Dr TOYNE - 2001-02-28
The Collins report calls for urgent action to improve English literacy and numeracy of indigenous students in Territory schools. The minister has repeatedly claimed these recommendations are being comprehensively implemented; however, the Commonwealth does not agree.
I seek leave to table leaked documents about negotiations between the federal and Territory governments on literacy and numeracy levels to be built into indigenous education.
Leave granted.
Dr TOYNE: These documents show the government is refusing to meet the standards required by both the Commonwealth and the Collins report on the basis they will set the department up for failure.
I ask whether this defeatist attitude is the best the minister can do after 26 years of CLP administration?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, there is an obvious answer to this question. It is a nonsense question. You have already had the answer twice; didn’t you listen? What is going on is that the Northern Territory government will set the priorities for our kids. We know our patch; we know what they are up to. We have some 2500 teachers in our education department. A large number of them teach in the bush, and all of them are motivated by the desire to do better for Territory kids. These teachers and principals in the bush know what is best and know where we have to go. The strategy is simply this: With some of our kids in some of our remote communities English as a second language is fairly new. They have never spoken it in their homes. They are starting from a remote position in achieving literacy and numeracy standards.
The federal government is saying it wants a blanket standard across Australia. In other words, it wants to set those kids up in remote Territory communities ...
Dr Toyne: We want kids to read and write and add up.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr LUGG: You really are pathetic. Here is a man who has all the answers, yet he was a disaster in the classroom and he keeps challenging me to justify that. I am saying to you, be careful what you ask for.
We have the federal government trying to apply a national standard to indigenous kids across the country. In other words, they are comparing the kids in Tasmania and in Redfern - who are second or third generation suburban kids, and who are further down the road towards adequate literacy and numeracy standards - to kids who live in very remote areas and to whom English is a relatively knew experience.
What I am saying to the federal government is - which is backed up by people in my department who would know; and surely the member would have respect for some of his former colleagues who know about these things - if we set our kids up to do that in just four years, the carrot is over the horizon; it is an unattainable prospect in just four years.
How much sense does it make to agree to this knowing it is absolutely unachievable in that short time? Make no mistake: It is my goal and my department’s goal to make a real difference and real progress with the education of our indigenous kids. But give them half a chance! Put the carrot this far away, just out of reach, so they have a chance to grasp it, to progress, and to get some confidence in their own abilities. Anyone who knows anything about childcare and raising kids does not expect them to be rocket scientists before they are out of nappies.
Mr Burke: Don’t set them up for failure.
Mr LUGG: You set them up for failure; you set the department up for failure. Yes, we are committed to making a difference, but have some faith that we know our own backyard a little better than the bureaucrats in Canberra. We will set the priorities and we will set them so they are achievable, and so that we really make a difference with our kids - and that is what we are doing. We will not be pressured into agreeing to unachievable targets. We want the carrot where our kids can take short steps down this road, not one giant leap so they fall over.
I seek leave to table leaked documents about negotiations between the federal and Territory governments on literacy and numeracy levels to be built into indigenous education.
Leave granted.
Dr TOYNE: These documents show the government is refusing to meet the standards required by both the Commonwealth and the Collins report on the basis they will set the department up for failure.
I ask whether this defeatist attitude is the best the minister can do after 26 years of CLP administration?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, there is an obvious answer to this question. It is a nonsense question. You have already had the answer twice; didn’t you listen? What is going on is that the Northern Territory government will set the priorities for our kids. We know our patch; we know what they are up to. We have some 2500 teachers in our education department. A large number of them teach in the bush, and all of them are motivated by the desire to do better for Territory kids. These teachers and principals in the bush know what is best and know where we have to go. The strategy is simply this: With some of our kids in some of our remote communities English as a second language is fairly new. They have never spoken it in their homes. They are starting from a remote position in achieving literacy and numeracy standards.
The federal government is saying it wants a blanket standard across Australia. In other words, it wants to set those kids up in remote Territory communities ...
Dr Toyne: We want kids to read and write and add up.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr LUGG: You really are pathetic. Here is a man who has all the answers, yet he was a disaster in the classroom and he keeps challenging me to justify that. I am saying to you, be careful what you ask for.
We have the federal government trying to apply a national standard to indigenous kids across the country. In other words, they are comparing the kids in Tasmania and in Redfern - who are second or third generation suburban kids, and who are further down the road towards adequate literacy and numeracy standards - to kids who live in very remote areas and to whom English is a relatively knew experience.
What I am saying to the federal government is - which is backed up by people in my department who would know; and surely the member would have respect for some of his former colleagues who know about these things - if we set our kids up to do that in just four years, the carrot is over the horizon; it is an unattainable prospect in just four years.
How much sense does it make to agree to this knowing it is absolutely unachievable in that short time? Make no mistake: It is my goal and my department’s goal to make a real difference and real progress with the education of our indigenous kids. But give them half a chance! Put the carrot this far away, just out of reach, so they have a chance to grasp it, to progress, and to get some confidence in their own abilities. Anyone who knows anything about childcare and raising kids does not expect them to be rocket scientists before they are out of nappies.
Mr Burke: Don’t set them up for failure.
Mr LUGG: You set them up for failure; you set the department up for failure. Yes, we are committed to making a difference, but have some faith that we know our own backyard a little better than the bureaucrats in Canberra. We will set the priorities and we will set them so they are achievable, and so that we really make a difference with our kids - and that is what we are doing. We will not be pressured into agreeing to unachievable targets. We want the carrot where our kids can take short steps down this road, not one giant leap so they fall over.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016