Thank you very very much, my fellow Australians. It is a great pleasure for me to be here in Wadeye. I've heard quite a bit about this community and I've learnt in the short time I've been here of the intense cooperation that is taking place and the wish of so many of the leaders of this community to work together to create new opportunities for the young of the area, and to challenge and conquer some of the problems that have affected this community over many many years.
Before going on, I would like to acknowledge some of the elders and Council members I have met. They're very well known to you. They're here - Theodora and Leon, and Mathias, and Tobias, and of course Terry Bullimore; the Executive Director of the Council.
I want to compliment the community on the way in which it has taken responsibility for its own future. In the end the best that any government can offer the indigenous Australians of our nation, is the opportunity to share in the bounty and the wealth that this country has and that means ensuring that their access to education is the same as other Australians; their access to health services, their access to jobs, and of course their access to decent housing. But in order to bring that about, it's necessary for local communities in return to accept responsibility and the whole basis of the new approach, if I can put it that way, and it is a new approach, is for the Federal Government, the Territory Government and local communities to work together to address problems, and to bring about practical solutions, and I know what a tremendous success you've had with the new approach to schooling in Wadeye.
I was just talking to a new teacher who has come here in the last few weeks. She said it was necessary because of the expanding numbers of the school. Now that is the best possible news that you can have in any indigenous community anywhere in Australia, because unless children have the opportunity for education, unless they have the incentive to be educated, unless they have encouragement from their community - and that is what has happened here in Wadeye - then the likelihood of them sharing that bounty, sharing in the future of this country is greatly reduced. I am overjoyed to learn of the success of this particular community; to hear of the increase in the numbers coming to school, all of that is first class news for the future of the community and it's first class news for the future of indigenous policy.
Now I do want to thank the elders for the very warm welcome that they've given me. We had a talk and they each presented in different areas, some of their aspirations for the future and I had the Secretary of my Department and my senior advisers with me and we've come here largely to listen, as well as to meet all of you and I had the opportunity of meeting the trainees and apprentices of the pre-fab slab factory just a few minutes ago and to see the opportunities (small at the moment but hopefully they'll grow) that are being opened up in traditional areas of trade skills, and this country is very short of skilled tradesmen - we need more of them - particularly in the traditional areas.
Finally, before I finish and join all of you, I have an announcement of one or two new initiatives that we hope will be of assistance to the community. I am announcing today a package of some $2.7 million dollars of practical assistance. The first element will be $2 million dollars to establish a new broadband link to the community, and this will mean, this will mean importantly more reliable land based telephone services and new services like the internet and video conferencing. This will further connect your community with the rest of the Territory and the rest of Australia. It's important in so many ways, in the provision of health services, long distance, and provision of education services, and the normal communication and business transactions, and of course keeping track of what's happening in the rest of the world and $234,000 for the school to help with the larger number of students now attending and this $234,000 will be devoted towards classroom IT equipment, a Councillor and a nutrition program. A nutrition programme is always very important in all schools anywhere in the world and an emphasis on nutrition is absolutely critical.
And finally, an amount of $546,000 over four years for intensive support playgroups to help young families across the community with early childhood, health problems of early childhood, and general parenting assessments. Now this is once again an example of the practical approach that we are taking. Obviously, an isolated community needs communications assistance and the broadband link will do that.
Clearly a school that is experiencing, joyfully, an increase in its enrolment, it needs more help in coping with the larger number of children, and of course providing assistance for early childhood issues through supporting play groups is a very practical way in which we can help the parents of Wadeye to deal with the many problems that parents face particularly, but not only, the early years of childhood of their sons and daughters.
So my fellow Australians, thank you very much for your very warm and courteous, and friendly reception that you have extended to me. This is a community I can tell with a lot of spirit, it is a community that's determined to grab hold in a responsible way of its own future and I am here to say that we recognise that, we applaud it, we admire it, and we are prepared in cooperation with the Northern Territory Government to work together with you to deliver a better future for the citizens of Wadeye, and greater opportunity for all of them, to share in the plenty and opportunities of this great country of ours. Thank you very much.