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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 6 Hansard (24 May) . . Page.. 1681 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

August sittings and then a further report at about the same time next year. Mr Berry's motion talks about issuing reports. I am quite happy to issue them publicly out of session too. But people have to be realistic about when the government can issue reports.

In the week's break, I asked this question of the head of the Indigenous Education Unit, who told me that by August data could be available. He also indicated to me that anything more than 12 months would be of no use and we would not be properly and critically assessing where we were going. That is what members in this place want to do. If anyone wants to make political capital out of this issue, they can go for their lives.

I will be proposing an amendment that we report by 1 September this year, and annually after that on 1 September. If we have not improved by next year, no doubt Mr Berry or someone else will use that politically. And that is not too far from an election. But at least it is a proper timeframe to enable the government to get the data together and to report properly. Proper systems can be put in place to do so, and the effort can continue to be made by the many very good people in our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, who are doing a lot to assist in the schools, and by the very good workers in our Indigenous Education Unit to get on with the crucially important job of raising standards.

For me, the 1998 report is not all doom and gloom. Some very good progress was being made even then. A lot was put in place in 1999. A lot more has been put in place since then. Mr Berry mentioned the budget. The 2000-01 budget we released yesterday further supports better outcomes for indigenous young people. We will negotiate with the Indigenous Education Consultative Body to provide a broader range of advice to government and to include community services as well as education, and funding will be provided to support any increase in administrative workload.

Programs will be developed in computing software to improve data collection and reporting procedures for indigenous education. It is important to have that information, to target programs and support areas of real need. Monitoring programs will include a tracking strategy for indigenous students. The testing we have done for years 3, 5, 7 and 9 in literacy and numeracy will be further developed to provide information in this fundamentally important area, specifically to assist targeting resources for indigenous students.

We are increasing the number of indigenous people employed through the new equity and diversity policy, which has set clear targets for indigenous employment. As a further enhancement to the indigenous literacy and numeracy strategy, an indigenous teacher will join the literacy and numeracy team. That teacher will work with the team to develop literacy and numeracy programs and strategies specifically to assist classroom teachers of indigenous students. (Extension of time granted.) Professional development initiatives will also be provided to support the literacy and numeracy team and classroom teachers. Finally, we will ensure that all current programs-such as ESL, learner assistance, and gifted and talented programs-are accessible to indigenous students.

These initiatives enhance the existing support of indigenous students, and they are consistent with the government's emphasis on the importance of social capital through this year's budget. I had a quick flick through the budget, and I noticed at least three

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