by CLAIRE FIELD

Submissions to the recent Productivity Commission report were largely silent on this critical issue

In reading about the new Closing the Gap targets (including for tertiary education) I was struck by the differing views of First Nations people. Those who have had input into the measures believe they are significant and achievable. Others have expressed concerns that they are too long-term and worry, as I do, about the apparent lack of targeted funding.

I was surprised in reading the 76 submissions to the Productivity Commission’s Interim Report on VET funding that only nine submissions argued changes are needed to improve outcomes for First Nations learners – and one of those submissions was mine. A few others included a reference to First Nations people but the overwhelming majority were silent on what should be a critical issue for the sector (including some of the government submissions).

That might be in part because the Commission’s  interim report makes only two mentions of First Nations people in its 322 page. Even more disappointing, the draft COAG VET Reform Roadmap is entirely silent on the role of VET in improving outcomes for First Nations people. The roadmap contains senior officials’ VET reform proposals and is one of three key documents “in play” on VET reform  – that is: the Productivity Commission’s advice, the ‘Joyce Review’ and the roadmap.

It is important that the government’s university funding reforms  include measures to support regional and remote First Nations learners. But disappointingly the government has completely ignored the recommendations Steven Joyce’s review made last year to explicitly support First Nations VET students.

We have so much more to do.

The Closing the Gap targets are a start but the government’s university funding reforms need to go further, and in VET there needs to be a specific focus on outcomes for First Nations people.

Claire Field is an adviser to the tertiary education sector