Page 4692 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 10 November 2009
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We have all heard the arguments for the bill we are considering today. Australia has one of the lowest completion records for secondary school students among OECD countries. We are aware that employer groups have been pushing for changes to the school leaving age to address what they claim are serious skill shortages—poor literacy, numeracy and computer skills. According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, early school leavers are 2½ times more likely to be unemployed.
The fundamental premise to aim high and keep our youth engaged in a learning environment as long as possible is sound. However, we must remember this will not work for everyone, and there will still be students who fall through the gap. Education departments across the nation now face the challenge of ensuring that this change to the school leaving age is enforced, tracked and monitored. That is no easy task for departments already under-resourced and facing massive change across the board.
Departments must also take responsibility for ensuring that there is continued capacity in the resource side of things. Whilst there may not be a need at the moment to address any resource implications, this will, no doubt, be a factor in years to come as this initiative is rolled out and issues emerge.
I will say again that students on the fringes must be supported by government as much as possible. I understand that this legislation is just the beginning, that this initiative will be a work in progress. I agree with the sentiment that the hardest part will be the intangibles, and that there is much work to do in the coming years. I will be taking a great interest in the supports put in place by this government and the department that must ensure this initiative does not create more issues or layers of bureaucracy than need be.
Also, it is worth concluding today with the findings of scrutiny report 14 of the Standing Committee on Justice and Community Safety, performing the duties of a scrutiny of bills and subordinate legislation committee. A number of questions are raised in this report in regard to clauses of this bill that may unduly trespass on personal rights and liberties. Some arguments put forward in the report are directly related to the rights of parents and families as a whole—for example, proposed section 12A in the bill, which states that the chief executive has the power to issue or refuse an exemption certificate for a student that is unable, for various reasons, to comply with the act. The section goes on to say that the chief executive may also consider whether the exemption would benefit the child. The scrutiny report raises some concerns over this, stating that this section makes no reference to the wishes of the parents of the child.
Again, there is a lot of work to do for the department and our school communities to ensure that this legislation is effectively implemented with no unforeseen impacts and that due consideration is given to issues raised in the scrutiny report, as well as by the students, families and schools themselves, as the rollout of the legislation commences. In closing, the opposition will be supporting the Education (Participation) Amendment Bill 2009.
MS HUNTER (Ginninderra—Parliamentary Convenor, ACT Greens) (10.46): We understand that this amendment to the Education Act will bring the ACT into line
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