BATCHELOR INSTITUTE OF INDIGENOUS TERTIARY EDUCATION BILL 1999 Second Reading Speech

Northern Territory Second Reading Speeches

BATCHELOR INSTITUTE OF INDIGENOUS TERTIARY EDUCATION BILL 1999

(This an uncorrected proof of the daily report. It is made available under the condition that it is recognised as such.)

Bill presented and read a first time.

Mr MANZIE (Asian Relations and Trade): I move that the bill now be read a second time.

The purpose of this bill is to establish a more autonomous Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education in place of Batchelor College.

Batchelor College began in the late 1960s as a unit of the Department of Education in Darwin. Over the years, it’s developed into a tertiary college, with its main campus at Batchelor, a second campus at Alice Springs, and small annexes and study centres spread across the Northern Territory. In 1995, the college left the umbrella of the Department of Education and was established by government as an agency in its own right.

This bill signals the next stage in the development of indigenous tertiary education in the Northern Territory. Under this new legislation, Batchelor College will become independent of the Northern Territory public sector, and will become the first independent, indigenous institution in Australia offering higher education programs. This new status will be underlined by a change of name from Batchelor College to Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education.

However, the move to independence does not herald a dramatic departure from the work that up to now has been carried out by Batchelor College. The new Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education will pick up the role of the current college, and will become the main provider of higher education, and vocational education and training programs, for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from the Northern Territory and from other parts of Australia.

This bill provides the institute with the powers and functions it needs to operate autonomously, and to continue to evolve as a specialist tertiary education institution. These include enhanced powers of government by the council of the institute, which gives indigenous people, through the council, greater responsibility for the achievement of positive tertiary education outcomes.

There are no plans for staffing changes as a result of the change to independence, and this bill contains provisions to safeguard the rights of existing college employees. The provisions of the bill covering property, finance, auditing and reporting, appropriately reflect the institute’s independence and concomitant responsibilities. They are based on the legislation for the Northern Territory University, another tertiary institution with similar accountability and reporting requirements. They will provide Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education with the ability to effect financial and procedural efficiencies which will result in some operational savings and, in the longer term, the generation of additional income which can be used towards development to the next stage of the quality and range of the institute’s academic and capital infrastructure.

The Northern Territory government is widely recognised as having given the financial support and encouragement necessary to bring the college to its current stage of development. I mentioned earlier that the genesis of the college was a small unit within the Department of Education. By the mid 1980s, the college had an enrolment of about 100 students, all of whom were studying the one course on offer, to become teachers or teacher’s assistants. In less than 15 years, Batchelor College has developed to the extent that it now provides almost 2000 students each year with higher education, and vocational education and training, through more than 30 courses in a wide range of disciplines. The majority of these students are from the Northern Territory. But the college’s commitment to a genuinely cross-cultural approach - often termed ‘both ways’ education - and the appropriateness of its courses to the needs of indigenous Australians, have drawn an increasing number of interstate enrolments, especially from remote areas in Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia.

It is a significant achievement that Batchelor College now enrols more indigenous Australians in higher education courses than any other educational institution in Australia. The Council of Batchelor College and staff, particularly senior staff, have worked tirelessly to create opportunities for indigenous people to obtain a quality tertiary education, and in pursuit of the vision that the college would one day become an independent institution, and eventually, when post-graduate and academic research profiles justify this, a university.

I am pleased to be able to say that, over the years, the Northern Territory government, in partnership with the Commonwealth government, has provided the financial and moral support for the college’s growth and evolution, to the point where the vision is now being realised.

This bill is a milestone in the development of a unique Northern Territory institution, for whom the time has now come to leave the nest. The government can be proud of its role in nurturing the college and in assisting Aboriginal communities to take responsibility for their own futures.

Mr Speaker, I commend the bill to honourable members.

Debate adjourned.

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