Ms WALKER - 2013-08-27
In light of increasing violence in our schools earlier this year, you promised a crackdown. You said:
Groote Eylandt, in particular, has seen an alarming spike in violence in schools. Only a fortnight ago, a teacher was assaulted with a slingshot at Angurugu School. Yet, you are cutting teachers at that school from 13.5 to nine. How does ripping out four teachers, a third of all its teachers, help Angurugu School address violence?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, I appreciate the question. Angurugu is one school that is not without its challenges. It is something I have taken a particular interest in. I visited there recently with the member for Arnhem, and I will be visiting again very soon.
The reality is there is much that needs to occur in a school that is only boasting attendance rates of around 29%. Across at Bickerton Island we have attendance rates of around 79%. We need to understand why we have schools getting only 29% attendance. We have a pretty good understanding of some of the complexities within that community, but there needs to be community involvement in all of this.
This government is prepared to fund and resource education in the bush, but there has to be a commitment by those communities to want education and to encourage their children to go to school in the first place. Without an education, what will their future be? Angurugu is a school with particular challenges …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The question was quite specific. How does ripping out four teachers from Angurugu, a third of its teachers, help that school address the violence?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sure you can get to the answer, minister.
Mr CHANDLER: How does having an extra 2000 bureaucrats in Canberra help our teachers and students in the classroom? Because under the Gonski model, this, again, comes down to resourcing for schools in the Northern Territory ...
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. My question was not about Gonski. The question was very specific about how ripping out four teachers, a third its teachers, helps Angurugu School address violence. I did not mention Gonski.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: Mr Deputy Speaker, the problem is we have an opposition that wants us to sign up. Let us talk about that for a minute, because, again, this all comes down to resourcing our schools. If we were to listen …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. How does resourcing our schools and ripping out four teachers help Angurugu school?
Mr CHANDLER: It is all about resourcing. Wake up!
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: When it comes to resourcing our schools, the opposition wants us to sign up to a method of funding which says we are over-spending in our schools today. On average, in the Northern Territory, we spend around $15 700 per student; around this country it is around $9700 per student. We are already punching well above our weight in the Northern Territory.
However, the opposition wants us to sign up to a model that already says we are putting too much into some of our schools, such as Alawa Primary School, $8.3m; Anula Primary School, $10.3m; Darwin High School, $12.8m; and Ludmilla Primary School, $7.4m. Apparently, we are spending too much money in our schools today.
Under Rudd - is he the Prime Minister today? Yes he is. The Gonski model promoted by the Rudd government wants us to cut funding from schools with their methods of funding. They believe we are over-funding Palmerston Senior College by $11.7m. They say we are putting $15.105m more than we should be into Taminmin College.
Mr Deputy Speaker, we are doing all we can with education. As the economy grows, Education will grow into the future of the Northern Territory.
- The Territory government supports all efforts to make our schools safe environments.
Groote Eylandt, in particular, has seen an alarming spike in violence in schools. Only a fortnight ago, a teacher was assaulted with a slingshot at Angurugu School. Yet, you are cutting teachers at that school from 13.5 to nine. How does ripping out four teachers, a third of all its teachers, help Angurugu School address violence?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, I appreciate the question. Angurugu is one school that is not without its challenges. It is something I have taken a particular interest in. I visited there recently with the member for Arnhem, and I will be visiting again very soon.
The reality is there is much that needs to occur in a school that is only boasting attendance rates of around 29%. Across at Bickerton Island we have attendance rates of around 79%. We need to understand why we have schools getting only 29% attendance. We have a pretty good understanding of some of the complexities within that community, but there needs to be community involvement in all of this.
This government is prepared to fund and resource education in the bush, but there has to be a commitment by those communities to want education and to encourage their children to go to school in the first place. Without an education, what will their future be? Angurugu is a school with particular challenges …
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. The question was quite specific. How does ripping out four teachers from Angurugu, a third of its teachers, help that school address the violence?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: I am sure you can get to the answer, minister.
Mr CHANDLER: How does having an extra 2000 bureaucrats in Canberra help our teachers and students in the classroom? Because under the Gonski model, this, again, comes down to resourcing for schools in the Northern Territory ...
Ms WALKER: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. My question was not about Gonski. The question was very specific about how ripping out four teachers, a third its teachers, helps Angurugu School address violence. I did not mention Gonski.
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: Mr Deputy Speaker, the problem is we have an opposition that wants us to sign up. Let us talk about that for a minute, because, again, this all comes down to resourcing our schools. If we were to listen …
Ms FYLES: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. How does resourcing our schools and ripping out four teachers help Angurugu school?
Mr CHANDLER: It is all about resourcing. Wake up!
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call.
Mr CHANDLER: When it comes to resourcing our schools, the opposition wants us to sign up to a method of funding which says we are over-spending in our schools today. On average, in the Northern Territory, we spend around $15 700 per student; around this country it is around $9700 per student. We are already punching well above our weight in the Northern Territory.
However, the opposition wants us to sign up to a model that already says we are putting too much into some of our schools, such as Alawa Primary School, $8.3m; Anula Primary School, $10.3m; Darwin High School, $12.8m; and Ludmilla Primary School, $7.4m. Apparently, we are spending too much money in our schools today.
Under Rudd - is he the Prime Minister today? Yes he is. The Gonski model promoted by the Rudd government wants us to cut funding from schools with their methods of funding. They believe we are over-funding Palmerston Senior College by $11.7m. They say we are putting $15.105m more than we should be into Taminmin College.
Mr Deputy Speaker, we are doing all we can with education. As the economy grows, Education will grow into the future of the Northern Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016