Shadow Minister for Education, Senator the Hon Sarah Henderson
Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price
The Albanese government’s commitment to boarding school facilities in Alice Springs is in tatters with infrastructure projects at two schools in jeopardy because of underfunding.
Shadow Minister for Education, Sarah Henderson and Shadow Minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, said the $18 million Central Australia Boarding Response Fund was insufficient to meet the needs of the most marginalised children in Alice Springs.
Yipirinya School, which applied for $9.95 million to build a $14 million boarding facility, received only $6.3 million. St Philip’s College’s $10 million project received just $1.7 million.
Only Yirara College’s $10 million project was fully funded.
“This boarding school fund was developed in response to Labor’s failure to match the Coalition’s commitment to Yipirinya School,” Senator Henderson said.
“Boarding facilities in Alice Springs are critical to ensuring Indigenous children can attend school safely, free of family violence and dysfunction. At Yipirinya, these facilities would play a vital role in keeping teenagers off the streets and out of jail.
“Education Minister Jason Clare’s piecemeal approach has short-changed the most disadvantaged students in the country,” Senator Henderson said.
Senator Nampijinpa Price said boarding schools play a crucial role in supporting Indigenous students in remote communities who often have to travel long distances to attend school.
“Labor has forced Yipirinya School to wait two-and-a-half years for funding, only to provide less than half of what is needed to deliver their project.
“In a region burdened by poor school attendance, youth crime and chronic disadvantage, this is too little too late from Labor,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.
Senator Nampijinpa Price also raised concerns regarding the government decision not to release the review of Central boarding school options, but said it was not surprising, given officials admitted in Estimates earlier this year the $18 million figure was not arrived at as a reflection of the needs on the ground.
“At Senate estimates when officials were asked how many schools had been identified that might apply for funding their response was, `That’s a good question’,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.
There is also deep concern about the axing of NIAA’s $21.6 million Indigenous Boarding Providers Grant program in this year’s budget which Independent Schools Australia says was used to support 2,300 students.
“This cut to recurrent funding for Indigenous boarding shows Labor is all about politics rather than outcomes for our most marginalised,” Senator Nampijinpa Price said.
The Albanese Government has also failed indigenous students by redirecting $40.4 million from the On-Country Learning to Improve School Engagement program to the Northern Territory government, rather than provide it equitably to schools as part of the Alice Springs community safety package.
By not providing sufficient funding, Labor also axed the construction of two indigenous boarding schools in East Arnhem Land and the Pilbara.