Jonathon Pilbrow

Recently announced changes to funding for the education system should be ringing alarm bells for parents and students alike.

While the NT Government’s commitment to further investment in the early years is highly significant and crucial to improving educational outcomes for many children in the NT, such investment should not be at the expense of older students.

Proposed changes to the student-teacher ratios across middle and senior schools will lead to significant timetabling complexities for schools. Some of the consequences of this could include fewer teachers (up to five staff positions per school can be lost, according to the Minister for Education’s budget media release), bigger class sizes and a reduction in subjects offered to students.

Such changes will ultimately disadvantage our Territory children, and have flow-on effects across the whole of society. Many secondary students already face significant barriers to receiving a good education and these changes will simply create more. Subjects that actually help keep young people engaged may not be able to be offered. As parents and caregivers, we should be greatly concerned.

The Northern Territory Government must widely consult with schools bodies about the impact these funding and ratio changes will have and urgently re-assess these decisions. At a time when we should be focusing more on helping young people further their high school education it is extraordinary that $16M was cut from the education budget in May.

In addition, it is perplexing and concerning that the NT Government has refused to accept the Federal Government’s offer of $200M in Gonski Funding. Imagine what we could do with such funding, which could support new initiatives in early childhood and increase – not decrease – support in the senior years as well. And it might just help the Government make ‘every child, every day’, more of a reality.

Jonathan Pilbrow is parent of a Centralian Senior College student

By Jonathan Pilbrow, Senior Policy Officer for the Northern Territory Council of Social Service

The Northern Territory provides a great lifestyle and a high standard of living very many people, but not everyone gets to share in this. For some people, just getting some food on the table and a roof over their head for the night is a daily struggle.

This week marks ‘Anti-Poverty Week’, which presents an opportunity to take the time to think about the causes of poverty and to think of those who are doing it tough.

No one really ever plans to grow up to struggle to make ends meet. People end up in poverty for a variety of reasons – such as escaping violence, or due to disability issues, or self-esteem issues which can make it hard to hold down a full time job.

Welfare organisations report each year on the rising number of people in paid employment, who approach them for support. But for single people on the Newstart Allowance, life can be tougher still.

Imagine having to survive on $35 a day and having to pay for accommodation and food at NT prices? Let alone owning a car and filling it with petrol or paying for a visit to the doctor or dentist?

Groups such as the ACTU, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia have all called for the Newstart payment to be increased. The Henry Tax Review recommended an increase to Allowance recipients, which would equate to $50 per week, in 2012.

For people on Newstart for over 12 months, they struggle to get back into the workforce and require significant assistance. But at the moment, employment services only get $500 to invest on work experience training and other help with barriers to paid work after 12 months of unemployment.

We must do more to end poverty by providing more investment in employment assistance for people unemployed long term and expand wage subsidy schemes and earmark training places for those most disadvantaged in the job market, as well as help to find suitable accommodation.

“Imagine having to survive on $35 a day and having to pay for accommodation and food at NT prices? Let alone owning a car and filling it with petrol or paying for a visit to the doctor or dentist?’, asked Mr Pilbrow.

Groups such as the ACTU, the Australian Industry Group and the Business Council of Australia have all called for the Newstart payment to be increased. The Henry Tax Review recommended an increase to Allowance recipients, which would equate to $50 per week, in 2012.

For people on Newstart for over 12 months, they struggle to get back into the workforce and require significant assistance. But at the moment, employment services only get $500 to invest on work experience training and other help with barriers to paid work after 12 months of unemployment.

We must do more to end poverty by providing more investment in employment assistance for people unemployed long term and expand wage subsidy schemes and earmark training places for those most disadvantaged in the job market, as well as help to find suitable accommodation” said Mr Pilbrow.

Photo ABC

By Jonathan Pilbrow, Coordinator, Central Australia for NT Council of Social Services

A youth curfew is not the right approach to addressing issues for young people in Alice Springs and could actually make things worse by pushing young people further out to the edge of the CBD or into the suburbs.

A youth curfew could also unnecessarily increase the interactions between police and young people, where no crime has been committed, which would have the added impact of tying up police resources and moving them away from core business

Evidence on curfews shows crime does not necessarily decrease with their implementation, but rather ends up being shifted to other places, and this is clearly not what we want for Alice Springs.

Addressing complex social problems requires appropriate long term responses. There are no quick fix solutions. We need to put resources into solutions that have been proven to work – not ones that might seem popular.

A number of age appropriate responses are already available in Alice Springs, where young people are considered unsafe on the streets at night. Young people are taken to a safe place if this is what is required – regardless of the time of day or night.

The reality is consequences already exist for young people who are out on the street at night. Youth workers, child protection workers and police all work together to respond to situations where young people are unsafe or engaging in risky or criminal behaviour – and this happens without a curfew.

The current triage system flags a young person who is unsafe and appropriate responses are put in place to work with the young person and their family. Case management and referral processes occur, including next day follow up to help ensure young people don’t fall through the gaps.

It is also worth noting that it is not unusual for offences involving young people to occur while they are in the company of an adult (over 18) meaning in such cases, the young people may not be subject to a proposed curfew anyway.

NTCOSS would be greatly concerned if a youth curfew was imposed, and believes resources would be better used on therapeutic interventions that focus on engaging with young people in a positive capacity, repairing problem behaviours, supporting families, encouraging self-esteem, and helping young people making positive contributions to the community.

Helping young people learn skills to make good choices, instead of choices being imposed on them, is a harder, but ultimately more permanent strategy in addressing root causes of problem behaviour.