Regional and remote Indigenous communities: first report 2008

Senate Select Committee on Regional and Remote Indigenous Communities
The select committee was established in March this year to report twice yearly on issues including the impact of state and territory government policies on the wellbeing of regional and remote Indigenous communities. This report outlines the issues that have been raised with it so far and provides some direction for the focus of future reports. Posted 03-10-2008

Leadership skills for young Indigenous

Fifteen Indigenous trainees are undertaking a week-long leadership course in Canberra as part of a new eight-week Australian Defence Force and Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations training and employment initiative.

Infrastructure support for Indigenous students

Indigenous students boarding at eight non-government schools will benefit from a further $8.6 million in infrastructure funding from the Australian Government.

Welfare payments and school attendance

Welfare payments and school attendance: an analysis of experimental policy in Indigenous education
Larissa Behrendt and Ruth McCausland / Australian Education Union
Making the welfare payments of Indigenous people conditional on measures such as their children's school attendance is becoming an increasingly popular policy measure in Australia. This paper sets out the increasing influence of the concept of mutual obligation in Australia and its particular application to Indigenous policy. Posted 13-08-2008

Implementing an Aboriginal perspective

Implementing an Aboriginal perspective into any everyday early childhood environment
G. Wilson / Childcare and Children's Health
This publication promotes current expert advice on child health and wellbeing and current policies and practices for those who work with young children and their families. Posted 05-08-2008

The school readiness of Australian Indigenous children

The school readiness of Australian Indigenous children: a review of the literature
Nick McTurk and others / School for Social and Policy Research
This review of the literature is primarily a search for and synopsis of the research evidence that underpins the school readiness of Indigenous Australian children. Posted 02-06-2008

Our children, our future

Our children, our future: achieving improved primary and secondary education outcomes for Indigenous students
Louise Doyle and Regina Hill / The AMP Foundation, Effective Philanthropy and Social Ventures Australia
This report outlines eight interventions aimed at improving the educational outcomes of Indigenous children and young people. It covers current educational challenges and provides a framework for making philanthropic investments that will produce sustainable outcomes. Posted 03-06-2008

The entangled relationship

The entangled relationship between Indigenous spatiality and government service delivery
Sarah Prout / Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research
Drawing on research in Yamatji country, Western Australia, this paper examines the complex and often contested relationship between mobile Indigenous people living in regional and remote areas and the delivery of State housing, health and education services. Posted 27-05-2008

The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

The health and welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 2008
Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and Australian Bureau of Statistics
This report provides a comprehensive overview of the health and welfare of Australia's Indigenous population, presenting the latest information on population demographics, housing circumstances, disability and carers, health status, and the provision, access and use of health and community services. Posted 19-05-2008

The funding of Indigenous education

The funding of Indigenous education through special purpose supplementation: an historical overview
Helen Walsh and Tess Lea / School for Social and Policy Research
This report concludes that targeted Federal Government funding designed to 'close the gap' in Indigenous education has effectively been frozen for years. It reveals that when many new programs come on board, they do not represent additional money, rather re-labelling of old. Posted 19-05-2008

Estimating cognitive gaps

Estimating cognitive gaps between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians
Andrew Leigh and Xiaodong Gong / Centre for Economic Policy Research
Improving cognitive skills of young children has been suggested as a possible strategy for equalising opportunities across racial groups. Posted 12-05-2008

What’s the point of teaching languages?

A first practical step towards reconciliation in Australia would be to teach a local Aboriginal language in schools.
Feature - Brian Manning - posted 12/5/2008

Whitefella education won’t work

To achieve better educational outcomes for Indigenous Australians we need to give tangible evidence that we value their cultures as much as we value our own.
Indigenous Affairs - Jan Ferguson - posted 21/4/2008

Indigenous education in the Northern Territory

Helen Hughes / Centre for Independent Studies
With the numeracy and literacy skills of five-year-olds, ten thousand indigenous teenagers and young men and women are unemployable because of the educational failures of the last decade. Posted 15-04-2008

Staff in Australia's schools 2007

Phillip McKenzie, Julie Kos, Maurice Walker and Jennifer Hong / Australian Council for Educational Research
This report outlines the results of the Staff in Australia's Schools survey, which gathered information from over 13,000 secondary and primary school teachers and leaders across the country. It aimed to address key gaps in the data available to characterise the teaching profession to support workforce planning. Posted 21-01-2008

Universal preschool education

Universal preschool education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
Michaela Kronemann / Australian Education Union
Around half of Australia's Indigenous children are not enrolled in preschool education. This briefing paper recommends that two years of free, high quality and culturally appropriate preschool education should be made a priority for all Indigenous children. Posted 29-10-2007

Education is the key

Education is the key. An educational future for Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory
Michaela Kronemann / Australian Education Union
This report highlights the significant levels of under-resourcing of the Northern Territory Education system and the impacts that this has on the ability of Indigenous people to access high quality public education. Posted 29-10-2007

NIT - Additional News - Oct 22-29

Obesity epidemic among children "overstated"
SYDNEY, October 22, 2007: A study has revealed that the obesity epidemic among children has been grossly overstated, and that the problem is concentrated among poorer families and some ethnic groups.

$1.7 billion needed for Aboriginal education in NT
DARWIN, October 23, 2007: Almost $2 billion is needed to ensure that Aboriginal students in the Northern Territory have the same opportunities as all Australian students, a new report has found.

Indigenous babies death rates still poor despite improvement
SYDNEY, October 24, 2007: The death rate for babies born to Indigenous mothers has declined, but is still almost double the death rate of those born to non-Indigenous mothers, a new report has revealed.

Aboriginal people sign first mining agreement
DARWIN, October 26, 2007: The first mining agreement between a group of Aboriginal people and a mining company in central Australia has been signed.

Maningrida residents launch legal action against fed govt
DARWIN, October 26, 2007: A remote Aboriginal community has launched a legal challenge against the federal government's intervention in the Northern Territory.

Extra police sent into Wadeye after riot
DARWIN, October 29, 2007: Northern Territory police may send in further reinforcements after days of violence in the troubled Aboriginal township of Wadeye.

National Indigenous Times - Business - Issue 137 - 06 September 2007

'Opening the floodgates' for employment at UQ
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Providing real job opportunities is a key to overcoming Indigenous disadvantage according to UQ's new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Coordinator.

High tech skills for rainforest people
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: The Aboriginal Rainforest Council and the Tropical North Queensland Institute of TAFE have celebrated the success of the first pilot Cultural Heritage Recording and Mapping course delivered in culturally appropriate ways.

Boost for Tas women
Issue 137, September 6, 2007: Indigenous women in Tasmania will receive new training and skills to help prepare them to enter the workforce.

Getting Indigenous kids to school

Life Matters ABC Radio National (Streaming audio, MP3)
From the beginning of the 2009 school year, as part of the federal government's controversial intervention policy in the Northern Territory's Indigenous communities, Centrelink will be able to 'manage' the welfare payments of Indigenous parents whose children are repeatedly absent from school.
It's a plan prominent Aboriginal activist Noel Pearson has long been advocating to encourage responsible parenting.
And it's a simple concept, if your children don't go to school, Centrelink will step in and manage your money for you. But is that a fair trade-off? Is it reasonable to expect Indigenous parents to be held solely responsible for chronic absenteeism? And, most importantly, will it get kids to school?