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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2000 Week 7 Hansard (29 June) . . Page.. 2360 ..
MS TUCKER (continuing):
The issue of racism, particularly against indigenous students, was raised during our current inquiry into students at risk of not completing their education. During estimates I put these questions to Mr Stefaniak and I found his answers very unsatisfactory. I asked for a proper analysis and evaluation of how the strategies this government has for racism in our school system are working. Mr Stefaniak basically informed us that, yes, there was an anti-racism booklet, or something, and that he knows it is pretty good because he has been to schools, teachers he knows are good and there are Koori paintings in hallways and so on. That is really not enough analysis.
We need to have a serious evaluation of what is working. When I talk to the Aboriginal community here, they tell me that racism is a major issue. We know that the indigenous youth are dropping out of our school system. We know they are over-represented in Quamby. We know that there is a growing problem with their using drugs. It is critical that the school system helps them. It was disappointing to me that the School Without Walls was closed. It was clear from the evidence the committee looked at that the school is sometimes the last anchor for some of these young people in the community. Sometimes these young people are safer in school than they are at home. The school is a place where perhaps we can address problems in time to save a lot of human misery as well as cost to the community in the long run.
I am disappointed in this budget because I do not think we are still seeing enough focus on this area. We are seeing some initiatives from the government, but as Mr Berry or someone said, there does not seem to be much resourcing to fund them. Projects appear in the budget and when you ask where the funding is you are told, "The outcome is going to come from efficiencies." It is getting to be a bit like the fishes and loaves-we just keep getting more and more outcomes without any more inputs, without any more money. I do not think that is possible.
I think what is happening is that once again we are getting either under resourced initiatives or just commitments. This brings me back to the question of accountability and concerns about accountability and targets that I raised earlier in the budget debate.
The committee will be reporting on this issue. I sincerely hope that the government will take note of our recommendations. I hope to see a real funding effort to support this in the next budget. The long-term benefits are obvious. No-one would ever argue that the money you put into this now will not save the community money in the long term. There is no question about it and I do not think the minister would even argue with that. It is a matter of having the courage to invest that money now in the school system for this small group.
I noticed in the newspaper recently a comment from a magistrate that he was concerned because he did not see that these kids were being accommodated in the education system. So these concerns are coming from the judiciary as well.
MR STEFANIAK
(Minister for Education) (12.01 am): I thank members for their comments. Ms Tucker especially made some interesting, very valid and helpful comments. Some of the comments from the Labor Party were not. A couple of events worthy of note occurred this week which put all of this into perspective. On Tuesday,
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