The promise of education 

Portfolios: Education, Science and Training; Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs

Why is this important?

• Indigenous children living in remote communities often do not have access to decent education and training. Too many are living in dysfunctional community and family situations.
• This measure offers Indigenous Australians living in remote areas the opportunity to relocate to major regional centres for the educational and training opportunities not otherwise available to them.
• It expands the successful Indigenous Youth Mobility Programme, which assists young Indigenous people from remote areas to access training in major centres, and the Indigenous Youth Leadership Programme, which provides scholarships for young Indigenous people from remote areas to study at high performing schools and universities.
• Boarding hostels situated near regional secondary schools will be built in partnership with the private sector (particularly the mining industry), the Indigenous Land Corporation and state/territory and private education systems.
• The initiative will also provide much needed capital funding to boarding schools with strong track records of providing secondary schooling for Indigenous young people. Many of these schools are recording growing waiting lists for access to places for Indigenous people. It also provides for grants to existing boarding schools to create new places and for urgent upgrades of accommodation facilities to prevent a loss of existing boarding places.

Who will benefit?

• An additional 1600 Indigenous young people, their families and their communities will benefit through improved education, employment and training outcomes.
• New boarding hostel places will be offered for Indigenous secondary students from remote areas.
• Sites for the new and expanded hostels will be determined through consultation with state and private education providers, the mining industry in key locations and the Indigenous Land Corporation in areas where there is an identified need.
• Indigenous young people living in rural and remote areas whose families choose to send them to boarding schools to access high quality education opportunities not otherwise available to them.
• Accommodation upgrades will benefit students studying at existing boarding schools as well as the boarding schools themselves as they will be able to offer more places.

What funding is the Government committing to the initiative?

• The Australian Government will provide $177.4 million over five years.

What have we done in the past?

• The Indigenous Youth Mobility Programme (640 places) and the Indigenous Youth Leadership Programme (250 places) were introduced in the 2005 Budget as a result of the Australian Government's 2004 election commitments which focused on mobility.
• The programmes provide the additional support needed for young people from remote areas to relocate to take up apprenticeships and other post secondary training options in major centres and for Indigenous young people to attend high performing schools and universities while developing their leadership potential.
• These programmes build on opportunities supported through ABSTUDY living allowance, ABSTUDY Away from Base and Boarding Schools.
• In the 2006-07 Budget, the Australian Government provided $10.0 million to support the construction of a pilot community managed Indigenous boarding college on the Tiwi Islands.

When will the initiative conclude?

• This is an ongoing initiative.