More police resources to address youth crime in regional NSW were announced last week, after another program aimed at educating young Indigenous people on the North Coast was quietly axed by the federal Labor government late last year.
As reported in early February, a crime prevention program – which was supported by community and local police – was axed without explanation.
The Echo sought an explanation from NSW Labor Education Minister, Pru Carr, as to why that crime prevention program – the Aboriginal Alternative Learning Program (AALP) – was scrapped.
Handballed questions
Minister Carr’s office instead handballed it to the department she is responsible for.
While an education department spokesperson told The Echo, ‘The department is not aware of any Indigenous crime prevention program axed last year on the Northern Rivers’, they said another program, The Aboriginal Alternate Learning Faculty at the Southern Cross School of Distance Education, closed after ‘federal funding for the faculty ceased in Semester 2, 2024’.
They said it managed ten learning hubs for distance education students. Since the funding cut, they said, ‘The NSW Department of Education has supported students to return to their local public school, engage in post-school pathways, or remain as full-time online learners.’
The spokesperson added, ‘It follows an audit which uncovered irregularities in enrolment numbers. The faculty was federally funded through Ngulingah Lands Council’.
Local NSW MP, Tamara Smith (Greens) told The Echo it is possible that the NSW Education Department were not aware of the Aboriginal Alternative Learning Program, as it may have been delivered through Commonwealth Department of Indigenous Affairs.
Chronic underfunding and zero circling back
She told The Echo the axing of both programs was ‘an awful coincidence, but tells a story of chronic underfunding, and zero circling back to review what works and what doesn’t’.
‘The Indigenous crime prevention program was an outstanding course being delivered through Southern Cross Distance Education (SXDE). I worked for a decade at SXDE, and was part of the founding teams who piloted outreach programs like this across our region that directly supported improvements in both learning and social outcomes for Aboriginal children and young people.’
She said the department axed most of SXDE’s outreach programs after an audit last year, ‘because of allegations of corruption and fraudulent conduct’.
‘While obviously those matters needed to be investigated, there were many ways that outreach student programs could have continued. Students and their families did nothing wrong, but they are the ones who lost out, as well as the broader community.’
‘As a member of the standing committee on Law and Safety that has been holding an inquiry with hearings across the state into regional youth crime, diversionary programs that are effective are being comprehensively explored. We are presenting our interim report in May’.
Bundjalung success
‘The Balunda diversionary program in Tabulam designed for Bundjalung offenders convicted of non-violent offences is very successful. I helped set up teaching and learning at Balunda 15 years ago, and the model that puts Bundjalung Elders and community at the centre of program design and delivery has consistently lowered recidivism and helped offenders turn their lives around.
‘One Vision is another highly successful organisation in our region that has directly diverted young offenders from the criminal justice system, and they are an organisation I have supported for over ten years’.
Ms Smith added, ‘I am hopeful that our inquiry will lead to the funding of evidence-based diversionary models that will make a difference. We have the highest rate of incarceration of Aboriginal people in our history right now. The current piecemeal approach is not working, and Aboriginal people must be at the heart as co-designers of any programs that affect their lives.’
Meanwhile, the federal and state Labor governments say they are investing $5 million each into the ‘Get Back in the Game’ program which aims to help local organisations deliver specialist support to young people aged 15 to 21.
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