Bills Digest no. 43 2008–09
Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2008
WARNING:
This Digest was prepared for debate. It reflects the legislation as introduced
and does not canvass subsequent amendments. This Digest does not have
any official legal status. Other sources should be consulted to determine
the subsequent official status of the Bill.
CONTENTS
Passage history
Purpose
Background
Financial implications
Main provisions
Concluding comments
Contact officer & copyright details
Passage history
Date introduced:
24 September 2008
House:
House of Representatives
Portfolio:
Education, Employment and Workplace Relations
Commencement:
Sections 1 to 3, Schedules 1 and 4 on Royal Assent.
Schedules 2 and 3 at the same time the Schools Assistance Act 2008
commences.
Links: The relevant
links to the Bill, Explanatory Memorandum and second reading speech
can be accessed via BillsNet, which is at http://www.aph.gov.au/bills/. When Bills
have been passed they can be found at ComLaw, which is at http://www.comlaw.gov.au/.
The purpose of the Bill is to amend
the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 to:
- Appropriate funding for 2009–2013 for non ABSTUDY targeted programs–
predominately in the non school sectors– and projects, aimed at improving
Indigenous education outcomes
- Provide for the continuation of payments for 2009–2013 to education
providers for the mixed-mode ‘Away from Base’ element of ABSTUDY
- Appropriate funding for new Indigenous early childhood measures until
new arrangements are introduced in 2009
- Cease appropriations from 2009 for six Indigenous education school
programs that will transfer to the proposed Schools Assistance Act for
non-government schools and to new funding arrangements for government
schools through agreements with the States and Territories.
The Bill makes consequential, transitional and technical
amendments to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act
2000, the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving Australia’s
Skills Needs) Act 2005 and the Schools Assistance (Learning Together—Achievement
Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 to reflect the provisions
of the proposed Schools Assistance Act.
The Bill also repeals the States Grants (Primary and
Secondary Education Assistance) Act 2000.
Since 1989, when Parliament
passed the Aboriginal Education (Supplementary Assistance) Amendment Bill,
Commonwealth funding for Indigenous education has contained two main elements:
assistance to individual students and direct funding to institutions providing
courses and training. Although the emphasis has moved towards funding
of strategic targeted initiatives through education providers, rather
than through support to individuals, the provision of Commonwealth support
has continued under the framework of a specific Act, currently the Indigenous
Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000 (the IETA Act).
The current IETA Act provides
quadrennium funding across all education sectors for the years 2005–2008.
Similarly Commonwealth assistance to government and non-government schools
is provided on a quadrennium basis through the Schools Assistance (Learning
Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004.
The proposed Schools Assistance
Act and future agreements with the States and Territories will, from 2009,
provide Commonwealth funding to non-government and government schools.[1]
In a major legislative change these new arrangements will now include
appropriations for Indigenous school education. Six Indigenous education
programs in the school sector currently funded through the IETA Act will
be consolidated into one per capita payment—the Indigenous Supplementary
Assistance (ISA).[2] An estimated $663.4 million in
final 2008 prices, or two-thirds of the appropriations for the 2005-2008
quadrennium, will transfer from appropriations under the IETA Act to the
new arrangements for school funding.[3]
The IETA Act will continue
to provide funding for Indigenous education programs and Indigenous students,
largely but not exclusively in the non-school sectors. Through the proposed
section 14B the Bill will appropriate $640.5 million for 2009–2013.
However after funding arrangements for early childhood initiatives ($160
million) and vocational education and training are finalised in 2009 the
IETA Act will fund non-ABSTUDY ‘remnant’ projects which might be described
as those not funded on a per capita basis–such as the Parent School Partnerships
Initiative, boarding schools, the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program and
sporting academies; projects funded through third party providers such
as the Indigenous festivals; and funding to assist tertiary students such
as the Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (tertiary component).
Since 1999 the IETA Act has also authorised payments
from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for the ‘Mixed-mode’ Away-from-base
ABSTUDY payments which are paid to education providers for the costs of
ABSTUDY recipients to access intensive residential courses as part of
a distance education course.[4]
These payments will continue under Section 13 of the IETA Act.[5]
The Labor Government’s policy on Indigenous Affairs is
focussed on closing the substantial gaps that exist between the socio-economic
outcomes of the Indigenous and non-Indigenous population. In the Prime
Minister’s speech on the apology to Indigenous Australians he stated:
Our challenge for the future is [to] … embrace a new
partnership between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians … the
core of this partnership for the future is to closing the gap between
Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians on life expectancy, educational
achievement and employment opportunities. This new partnership on closing
the gap will set concrete targets for the future: within a decade to
halve the widening gap in literacy, numeracy and employment outcomes
and opportunities for Indigenous children, within a decade to halve
the appalling gap in infant mortality rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous
children and, within a generation, to close the equally appalling 17-year
life gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous.[6]
During the election campaign in November 2007 the Australian
Labor Party announced a range of measures to improve education outcomes
of Indigenous students including a promise to expand ‘intensive literacy
and numeracy programs in our schools … the development of individual learning
plans for Indigenous students … [to] invest in building three new secondary
boarding colleges in the Northern Territory .. and [provide funding] for
200 additional teachers for the Northern Territory.’[7]
These commitments totalling $184.1 million were funded
under the 2008–09 Budget measure ‘Closing the gap for Indigenous Australians’.[8] Appropriations for 2008 were made
through amendments to the IETA Act.[9] Further appropriations to 2012
including the budget measures for intensive literacy and numeracy programs
and individual learning plans are included in the new amounts in proposed
section 14B[10].
Although the Coalition Government did not set a timetable
to achieve such a goal, the Labor Government’s aim to close the gaps in
outcomes is not unlike that of the previous Government’s. Furthermore
the Government continues the policy of providing a greater weighting of
resources towards Indigenous students in remote areas where disadvantage
is greatest. The Labor Government will continue funding initiatives introduced
by the former government such as the Indigenous Youth Mobility Program
and sporting academies.[11]
The major departure in the Bill, together with provisions
in the Schools Assistance Act and foreshadowed changes under the National
Education Agreement, is the dismantling of the IETA Act as the legislative
basis and funding for Indigenous education programmes. This policy change
is illustrated by the consolidation of targeted school programs into the
Indigenous Supplementary Assistance (ISA) under the new school funding
arrangements. The ISA will allow more freedom for schools to spend funds
and develop programs in ways best suited to meet the objectives of closing
the gap on literacy and numeracy rates, participation and retention. This
will benefit those schools (and their students) with enthusiastic staff
and communities who know what initiatives work for their school and how
to best utilise the one payment. However it is possible targeted initiatives
such as Tutorial Assistance, Homework Centres and strategies for students
whose second language is English may disappear from other schools.
The policy change will increase funding through a change
in the indexation mechanism: from the Wage Cost Index no. 1 used under
the IETA Act to the Average Government School Recurrent Costs (AGSRC)
used for schools funding.
The Bill provides for a total of $742.6 million[12] through
- the appropriation of $640.5 million in final 2008 prices for non-ABSTUDY
payments[13]
- an estimated $102.1 million for ABSTUDY (Away From Base) payments
to be made out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.
Schedule 1 deals with the amendments to the Indigenous
Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000
Item 6 inserts a proposed section 14B with
appropriations for non-ABSTUDY payments from January 2009 to June 2013
totalling $640.5 million.
Item 7 substitutes new conditions in section 17A
dealing with annual report requirements.
Section 17A of the IETA Act requires a report to Parliament
on the progress of Indigenous education and training to be tabled after
each funding year. Existing section 17A lists eight areas which must be
dealt with in the report. Proposed section 17A deletes these detailed
requirements, instead stipulating the report deal with ‘payments and performance
information under agreements made under this Act’.
Since 2001 the National Report to Parliament on Indigenous
Education and Training has provided details of equity and access provisions,
funding and indicators across all sectors disaggregated to the state and
territory level. With the move of school programs, and possible changes
to vocational education and early childhood provisions, out of the IETA
Act the reporting requirements on Indigenous education and training may
prove to be inconsistent across sectors and published in a diverse range
of sources dependant on the reporting requirements of other Acts.
Schedules 2 and 4 deal with consequential and
technical amendments to the Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance)
Act 2000, the Australian Technical Colleges (Flexibility in Achieving
Australia’s Skills Needs) Act 2005 and the Schools Assistance (Learning
Together—Achievement Through Choice and Opportunity) Act 2004 to reflect
the provisions of the proposed Schools Assistance Act.
The Bill, along with the Schools Assistance Bill and
foreshadowed changes to be introduced with the National Education Agreement,
makes a major departure to the legislative basis and funding for Indigenous
education programmes. For the first time since 1989 provision of targeted
assistance to Indigenous education will be ‘mainstreamed’ through a number
of Acts and agreements and targeted programs for school students will
be rolled into one Indigenous Supplementary Assistance.
The diverse sources of reporting, such as various legislative
requirements and non legislative mechanisms such as the annual Prime Ministerial
statement on closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians[14],
may prove problematic in gaining a concise and consistent understanding
of targeted assistance and its outcomes. Yet such data will be crucial
in understanding if the Government’s new approach to Indigenous education
is on target in meeting its aim of halving gaps within a decade.
Coral Dow
13 October 2008
Bills Digest Service
Parliamentary Library
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