Decent education for all, Dodson's goal
Updated
The Australian of the Year has made an impassioned plea for a decent education for all Australian children.
Professor Mick Dodson said the issue would define his work in 2009, the year he holds the honour. It comes in the context of the Australian government's promise of an education revolution in Australia, but amid continuing rancour over the best approach where the most disadvantaged -- Aboriginal children -- are concerned.
Presenter: Linda Mottram
Speakers: Mick Dodson, Indigenous lawyer and activist, 2009 Australian of the year; Tony Abbott, Australian Opposition Indigenous Affairs spokesman
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MOTTRAM: Aboriginal children at work in one of Darwin's better schools.
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MOTTRAM: For some in the most remote communities though, despite Australia's enormous wealth and priviledge, a full time teacher can be a luxury. And that's if the children go to school at all. In some indigenous communities, a decades-old cycle of tragedy and violence, means there's no normal life. L awlessness dominates and parents are so ravaged themselves, that children run wild, not compelled to go to school. Its not a new problem and there are any number of views on what should, could be done to remedy this blight on Australia's reputation. And it has led Professor Mick Dodson .. lawer, activist and Australian of the year for 2009 .. to the conclusion that it must be his priority during the year, indeed, the nation's priority, he says.
DODSON: What I'd like to see is every Austrlaian child next Austrlaia day geared up and ready for the start of the 2010 school year.
MOTTRAM: And while not naming any government in particular, Professor Dodson pointed to one example of what he sees as the political and bureaucratic muddle that can jeopardise education prospects.
DODSON: Now, consider a school on an outstation in the Northern Territory. A good new building, a school house, 30-odd children living in houses around the school, parents who want them to have an education. But the teacher, paid a full time salary is only there for half the week at most.And primarily concerned with reaching national benchmarks and university entrance standards, the responsible education officers have decreed that teachers will only spend five to six days a fortnight in the classroom. Now try to imagine if your children in a suburban or rural school were missing out like this.
MOTTRAM: He noted with evident emotion the overwhelmingly positive response of Australians to the enormous need of those caught up in the recent firestorms in the state of Victoria. And he wondered about the tens of millions of dollars suddenly available to deal with a global financial crisis that's only emerged in a matter of months. But more than anything, he implored the nation to work together.
DODSON: Now some of us might think the solution lies in sending kids from remote areas to boarding schools. Some think that we should be teaching indigenous kids like we teach non-indigenous kids in remote rural areas, teaching them in their own country, on their own turf. Some might think the solution lies in building regional boarding schools. What I say is that I want us to carefully examine all approaches rather than falling into the trap of imagining there's just one solution that fits every single situation.
MOTTRAM: Mick Dodson's commitment to pursue an ambitious education agenda during the year could create a policy challenge for a national government in Australia that has promised no less than an education revolution.
Responding to Professor Dodson's call, Australia's education minister, and deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard, acknowledges an urgent need, and cites the government's existing commitment to invest several billion dollars in indigenous education over the next four years. Mick Dodson himself has acknowledged the government has put important measures in place. Another with strong views on matters indigenous and educational is Tony Abbott, a minister in the previous conservative government of John Howard, now the main opposition spokesman on indigenous affairs.
ABBOTT: I wouldn't neglect law and order though because in some of these remote towns we've basically had a situation of anything goes, we've had rampant substance abuse, we've had rampant domestic violence and the only way to prevent that and in fact allow the kids to get to school and allow teachers to do their job properly is if we've got law and order.
MOTTRAM: The issues have long been contentious and the divisions are not only between government and opposition, but within the community of Aboriginal leaders as well. Professor Dodson's appeal is to find successes and replicate them, for the sake he says of all children, and the country's future.
