APY LANDS, SCHOOL ATTENDANCE

Mr MARSHALL (Norwood—Leader of the Opposition) (15:29): My question is to the Premier. Can the Premier confirm that since the Mullighan inquiry was handed down in 2008 the average attendance rate for students on the APY lands has fallen, despite recommendation 25 calling for the department to take steps to ensure that all children attend school as a matter of urgency?

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Premier, Treasurer, Minister for State Development, Minister for the Public Sector, Minister for the Arts) (15:29): I will have to take that question on notice. I am not briefed about attendance rates on the APY lands. I do know that this is receiving a very significant amount of attention though from the Minister for Education. Indeed, I have had a conversation directly with new Senator Scullion, who I think is assisting the Prime Minister in relation to matters concerning Aboriginal affairs, about this very point.

We know that the challenge of ensuring that children in remote Aboriginal communities stay at school is a very real one. The last advice I had is that, when students are actually in their communities, the school attendance rate is relatively high. The difficulty is that many students are not in their home communities for a range of reasons, including the way in which people move between communities for a whole range of reasons: social reasons, cultural reasons.

Sorry business is taking up a very substantial proportion of the amount of time, perhaps more than it culturally should. I think that's a hard debate that Senator Scullion is preparing to have with Aboriginal communities. Indeed, in some of the Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory, he has had some success in that regard. We also know that these communities clean out during very hot weather. They come down to regional areas like Port Augusta or, indeed, come down into the city, so that makes it difficult to manage these children.

Look, this is a real issue. I wouldn't be surprised if we are struggling to achieve the results we want to achieve in school attendance in relation to Aboriginal children. What I can say more broadly, which includes all of the children in the APY lands, is that the figures in totality for year 12 retention rates for Aboriginal children are the highest in the nation and have increased by about 10 per cent from about 69 per cent to 79 per cent.