ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR EDUCATION:
Thanks everyone for coming here to the Bamaga State School. There is an old saying that it’s those who turn up that make a difference and in this case here at school it is those who turn up who get the best opportunities in life and the best future opportunities. What we have seen here is that remote school attendance strategies are making a real difference. The school that has gone from attendance rates around the 70 per cent mark to attendance rates this week yesterday at 98 per cent of students being here. By being here these students are getting the best of learning opportunities which we have seen in the classrooms today, that they are actually getting the type of instruction that is giving these children the best of opportunities to go on to further education and from that further education get the skills to get jobs in the future which can only lift the opportunities for this entire community in the long run.
It’s great to be here of course with the Prime Minister first and foremost, with the Minister for Social Services Scott Morrison and with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion and I will hand over to Scott to say a few words.
SOCIAL SERVICES MINISTER:
Thank you Simon, and Prime Minister thank you for bringing us up here for these few days. This is a tremendous initiative for us all to come and get this firsthand look at what is happening in this community and we’ve just heard about the tremendous success that the programme is having in getting kids to school here. Robbie, who is the local coordinator is an absolute champion and the way he is working with his team to get these results is quite inspirational. The other thing we're seeing here is the importance of early childhood education right here at Bamaga. Just behind us is the pre-prep and this has been running for many years now and when you go and look at what's happening in the other classrooms where the children have gone through that pre-prep, it really is giving them a distinct advantage. Early childhood education for Indigenous communities, it can be a real game changer. It's being a real game changer here for these young children. So, as we move forward with the jobs for families package and the child care safety net, there will be a keen focus and attention on Indigenous communities, because we know that can make the big difference to their learning. So, if we can set them up right, if we get them to school, like is occurring here, then these kids can achieve everything they hope to achieve. That's tremendous, Prime Minister and Nigel, congratulations on the work you've been doing here as well. Thanks.
PRIME MINISTER:
Scott, thank you so much. It is terrific to be here in Bamaga in Cape York with Scott Morrison the Minister for Social Services, with Nigel Scullion the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, and also with Senator Simon Birmingham the Assistant Minister for Education. Yes, there was a very enthusiastic start to the day today on the school bus with some of these youngsters who are obviously excited about the start of their school day. I have to say that many schools in remote parts of Australia are being transformed right now by better forms of teaching, by a renewed focus by all governments on putting the best teachers into remote schools and I think we saw palpable enthusiasm in these classrooms. I think we saw very disciplined teaching methods. I think we saw tremendous participation by these youngsters in their education and in that year 6 class, we saw remarkable insights into the wider world, frankly.
So, I think everyone should be encouraged by what's happening here at Bamaga and in many other parts of remote Australia right now. Certainly, I'm encouraged. As you might remember, I spent three weeks as a teacher's aide in Coen back in 2008. I spent 10 days as an attendance officer in Aurukun back in 2009. I saw the beginnings of this transformation in 2012 in Aurukun, where more direct instruction methods were already being applied. But what we saw was a very sophisticated teaching method, based on the things that we know work, based on, if you like, traditional teaching methods, but a much more sophisticated version of it, aided with modern technology today.
Obviously, while I'm here in Cape York and the Torres Strait, I'm also conscious of what's happening in the wider world. There is continuing instability in world stock markets basically due to, I suppose, over-exuberance in the Chinese market earlier in the year and the inevitable correction and slowdown in the Chinese economy. We always need to remember that in a market economy, stock markets go down as well as up. There's no one-way escalator here. They go down, as well as up, even if, over time, the trend tends to be up. The important thing is that while China is slowing, the US, which remains by far the world's largest economy is picking up. There are signs of movement in Europe and our economy remains fundamentally strong. Our growth in the last quarter was strong, certainly much stronger than it had been a couple of years ago. We've had 335,000 more jobs created in our economy since the election. Bankruptcies are at near record lows. Car sales are at near record highs. Job ads are strong. Our export growth is strong. People wanting to invest in our country from overseas are a great vote of confidence in our economy. And this is a Government which is serious about getting taxes down, getting regulation down, and getting productivity up. So, Australians have every reason to face the future with confidence notwithstanding these headwinds overseas.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, did your office push the US to expand its role in Syria?
PRIME MINSITER:
Well, let’s start with the education question and then we’ll get back to that one.
QUESTION:
Thanks Prime Minister, just when you were speaking to the students you told them about the value of education, forging on and ahead in spite of life’s challenges. If you could speak to Indigenous children across the nation about the importance of school, what would you say?
PRIME MINSITER:
It's absolutely critical to your future and it doesn't matter what you want to be, whether you want to be a nurse, a teacher, a police officer, a business person or a sports star or an actor or a dancer, it doesn't matter what you want to be, you're going to have a chance of being that if you get a decent education. If you don't turn up for school none of these things are even possibilities unless you are rescued by spectacular luck. So, turning up to school is the foundation of a decent life – it’s as simple as that. That's true, doesn't matter where you live, doesn't matter who your parents are, doesn't matter what kind of cultural background you come from – turning up at school is the foundation of a decent life for everyone.
QUESTION:
[Inaudible] last night was that Indigenous people don't have enough of a say in how they're governed and how issues related to them are being dealt with. How do you think the Government can combat that?
PRIME MINSITER:
I can understand the feeling of powerlessness which Indigenous people have historically had but there is less and less reason for that today. You will note that the principal here is an Indigenous person and increasingly there are Indigenous people who are teaching Indigenous kids. Increasingly there are Indigenous people working in and even running Indigenous organisations. So, things are changing, they're changing all the time, they're changing for the better. That doesn't mean there isn't more to do and one of the initiatives that the Government is looking at is the Empowered Communities initiative and in return for a serious effort to get the kids to school, the adults to work and the community safe, certainly we are prepared to consider allowing communities much more control over the discretionary Government funding that goes into them.
QUESTION:
When will there be a formal response to the Empowered Communities report?
PRIME MINISTER:
The report was given to us, I think, in March. We're carefully considering it and some time before the end of the year there will be a response.
QUESTION:
Can I just take you back to the Syrian question as to whether or not the role…
PRIME MINISTER:
We’ll get there. Let's do Indigenous issues first and then we’ll get to other issues.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, what evidence is there that direct instruction works in Indigenous community?
PRIME MINISTER:
Certainly the on-the-ground experience seems to be that it is producing more enthusiastic, more disciplined classes and over time it seems to be helping with teacher morale. Certainly we did see a form of explicit and direct instruction in these classrooms today and as someone who has been in Indigenous classrooms at different times over quite a few years now, they were the best classrooms I've ever seen and most of those classrooms had very high percentage of people attending. I think the 2 to 3 class had 100 per cent attendance today – very enthusiastic participation. The year 6 class that we saw at the end was truly remarkable – truly remarkable. I think there wouldn't have been any of us who wouldn't have had trouble keeping up with that classroom and to think that in this very remote school which until recently was an underperformer by national standards; was a difficult and troubled school, to see that kind of performance should give everyone great heart that there can be and is occurring change for the better.
QUESTION:
What about the end of school and the prospect of getting a job? The common theme among these communities is that business is either dead or limited. What can this Government do to increase economic opportunities here?
PRIME MINISTER:
Obviously, we are very keen to see places like Bamaga be an economy as well as just a society, as well as just a community. In the end, it is the entrepreneurial spirit of local people that is going to be critical here, but Government will do what it can to help. Good schools help; good services help; a well-functioning community employment programme helps, better infrastructure helps and the Peninsula Development Road, the PDR, is being sealed further and further up towards the tip of the Cape all the time.
So, all of those things will help, but the sort of youngsters we saw in that year 6 a moment ago, if they do go through secondary school with the same enthusiasm and commitment, they would be more than capable of going to university, they would be more than capable of getting a job anywhere and even if there aren't that many jobs here at the moment, there are certainly plenty of jobs in our economy that Indigenous people ought to have open to them.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, what's this area and the Torres Strait doing that other Indigenous communities aren't to have much higher attendance rates?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's a very fair question, Steven. I think there's been a pretty strong social fabric here. There's been quite a strong faith influence here if I may say so and I'm not saying that's the prerequisite of strong societies, but it certainly can be an influence. Perhaps there's a cohesiveness amongst the clans and the peoples of this area which might not always be present in some other remote places with a different history, but the fact that very good things can happen here should give Indigenous people everywhere great hope that good things can happen where they are too.
QUESTION:
You also have the Attorney-General with you on this trip. Are you now convinced that it would be unwise to schedule two referenda in the next term of parliament and same-sex marriage should be better dealt with as a plebiscite?
PRIME MINISTER:
Look, I think the Australian people are more than capable of considering different important issues at different times. If it's the right time to deal with same-sex marriage – and I think the next parliament certainly is the right time for the people to deal with same-sex marriage – and if it's the right time for the people to deal with Indigenous recognition – and I hope that that will come in the course of the next parliament, I very much hope that that will come in the course of the next parliament and I am committed to doing everything I can to make it happen in the next term of parliament – we are capable of considering both of these issues.
QUESTION:
But you're not persuaded that a referendum is inappropriate for the same-sex marriage issue for all the reasons that a number of your colleagues have outlined?
PRIME MINISTER:
I'll be taking a proposal to Cabinet in the next couple of weeks and it will then go to the Party Room on this and the important thing is that it will go to the people. This will be a people's decision, not a politicians’ decision.
QUESTION:
Can we go to international affairs now?
PRIME MINISTER:
Sure.
QUESTION:
Did your office push the US to expand its role in Syria?
PRIME MINISTER:
Can I start at the beginning, and what we are seeing in northern Syria and Iraq is a humanitarian catastrophe and it is a strategic catastrophe. The consolidation of a terrorist state based on the principle ‘submit or die’ would be a disaster for the world and it's right and proper that a coalition of nations should be working hard to disrupt, to degrade and ultimately to destroy this death cult. We have seen again and again unspeakable atrocities at the hands of these people, most recently the public beheading of an 80-year-old antiquarian who had done so much to preserve the ancient culture of Palmyra. So, it is very important that we do whatever we reasonably can in partnership with our Middle Eastern and other allies to destroy the Daesh death cult.
Now, I've long thought that while the legalities are different, the moralities of this issue are the same on either side of the border. Our initial commitment was to conduct air strikes against the death cult in Iraq where we had the invitation of the Iraqi Government. Recently, there's been a request from the Americans to extend our air strikes to the Syrian side of the border. Now, this was raised with me by the President in a conversation that the President initiated to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade negotiation. So, it was raised with me by President Obama. When President Obama raised it with me, I said that I would have our officials talk with each other and as a result of those conversations a formal request has now come from the Pentagon.
QUESTION:
So you're confident it wasn't your office initially raising the idea of this with the US ahead of that conversation?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, all I know is that I was on the other end of the phone line, the President was on Air Force One. The President had initiated this phone call to talk about the Trans-Pacific Partnership and after I’d initially expressed my condolences for the terrorist shootings in Chattanooga, the President then raised with me the Syrian situation and said that he would be very glad if Australia would do more, including air strikes, and I said that I was happy to consider that request and our officials would talk and now this request has come from the Pentagon.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, will you visit Canning before the by-election?
PRIME MINISTER:
That's certainly my intention. Life is pretty busy and you never know what's going to come up, but certainly, it is my intention to be there to support an outstanding candidate and to talk about a great Government record because we really do have a candidate in Canning who would be a real champion for the people of Canning. We've got a very strong record when it comes to helping Western Australia. We've removed the anti-Western Australian taxes – the carbon tax and the mining tax – and you know, if Labor were to come back to government, the mining tax comes back and the carbon tax comes back, only it's the carbon tax on steroids. Instead of a $23 a tonne carbon tax, it will be a $200 a tonne carbon tax because that's what the modelling shows is needed to achieve a 40 per cent plus reduction in emissions and that would cost the average Australian family some $5,000. So, if the people of Canning want to protect their state from anti-Western Australian taxes, they should be voting for the Liberal candidate.
QUESTION:
Sorry, just one more on Syria, when will the Security Council of Cabinet meet to make its determination on this matter?
PRIME MINISTER:
Most likely next week.
Thanks so much.
[ends]