Government Attempts to Link Welfare to Truancy

Wednesday, 02 November 2011

Background

In mid-October, in response to recommendations from the “Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory report”, the Federal Government announced the expansion of initiatives linking school attendance to welfare payments.

Comment

Indigenous Affairs Minister, Jenny Macklin, announced that the government would expand measures linking school attendance to welfare payments in the Northern Territory (NT). The “mutual obligation” approach aims to address endemic Indigenous truancy issues by increasing parental accountability and engagement. Currently in place in some parts of the Northern Territory and Queensland, by the end of the year the program will be expanded to other territory schools with high truancy rates.

Proponents of the program, such as Indigenous activist Noel Pearson, argue that the policy will reverse the “passive welfare” culture of “powerlessness” and “dysfunction”, and promote Indigenous notions of reciprocity. In 2008, a similar pilot scheme, based at Halls Creek in Western Australia, reported that the policy boosted attendance from 54 per cent to around 80 – 90 per cent.

Despite bi-partisan support, the initiative does have its weaknesses. Although it has been used by various State governments in the United States since the 1980s, there is a dearth of studies that quantify the effects of the strategy. In Australia there is a similar significant gap in the research.

One of the few reports, titled “Rethinking Welfare School- Attendance Polices”, criticised the effectiveness of punitive welfare measures in altering attendance patterns. The study advocated increased case management of truants, by attempting to mitigate underlying socio-economic issues, including: health, domestic violence, child abuse, and drug and alcohol abuse. This position is supported by the West Australian Aboriginal Child Health Survey, which linked low school attendance to the disadvantages created by poverty. 

Given the current lack of a national precedent, it is imperative that the government critiques changes to welfare payments, and applies Ms Macklin’s earlier stance of “thorough, forensic analysis of all the facts and all the evidence”, rather than seductively simple ‘sound bite’ politics.

While sanctions should play a role in addressing truancy issues, the government must also adopt evidence-based educational mechanisms that have been proven to increase student attendance. Strategies, including: breakfast/lunch programs; engagement of Indigenous community members, particularly elders; training of Aboriginal teachers and aides; and development of culturally appropriate curriculums, should be adopted and supported in schools subject to high truancy rates.

To ensure truancy rates are reduced, and Indigenous educational outcomes improved, the government must move away from solutions based on intervention, to a long–term, sustained national policy. The Australian Government’s Indigenous education policy must reflect the aspirations of ’Closing the Gap‘, rather than the rudimentary aims of the Northern Territory intervention.

Liam McHugh

Manager

Northern Australia and Energy Security Research Programmes