous
Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment (2008 Budget Measures) Bill
2008
Date introduced:
29 May 2008
House: Representatives
Portfolio: Education
Commencement: Royal
Assent
Links: The relevant
links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech
can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/. When Bills
have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The purpose of the Bill is to amend the Indigenous
Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 (‘the Act’) to appropriate
an additional $8.35 million to fund two Budget measures: an expansion
of intensive literacy and numeracy programs and the building of three
boarding facilities for Indigenous secondary students in the Northern
Territory.
Commonwealth assistance to Indigenous education
is provided through the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance)
Act 2000. The Act provides quadrennium funding for the years 2005–2008,
primarily for the Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme
(IESIP).
The Labor Government’s policy on Indigenous Affairs is focussed on
closing the substantial gaps that exist between the socio-economic outcomes
of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population. In the Prime Minister’s
speech on the apology to Indigenous Australians he stated:
Today’s apology, however inadequate, is aimed at righting
past wrongs. It is also aimed at building a bridge between Indigenous
and non-Indigenous Australians—a bridge based on a real respect rather
than a thinly veiled contempt. Our challenge for the future is now to
cross that bridge and, in so doing, embrace a new partnership between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians … the core of this partnership
for the future is to closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians on life expectancy, educational achievement and employment
opportunities. This new partnership on closing the gap will set concrete
targets for the future: within a decade to halve the widening gap in
literacy, numeracy and employment outcomes and opportunities for Indigenous
children, within a decade to halve the appalling gap in infant mortality
rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous children and, within a generation,
to close the equally appalling 17-year life gap between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous.[1]
During the election campaign in November 2007 the Australian Labor
Party announced a range of measures to improve education outcomes of
Indigenous students including a promise to expand ‘intensive literacy
and numeracy programs in our schools … the development of individual
learning plans for Indigenous students … and [to] invest in building
three new secondary boarding colleges in the Northern Territory at a
total cost of $40.9 million over four years’.[2]
The 2008–09 Budget provides funding to meet these promises. The two
measures funded in the Bill are part of a package of 37 measures in
various portfolios grouped under the Budget measure ‘Closing the gap
for Indigenous Australians’ with total funding of $718.7 million over
five years.[3]
The Budget measure ‘Closing the Gap – contribution to Indigenous boarding
colleges’ will provide $28.9 million over four years towards the construction
and operation of three new boarding colleges for Indigenous secondary
school students in the Northern Territory. An additional $15.0 million
toward the construction costs will be provided by the Indigenous Land
Corporation.[4]
This is not unlike the previous Coalition government’s policy. In the
2007–08 Budget measure ‘A Better Future for Indigenous Australians –
opportunities for education’ an additional $65.3 million was provided
over the three years 2006–07 to 2008–09 to repair and replace existing
non-government boarding schools in remote and regional areas.[5] The boarding school initiatives of both the former
and present government aims at enabling Indigenous students in remote
locations to complete their secondary schooling and improve the retention
rates of Indigenous students. Although the apparent retention rates
for Indigenous students from Year 7/8 to Year 12 increased in 2007 by
2.8 percentage points to 42.9 per cent they remained much lower than
for non-Indigenous students (75.6 per cent).[6]
The Budget measure ‘Closing the Gap–expansion of intensive literacy
and numeracy programs and individual learning plans’ provides $56.4
million over four years most of which will come from the redirection
of funds from the 2007–08 Budget measure ‘Realising Our Potential–Summer
Schools for Teachers Program’.[7]
The Government aims to halve the gap in the literacy and numeracy results
of Indigenous and non-Indigenous students within a decade. The most
recent National Report to Parliament on Indigenous Education and Training
states that:
In 2005, the gap between Indigenous and All students
ranged from 14 percentage points in Year 3 numeracy to 33 percentage
points in Year 7 numeracy, with less than half (49%) of Indigenous students
meeting this benchmark.
With seven years of data available, there is little
evidence of sustained overall improvement in the benchmark areas. Gaps
between Indigenous and non-Indigenous outcomes have tended to widen
and to increase with the age of the students.[8]
The Bill will increase appropriations under the Act by $8.35 million.
The Explanatory Memorandum states that after supplementation is applied
an ‘additional’ $9.05 million will be available to implement the two
Budget measures. However the Minister’s second reading speech states
the $8.35 million when indexed ‘will amount to $9.050 million in 2008
prices’.[9]
Schedule 1, item 1 amends subsection 14A(1) to reflect
the additional funding of $8.35 million for the period 1 January 2008
to 30 June 2009.[10]
Concluding
comments
The Bill will provide funding to meet election promises on Indigenous
education aimed at closing the gap in educational outcomes of Indigenous
and non-Indigenous students. The comparatively small appropriation reflects
the quadrennium funding arrangements. Although the Budget commits $85.3
million over four years to these two measures, the funds appropriated
by this Bill will go into the current quadrennium, and the Explanatory
Memorandum states they are intended to cover the period 1 July 2008
to 31 December 2008.[11]
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