Aboriginal Affairs & Heritage

Greens Member for the Mining and Pastoral Region Robin Chapple MLC is appalled at the State Government’s decision to reduce the number of Aboriginal and Islander Education Officers (AIEOs) in schools around Western Australia.

“With all the talk of ‘closing the gap’ and ‘overcoming Indigenous disadvantage’, I would have expected to see a more concerted effort and more resources go into educating Aboriginal and Islander children, not less,” Mr Chapple said.

“The excuse that there are insufficient enrolments of Aboriginal students to warrant the retention of the current number of AIEOs should be ringing alarm bells in Government and education circles.

“Instead, we have the complacent response from the Minister for Education that there will be a reduction of 105 full time equivalent AIEO hours allocated to schools in WA in 2014.

“Where have all the students gone? Have they all given up and gone home? What’s the Education Department doing to follow up on these kids and encourage them back to school?”

The 2011 Review of the AIEO program by Edith Cowan University for the Education Department found that, while it could be improved, there was widespread support from principals, teachers and AIEOs. It found that AIEOs played an important role in community liaison, engagement with students and assisting students who were otherwise falling behind to perform better at school.

“The report concluded that the AIEO program has significant strengths and is well worth maintaining. In fact, principals consider the presence of AIEOs in schools a crucial element in facilitating the education of Aboriginal students,” Mr Chapple said.

“Why the Government should commission a review and then go against its findings and recommendations is beyond comprehension.

“I call on the Government to reconsider its decision,” Mr Chapple said.

For more information please contact Robin Chapple on 0409 379 263 or 9486 8255

Greens Urge Minister to Make Good on Justice Reinvestment

26^th August 2013

Greens Senator for Western Australia Scott Ludlam and Greens WA spokesperson on Aboriginal issues, Robin Chapple MLC, have today lamented the slide back into the old tough-on-crime rhetoric by Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis.

Senator Ludlam said “After a promising start, with statements heralding a fresh approach to the problem of WA’s increasing prison population, we now find the Minister claiming bragging rights over how much the Barnett/Grylls government has spent on prison capital works.

“In 2010 we launched the Greens’ justice reinvestment initiative as an urgent measure to reduce crime and increase community safety, and it was universally recognized as a proven strategy which would redirect funding to where it would be better utilised.  Yet here we are in 2013 with very little having being outlaid on justice reinvestment, and a Minister boasting about the $655million spent on prisons”, said Senator Ludlam.

Mr Chapple continued, “We know that there has to be a better way – not this incessant treadmill of finger-pointing and blame-shifting – where the inevitable outcome is our state’s scandalous reputation for shockingly high rates of incarceration among aboriginal people.

“What we have heard from the Minister today is all about ‘bolstering security features’ and ‘updating custodial rules’ – what the community wants to hear is how we can be smarter with the way we spend this money, by investing in stronger communities, so that much of the crime never happens in the first place.

“In my Mining and Pastoral Region electorate, I have seen ample evidence of the success of this approach in my long involvement with aboriginal communities around WA.  The Yiriman Project, in Fitzroy Crossing, has achieved outstanding success in diverting at-risk youngsters away from the justice system.   And the employment of Martu people as desert rangers also demonstrates the effectiveness of alternative strategies.

“The ‘tough on crime’ approach of the major parties is not working. It is not reducing crime rates, it is not making our communities safer, and it is leading to higher rates of imprisonment, at a huge cost to the taxpayer”, concluded Mr Chapple.

Greens Justice Reinvestment Plan - http://penny-wright.greensmps.org.au/campaigns/justice-reinvestment