ABORIGINAL STUDENTS

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (15:26): Can the Minister for Education and Child Development advise the house on how the government is supporting Aboriginal students?

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (15:26): I would like to thank the member for Ashford for this very important question. Right across this great state I am very pleased to say that we have made substantial gains in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. We have record school retention figures. More Aboriginal students than ever before are completing their SACE, and we have increased the number of Aboriginal teachers who work in our schools by more than 50 per cent in the past five years, and this is something that we should all be incredibly proud of.

We have put substantial resources into education, and I can give you that information. Programs like Wiltja in Woodville, which support students from the APY lands to study at school in Adelaide, have produced outstanding results. We have schools like Warriappendi, which offer specialist curriculum for students who have performed extremely well in terms of their NAPLAN results. We also have programs to provide mentoring to assist students improve their study habits and we have programs to support schools improve the academic outcomes for their Aboriginal students.

The department has recently commenced a partnership with Chris Sarra's (from Queensland) Stronger, Smarter Institute. In fact, I caught up with him a few days ago to look at ways we can better support Aboriginal students in our community. In terms of the APY lands, we have made—and continue to make—substantial resource commitments, as we should, to ensure that our students are well supported.

On recent trips to the lands, I was told by communities that remarkable progress has been made in recent years, and I know that the Premier—when he was minister for education—had a similar feeling about the progress we were making on the lands. Even taking this into account, attendance rates today are higher than when Labor came to government in 2002. There is no question that we still have work to do in relation to school attendance, but we have made significant progress.

For instance, over the past five years, there have been substantial increases in the number of children attending school, particularly at senior secondary level, where a massive two and a half times as many children are staying in school. Notwithstanding these gains, we recognise that, although we are coming off a low base, we are making significant inroads.

In South Australia, we have maintained a 100 per cent enrolment rate of Aboriginal students in preschool, and this is a very good sign. Aboriginal children have been some of the first in the state to receive the increased entitlement from 11 hours of preschool a week to 15 hours. Aboriginal children are also eligible for early enrolment in preschool from three years of age to give them the best start in life, which, of course, is exactly what this new agency is about; it is about ensuring that we give every child in our community the best start in life.