Day: November 15, 2012

Source: DailyTelegraph

School funding laws to change in 2013

LABOR’S long-awaited school funding reform legislation will have to be changed in the new year after a funding agreement is signed.

The federal government has come under fire for the legislation it plans to put to parliament in a fortnight, a draft form of which was publicly released by the coalition on Thursday.

Opposition education spokesman Christopher Pyne criticised the draft Australian Education Bill as “all foam and no beer”.

In particular he took aim at a clause that says the act “does not create rights or duties that are legally enforceable”.

“The draft bill released to the sector is so devoid of substance and so full of motherhood statements the bill itself includes a section making it not legally binding,” he said.

“If the prime minister wanted to slap the schools sector and state governments in the face and insult the intelligence of Australians, then this bill delivers on both counts.”

A spokeswoman for Schools Minister Peter Garrett said the legislation would be legally enforceable in its final form, however.

“Details of the reforms and funding arrangements will be added to the bill as negotiations with education authorities progress,” she told AAP in a statement.

“Once that takes place the legislation will be legally enforceable.”

Prime Minister Julia Gillard was clear in her response to the Gonski school funding review in September, saying while Labor would honour its commitment to begin legislating for funding reform by the end of the year, this first bill would be aspirational.

She wants the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) to sign up to a new funding system at its first meeting in 2013.

COAG is expected to consider initial advice on what that system would look like at its meeting on December 7.

The draft bill includes a lengthy preamble outlining the principles underpinning Ms Gillard’s “education crusade”.

On school funding, it says the commonwealth will give funding for schools or school systems to any state, territory or non-government education authority that signs up to Labor’s national plan for school improvement.

It also mentions funding loadings to recognise disadvantaged circumstances of students or schools.

“This bill outlines a Commonwealth commitment to future funding for schooling based on student need as well as a series of reforms aimed at lifting schooling standards,” Mr Garrett’s spokeswoman said.

Job talks with African and Middle Eastern leaders on the Southside

Thursday 15 November 2012

Joint Media Release

The Hon Kate Ellis MP

Minister for Employment Participation
Minister for Early Childhood and Child Care

Mr Graham Perrett MP
Member for Moreton
Federal Employment Participation Minister Kate Ellis and Member for Moreton Graham Perrett will today meet with African and Middle Eastern community leaders on the Southside to hear about local unemployment and business successes, as well as discuss the challenges some migrants face in getting good jobs.

Minister for Employment Participation Kate Ellis said the roundtable discussion will give members of Brisbane’s migrant community the opportunity to share ideas on how to improve employment services.

“I want to hear first hand from the local African and Middle Eastern community leaders in South Brisbane about their success stories as well as the challenges they face getting into the workforce,” Minister Ellis said.

“I want to know what works and what doesn’t so we can tailor our programs to the needs of our community and make sure we are delivering good jobs for locals,” Minister Ellis said.

Member for Moreton, Graham Perrett said, “There are more than 2,500 job seekers in Brisbane who were born in Africa and more than 1,100 from the Middle East, representing a huge potential boost for our local workforce.

“As the local member I know job seekers from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds can face a range of barriers to employment including getting work experience in Australia, or the need to develop or strengthen their English language skills – we want to help remove these barriers.

“This roundtable will provide the chance for a free flow of information so we can better link up our services to job seekers in both the African and Middle Eastern communities. The whole economy benefits when skills are best matched up with job opportunities,” Mr Perrett said.

The roundtable will also include representatives from other complementary programs including the Language, Literacy and Numeracy Program, Adult Migrant English Program and Settlement Services.

The roundtable is designed to improve service delivery by:

giving providers a better appreciation of issues faced by migrants looking for work, accessing employment services, and finding and keeping jobs, especially for young people and women
sharing success stories and exploring what can be done to improve the delivery of employment services in the short, medium and long term
sharing information on the importance of integrated serviced delivery and connecting Job Services Australia, Disability Employment Services and complementary program providers
“We’ve invested a record $5.9 billion into Job Services Australia since coming into Government to support all Australians no matter where they are born into a good job,” Minister Ellis said.

“Under our Government Job Services Australia providers have successfully placed people in more than 1.25 million jobs.”

Australian Government is holding a series of roundtables to hear from the ethic community leaders across Australia and have already held similar roundtables in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

For more information on migrant communities’ employment services providers visit: http://www.deewr.gov.au/employment/jsa/Pages/default.aspx