Mr WARREN - 2006-06-15
There have been numerous reports, particularly in the national media, of young people finding themselves in financial difficulty because they have signed up to contracts for mobile phones and the like without understanding the financial implications in the fine print. Can you detail the work the Northern Territory government is doing to assist young people as they enter the consumer market?
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question. I had great pleasure today to go to Dripstone High School to have a look at a class of junior high school students working on Money Stuff, which is a set of curriculum units that have been developed by Consumer Affairs adapting a New South Wales system. It is incredibly important to see this in the curriculum of our high schools. It is teaching those students to budget their future households. It is looking at how to understand and work within contracts and plans for mobile phones, for example; how to protect their rights within tenancy agreements; and how to understand and knowledgably use interest arrangements around loans. These are just absolutely basic tools for a citizen in our community these days.
It is almost strange that it has taken this long to get a substantial curriculum unit in place for our high school students going through. They are the young adults of, almost literally, tomorrow. They will be out in the community, probably within only a few years, establishing themselves in their first accommodation, getting their first possessions and dealing with their first contractual arrangements with various bodies around the community.
This is essential living skills. It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm of the students in using this system, which is all computer-based and very interactive and user friendly for the students. They can literally go shopping. One of the most impressive things is that, as part of that curriculum unit, one of the students has applied online for a real job in Woolworths. That was part of the skills set that they are being taught. I hope he gets the job, Mr Acting Speaker, that would be an immediate outcome from what is an excellent program.
ANSWER
Mr Acting Speaker, I thank the member for Goyder for his question. I had great pleasure today to go to Dripstone High School to have a look at a class of junior high school students working on Money Stuff, which is a set of curriculum units that have been developed by Consumer Affairs adapting a New South Wales system. It is incredibly important to see this in the curriculum of our high schools. It is teaching those students to budget their future households. It is looking at how to understand and work within contracts and plans for mobile phones, for example; how to protect their rights within tenancy agreements; and how to understand and knowledgably use interest arrangements around loans. These are just absolutely basic tools for a citizen in our community these days.
It is almost strange that it has taken this long to get a substantial curriculum unit in place for our high school students going through. They are the young adults of, almost literally, tomorrow. They will be out in the community, probably within only a few years, establishing themselves in their first accommodation, getting their first possessions and dealing with their first contractual arrangements with various bodies around the community.
This is essential living skills. It was fantastic to see the enthusiasm of the students in using this system, which is all computer-based and very interactive and user friendly for the students. They can literally go shopping. One of the most impressive things is that, as part of that curriculum unit, one of the students has applied online for a real job in Woolworths. That was part of the skills set that they are being taught. I hope he gets the job, Mr Acting Speaker, that would be an immediate outcome from what is an excellent program.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016