Mr MITCHELL - 1994-11-30
I understand that, at the recent ministerial council on employment and education, training and youth affairs, the minister raised the issue of Commonwealth funding to Northern Territory schools. Can the minister outline the Commonwealth's approach?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, among a number of Commonwealth programs that support education in the Northern Territory is one called the National Equity Program. As the term indicates, its aim is to provide additional input to those schools, or the communities within which they
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are located, which have some disadvantage in terms of the delivery of education. One jumps quickly to the conclusion that that really means the more remote schools and some smaller schools in the bush that are not advantaged in the sense that their communities do not have high levels of income and generally have limited facilities. Students in those communities do not have the opportunity to visit parliament, museums or other facilities that are available in major centres. Clearly, it appears to be a reasonable program. It has been in place now for 10 years. When we visited Wallace Rockhole, one of my interstate colleagues commented that, of course, Wallace Rockhole would receive extra from the NEP. In relative terms, that is not true. Take the example of a school such as the one at Croker Island which is off Arnhem Land and 250 km from Darwin. It is mostly inaccessible except by aircraft. Compared with the schools at Parap or Larrakeyah, which are in fairly well-to-do suburbs, one would expect the Croker Island school to do better under the Commonwealth's NEP. However, that is not the case.
For 10 years, we have lived with this ridiculous Commonwealth-based formula about which we have protested to the bureaucrats in Canberra. One of the reasons why self-government is good for the Northern Territory is that we took many of the nonsensical decisions from Canberra and reinterpreted them close to the ground in the Territory on the basis of local priorities and matters of that kind. Even so, we have had 10 years of protest. In fact, for some time, the department has been attempting to indicate in its annual reports to the Commonwealth that this formula stinks. This year, it was told that its report would not be accepted unless it was modified to take the sting out of those comments.
I invited Hon Warren Snowdon to a departmental briefing on the inequities of this equity program. He still has not attended despite the fact that the invitation was issued to him 12 months ago. At least Senator Collins came. Although he is the parliamentary secretary for education and employment and is in a position to have some influence on correcting this nonsense, Warren Snowdon could not care less. He shows no interest. For example, one would expect that Papunya would rate fairly highly but, if one compares Papunya to Larrakeyah and Parap, one finds that Papunya is classified as more disadvantaged, but only just. What a load of nonsense!
Mr Ede: Ask Tom Harris about this ...
Mr FINCH: They are right that it goes back to Tom Harris' day, but what has Warren Snowdon done in all the years that he has been the Territory member in the House of Representatives? `What we promise, we can deliver!' What a load of rot! We know what he can deliver, and it is zilch.
When it comes to some of these matters, it is no wonder that we become rather frustrated with Commonwealth funding. At least, in relation to Aboriginal education, the blessing is that 80% of the funds are Territory money. This means that, for 80% of the funds, at least we can get some sense and direction into our priorities in delivering those services. Members opposite know about these issues. They acknowledge that they have been debated in this House previously, yet here again we are reminded of the nonsense of their Canberra masters.
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ANSWER
Mr Speaker, among a number of Commonwealth programs that support education in the Northern Territory is one called the National Equity Program. As the term indicates, its aim is to provide additional input to those schools, or the communities within which they
Page 362
are located, which have some disadvantage in terms of the delivery of education. One jumps quickly to the conclusion that that really means the more remote schools and some smaller schools in the bush that are not advantaged in the sense that their communities do not have high levels of income and generally have limited facilities. Students in those communities do not have the opportunity to visit parliament, museums or other facilities that are available in major centres. Clearly, it appears to be a reasonable program. It has been in place now for 10 years. When we visited Wallace Rockhole, one of my interstate colleagues commented that, of course, Wallace Rockhole would receive extra from the NEP. In relative terms, that is not true. Take the example of a school such as the one at Croker Island which is off Arnhem Land and 250 km from Darwin. It is mostly inaccessible except by aircraft. Compared with the schools at Parap or Larrakeyah, which are in fairly well-to-do suburbs, one would expect the Croker Island school to do better under the Commonwealth's NEP. However, that is not the case.
For 10 years, we have lived with this ridiculous Commonwealth-based formula about which we have protested to the bureaucrats in Canberra. One of the reasons why self-government is good for the Northern Territory is that we took many of the nonsensical decisions from Canberra and reinterpreted them close to the ground in the Territory on the basis of local priorities and matters of that kind. Even so, we have had 10 years of protest. In fact, for some time, the department has been attempting to indicate in its annual reports to the Commonwealth that this formula stinks. This year, it was told that its report would not be accepted unless it was modified to take the sting out of those comments.
I invited Hon Warren Snowdon to a departmental briefing on the inequities of this equity program. He still has not attended despite the fact that the invitation was issued to him 12 months ago. At least Senator Collins came. Although he is the parliamentary secretary for education and employment and is in a position to have some influence on correcting this nonsense, Warren Snowdon could not care less. He shows no interest. For example, one would expect that Papunya would rate fairly highly but, if one compares Papunya to Larrakeyah and Parap, one finds that Papunya is classified as more disadvantaged, but only just. What a load of nonsense!
Mr Ede: Ask Tom Harris about this ...
Mr FINCH: They are right that it goes back to Tom Harris' day, but what has Warren Snowdon done in all the years that he has been the Territory member in the House of Representatives? `What we promise, we can deliver!' What a load of rot! We know what he can deliver, and it is zilch.
When it comes to some of these matters, it is no wonder that we become rather frustrated with Commonwealth funding. At least, in relation to Aboriginal education, the blessing is that 80% of the funds are Territory money. This means that, for 80% of the funds, at least we can get some sense and direction into our priorities in delivering those services. Members opposite know about these issues. They acknowledge that they have been debated in this House previously, yet here again we are reminded of the nonsense of their Canberra masters.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016