Senator McLUCAS (5:36 PM) —Others will speak far more eloquently about the elements of this Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Amendment Bill 2006, but I thought it was an opportunity to talk more broadly about Indigenous education, from my experience as a former teacher in some rural parts of Queensland. All teachers, all parents and education commentators will tell you that for people who are disadvantaged education is the key to achieving a level of equity in the community. A government not offering Indigenous people that opportunity is a government that is not taking up its responsibility properly.

I want to make a point about the mess that schools in regional Queensland found themselves in in 2004 with the changes to the Tutorial Assistance Scheme and, more broadly, Indigenous funding streams. As an early childhood teacher in the later part of my career, the thing I find most egregious about this legislation is that there is still no attempt to invest in tutorial assistance for children in preschool and years 1, 2 and 3. We have to wait, apparently, until those children fail in their literacy test in year 4 and then we will provide them with assistance. Any educator will tell you that if you invest early you will reap the rewards of that investment. I urge the government to reconsider their assistance for tutorial support in early childhood education.