Labor : We Will Invest In Indigenous Students

The Australian Labor Party has announced that under a Shorten Labor Government an additional $100 million will invested to support Indigenous students to succeed at school, and boost the number of Indigenous teachers.

In addition, A Labor government will provide $4.8 million over the forward estimates to fund 100 scholarships per year for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, and increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers.

Increasing the number of Indigenous teachers is critical to improving educational outcomes of Indigenous students.

Labor has said that currently, the gap between outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous students is unacceptably high. Indigenous students are still:

• Twice as likely to be developmentally vulnerable in their first year of school.
• Up to two years behind at school.
• Behind non-Indigenous students’ NAPLAN results.
• Less likely to complete Year 12.