- Home
- Hansard & Papers
- Legislative Council
- 26 September 2007
The Nationals Aboriginal Education Tour
Printing Tips |
Print selected text
| Full Day Hansard Transcript
« Prior Item |
Item 84 of 89
| Next Item »
Page: 2330
The Hon. MELINDA PAVEY [5.52 p.m.]: I am pleased to report to the House on a tour conducted by The Nationals through western New South Wales. We examined Aboriginal issues, particularly Aboriginal education. The tour was part of a push to address the inequities in educational outcomes between indigenous and non-indigenous students across the State. The Leader of The Nationals, Andrew Stoner, was accompanied by the new members for the areas we visited, Kevin Humphreys, the new member for Barwon, and John Williams, the new member for Murray-Darling. The upper House members included the Hon. Trevor Khan, the Hon. Rick Colless and me. The tour was undertaken in August through north-west and western New South Wales.
The Nationals represent approximately 33 per cent of the Aboriginal population in New South Wales in their 13 lower House seats, making the issue particularly relevant to our members and their communities. The impact of the social disadvantage caused through unemployment and lack of hope has led to alcohol and drug abuse and gambling problems within those Aboriginal communities. These outcomes have had an enormous impact on the quality of life in our towns and committees. Education is a key to help overcome the social disparity. We need practical solutions to break the cycle and give children an opportunity for a future that includes a job, a home and a safe and secure family environment.
The key message from the tour was from an education worker in Moree, who said that education is a three-way street between parents, students and the school. We visited the communities of Moree, Walgett, Brewarrina, Bourke, Wilcannia, Broken Hill and Dareton and met with a range of community stakeholders, including representatives from the Department of Education and Training, local teachers and Aboriginal education assistants, along with local Aboriginal elders, community leaders and key service providers in each community. During the week we came across people who shared with us the problems facing indigenous communities, such as drug and alcohol abuse within the home, problem gambling, child sexual abuse, shortages of suitable housing and the shortcomings in providing appropriate standards of health care, all of which evidently are contributing factors in the failure of indigenous students to achieve results on par with their non-indigenous classmates.
We were struck by the frankness with which education stakeholders and community representatives spoke with us. Such discussions throughout the tour have armed us with some ideas and policy outcomes that we will pursue over the next 3½ years and which will form part of our policy towards the next State election. Many problems, such as high truancy rates, are having a huge impact on the communities. A large part of the problem is that children who finish year 6 and do not go into year 7 are not traced through the Department of Education and Training. There are poor retention rates. The people of Moree made the strong recommendation that suspended children should be encouraged to stay at school but in a separate environment. They said that the suspension of students from school is not having the desired outcome and that the students should remain within the school environment.
We know that the educational performance of Aboriginal children falls well below New South Wales student averages, but the concern is that the New South Wales indigenous outcomes are at the bottom of the scale when compared with the rest of Australia. This can be attributed to myriad reasons. I believe the overarching message from the communities we visited is that they want more Aboriginal teachers within the system. The pathway to achieving that is through the Aboriginal education assistants. One of the problems is that they are regarded only as casual employees by the department. Normally they are paid on a casual basis, which means they are not paid for the school holiday periods, and they receive payments ranging from $12.13 to $21.42 per hour. Many Aboriginal education assistants also do not want to leave their communities, which makes tertiary study a genuine dilemma for them. Some practical and commonsense solutions must be sourced to deal with that problem. Aboriginal assistants and teachers understand the concerns and cultural sensitivities of these communities so there are better outcomes.
In conclusion, two weeks after The Nationals western New South Wales tour concluded the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Paul Lynch, asked the upper House Standing Committee on Social Issues to hold an inquiry into closing the gap to overcome indigenous disadvantage. After 12 years of Labor's shameful neglect of its policies that have failed Aboriginal people, there is growing awareness in the wider community that in New South Wales there are as many societal issues facing Aboriginal people as there are in Western Australia and the Northern Territory. The Government's failure to address— [ Time expired.]
Last modified 05/12/2007 16:47:33 : Update this page