Attachment A

 

Details of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment

(Education Measures No. 2) Regulations 2023

 

Section 1 - Name

 

This section provides that the title of the Regulations is the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Education Measures No. 2) Regulations 2023.

 

Section 2 - Commencement

 

This section provides that the Regulations commence on the day after registration on the Federal Register of Legislation.

 

Section 3 - Authority

 

This section provides that the Regulations are made under the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997.

 

Section 4 - Schedules

 

This section provides that the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 are amended as set out in the Schedule to the Regulations.

 

Schedule 1 - Amendments

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997

 

Item 1 - In the appropriate position in Part 3 of Schedule 1AB (table)

 

This item adds one new table item to Part 3 of Schedule 1AB to establish legislative authority for government spending on a certain activity to be administered by the Department of Education (the department).

 

New table item 68 establishes legislative authority for the Government to provide a grant to Aurora Education Foundation Limited (Aurora), which aims to improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.

 

Funding of $1.5 million in 2022-23 to Aurora will contribute to the delivery of the Redefining Indigenous Success in Education (RISE) project. The RISE initiative is a
five-year project to build an evidence base around 'what works' in Indigenous education, which is grounded in Indigenous definitions of success. The RISE project seeks to enable Indigenous-led advocacy for education reform and will support best practice across Indigenous education programs nationally.

 

Aurora has a strong track record in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and is seeking to build on that to best understand Indigenous definitions of success, the level of support required and the most effective investment. Founded in 2006 as the Aurora Project, Aurora has been instrumental in supporting international pathways in education for Indigenous scholars. Aurora has contributed to supporting a growing number of Indigenous Australian leaders, mentors and role models.

The delivery of the RISE project aligns with the Government's commitments to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in achieving the objectives of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap (CTG Agreement), including to improve Year 12 or equivalent attainment (Target 5 of the CTG Agreement seeks, by 2031, to increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (aged 20-24) attaining year 12 or equivalent qualification to 96 per cent).

 

The RISE project is to be funded under the National School Reform Fund (NSRF). The NSRF is a discretionary fund, which was established in 2017-18 to support school education reforms under the National Schools Reform Agreement (NSRA). The NSRF is intended to support initiatives that support the refreshed NSRA 2019-2023 and/or add to the evidence base, including supporting pilots of school reforms, such as those aimed at improving Indigenous student outcomes. This aligns with the RISE project objective to target support to Indigenous students, with a focus on building a strong evidence base of the types of supports that are most effective.

 

Indigenous perspectives, values and aspirations have not been sufficiently taken into consideration in the design of education policies and institutions, and despite significant investment, there continue to be disparities in education outcomes. The RISE project will help to address this issue and contribute to a new narrative about what is possible for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and communities.

 

The RISE project will involve a comparative evaluation of the existing High School Program (HSP), a new program model, and a comparison group delivery to construct a foundation of evidence-based knowledge about effective practices in Indigenous education. Aurora established a Pilot High School Program in 2011 to support Indigenous high school students, that interweaves culture and academic support. Today, the HSP is working with Elders and Indigenous mentors to support students from Year 8 to the first year out of school. Aurora's existing HSP, which positions academic success alongside Indigenous cultures, has doubled Year 12 completion, tripled ATAR attainment and doubled transition to university compared with Indigenous students Australia-wide.

 

The RISE project aims to provide an Indigenous-led avenue to analyse supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. This will be key in Aurora not only identifying what elements of the existing HSP and comparison models are determined to be most important, but also to provide an evidence base for the level of investment that is considered most effective. The project is intended to help inform broader national reforms, as well as potential investments by governments, corporate and philanthropists going forward. This will improve the evidence base and enable future decisions to be cognisant of Indigenous measures of success for schooling and grounded in findings of which targeted interventions are most likely to support Indigenous student achievement.

 

The evaluation of the RISE project will be designed to generate a large-sample and longitudinal dataset that will allow for rigorous identification of program impacts. The funding to support the RISE project for 2022-23 would be used to support this research and policy analysis. All aspects of the RISE evaluation - including determining how success is measured and how data is collected, stored, interpreted, and used - will be informed with input from Indigenous participants and other Indigenous stakeholders. Aurora intends for insights that result from RISE to establish a clear link between specific types of support and Indigenous student outcomes.

The project already has a coalition of funders, including the Paul Ramsay Foundation, the National Indigenous Australians Agency (through their historic funding support of Aurora's existing HSP which is being compared) and other philanthropic and corporate partners.

 

The department will deliver the RISE project via a closed, non-competitive, one-off, ad hoc grant process. Aurora will respond to grant guidelines developed in accordance with the Commonwealth Grants Rules and Guidelines 2017. The grant expenditure decision will be made by the First Assistant Secretary of the Improving Student Outcomes Division or the Assistant Secretary of the Student Engagement, Wellbeing and Closing the Gap Branch (as the delegate of the Secretary of the department in line with the appropriate financial delegations).

 

The grant will be administered by the Community Grants Hub. Information about the grant, including grant opportunity guidelines, will be made available on the GrantConnect website (www.grants.gov.au).

 

Independent merits review will not be available for the grant provided to Aurora as this grant will be closed, non-competitive and for a specific purpose and entity. The grant decision, once made, will be final and not subject to merits review. This grant involves an allocation of a finite resource to Aurora. Review (and potential change) of decisions would impact allocations made to other parties and would impede timely and effective implementation of the program. The Administrative Review Council has recognised that it is justifiable to exclude merits review in relation to decisions of this nature (see paragraphs 4.11 to 4.16 of the guide What decisions should be subject to merit review?).

 

Aurora is engaging with the department, the National Indigenous Australians Agency and the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet on their broader approach as part of the Indigenous Education Data roundtable held in November 2022 (with another to be scheduled in 2023).

 

The RISE project will be overseen by Aurora's Indigenous Data Governance Group. The grant agreement with the department will articulate the governance and reporting arrangements.

 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students are identified as a priority equity cohort in the NSRA, which also includes a clear commitment (under clause 64(d)) that parties will engage with Indigenous communities on matters relating to education reform. The Indigenous Data Governance approach aligns with this intent by ensuring there is strong Indigenous leadership in the project's design and delivery. 

 

Funding of $1.5 million in 2022-23 for this project will be available from the NSRF, part of National Schools Reform within Program 1.5: Early Learning and Schools Support, which is part of Outcome 1. Details are set out in the October Portfolio Budget Statements 2022-23, Budget Related Paper No. 1.5 Education Portfolio at page 54.

 

The NSRF is a discretionary funding program for initiatives of importance to the Government. The Minister for Education (the Minister) approves funding allocations under the discretionary funding program. National Schools Reform is a long-standing appropriation to the department for the purposes of providing funding for a variety of initiatives. The Minister has always retained the capacity to allocate funding for the NSRF from National Schools Reform.

 

Noting that it is not a comprehensive statement of relevant constitutional considerations, the purpose of the item references the race power (section 51(xxvi)) of the Constitution.

 

Race power

 

Section 51(xxvi) of the Constitution empowers the Parliament to make laws with respect to 'the people of any race for whom it is deemed necessary to make special laws'.

 

The RISE Project will fund an evidence base around 'what works' in Indigenous education, enable Indigenous-led advocacy for education reform and will support best practice across Indigenous education programs nationally. This will benefit the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students targeted by this program.

Attachment B

 

Statement of Compatibility with Human Rights

 

Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011

 

Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Education Measures No. 2) Regulations 2023

 

This disallowable legislative instrument is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011.

 

Overview of the legislative instrument

 

Section 32B of the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Act 1997 (the FF(SP) Act) authorises the Commonwealth to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants specified in the Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Regulations 1997 (the FF(SP) Regulations) and to make, vary and administer arrangements and grants for the purposes of programs specified in the Regulations. Schedule 1AA and Schedule 1AB to the FF(SP) Regulations specify the arrangements, grants and programs. The powers in the FF(SP) Act to make, vary or administer arrangements or grants may be exercised on behalf of the Commonwealth by Ministers and the accountable authorities of non-corporate Commonwealth entities, as defined under section 12 of the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013.

 

The Financial Framework (Supplementary Powers) Amendment (Education Measures No. 2) Regulations 2023 amend Schedule 1AB to the Principal Regulations to establish legislative authority for the Government to provide a grant to Aurora Education Foundation Limited (Aurora), which aims to improve the educational outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students. The grant is administered by the Department of Education.

 

Funding of $1.5 million in 2022-23 to the Aurora will contribute to the delivery of the Redefining Indigenous Success in Education (RISE) project. The RISE project is a five-year initiative to build an evidence base around 'what works' in Indigenous education, enable Indigenous-led advocacy for education reform and will support best practice across Indigenous education programs nationally.

 

It will involve a comparative evaluation of the existing High School Project run by Aurora and a new program model, along with a comparison group. Funding for the RISE project would be used to support research and policy analysis, delivery of the comparison models and undertaking of the evaluation.

 

Aurora has a strong track record in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and is seeking to build on that to best understand Indigenous definitions of success, the level of support required and the most effective investment.

 

 

Human rights implications

 

This disallowable legislative instrument engages the following human right:

• the right to education - Article 13 of the International Covenant on Economic Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), read with Article 2, and Articles 28 and 29 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), read with Article 4.

 

Right to education

 

Article 2 of the ICESCR requires each State Party to take steps to progressively achieve the full realisation of the rights recognised in the ICESCR by all appropriate means.

 

Article 13(2)(a) of the ICESCR relates to the right of everyone to primary education that is compulsory and free.

 

Article 4 of the CRC requires each State Party to undertake all appropriate legislative, administrative, and other measures for the implementation of the rights recognised in the CRC. These rights include 'the right of the child to education' (Article 28).

 

Article 29(1)(a) of the CRC provides that States Parties agree that the education of the child shall be directed to ' ... [t]he development of the child's personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential'.

 

This disallowable legislative instrument promotes the right to education as funding will be provided to Aurora to undertake a comparative evaluation of high school programs to identify the best supports available to improve Indigenous students' outcomes.

 

Conclusion

 

This disallowable legislative instrument is compatible with human rights because it promotes the protection of human rights.

 

 

 

Senator the Hon Katy Gallagher

Minister for Finance