THE HON SHAYNE NEUMANN MP Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs Shadow Minister for Ageing Federal Member for Blair MEDIA RELEASE SCULLION’S “TRUANCY ARMY” ANOTHER COALITION THOUGHT BUBBLE The Abbott Government’s Indigenous Affairs policies are being made on the run, with the latest thought bubble producing an army of truancy officers armed with “the powers of persuasion”. Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Shayne Neumann has criticised the Abbott Government for making Indigenous policy without consultation, consideration or empirical evidence. “Improving school attendance in Indigenous communities is not as simple as sending in an army of truancy officers,” Mr Neumann said. “According to media reports today, the ‘truancy army’ is a $28 million redirection of funds from the Remote Jobs and Communities Program with no details on what programs are being sacrificed to pay for this latest thought bubble. “The Indigenous Affairs Minister, Senator Nigel Scullion, has given no indication he has consulted communities, schools or even the hand-picked Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council. Rather, on ABC radio today he admitted that he has relied on his own personal family experience as the evidentiary basis for his new policy.” There has been no rationale for this policy apart from Senator Scullion’s suggestion that truancy may be due to issues such as: “We missed the bus, we dont have any transport, hes really embarrassed because he doesnt have a uniform because the cat ate it or whatever.” - Senator Nigel Scullion, ABC News, 20 December 2013 The Labor Government introduced the School Enrolment and Attendance Measure (SEAM) to improve school enrolment and attendance through welfare reforms. This involved working with families where children weren’t attending school, providing intensive support and quarantining Centrelink payments, which may result in payments being stopped after 13 weeks of non-compliance. In addition to SEAM, Labor invested $476 million over ten years for education initiatives under Stronger Futures to ensure that children can get a good education. This funding employs 200 teachers, including engagement officers, and provides nutritious meals to around 5000 students in remote communities. The 2010 SEAM evaluation report found that attendance improved by four per cent in the trial locations in Northern Territory and Queensland. A large scale evaluation is currently underway and is due to be released in early 2014. “Curiously, the Coalition’s pre-election policy document confirmed its support for SEAM and its expansion to all remote indigenous communities,” Mr Neumann said. “During recent Senate Estimates, Senator Scullion stated that no action had been taken to deploy truancy officers and that he had been misquoted in earlier media reports which stated that such action had been taken. “A month later he is announcing an army of 400 truancy workers with nothing to say about their powers, their roles or their responsibilities. “At the same time as the Coalition Government is spending $28 million on a ‘truancy army’, Prime Minister Abbott and Senator Scullion have stood by as the CLP Government in the Northern Territory cuts remote teaching positions and slashes more than $250 million from their education budget over the next four years. “If the Minister wants to improve school attendance, he needs to do his homework and start listening to communities about what works. We don’t need another thought bubble.”
Posted on: Fri, 20 Dec 2013 06:53:36 +0000
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