Questions levelled at federal government’s Central Australian Boarding Response Fund by Yipirinya principal

Federal government grants to improve boarding conditions are now open for schools to apply to, but one school principal is questioning whether there’s enough money for everyone to substantially benefit from it.

Yipirinya School Principal Gavin Morris with plans for the 80-bed boarding house. Picture: Gera Kazakov

The federal government is offering million dollar grants to fund upgrades to remote school boarding facilities, but the principal of a Red Centre school has questioned whether or not it’s enough.

Until August 9, funding of up to $10 million per project is available for capital works projects in Central Australia to improve or create new boarding facilities for secondary school students.

The funding was announced by federal education minister Jason Clare and federal Indigenous Australians minister Linda Burney in a ministerial statement and comes from the federal government’s $18m Central Australia Boarding Response Fund.

The ministerial statement said “this announcement complements the $40 million allocated to all schools in the Central Australia region for On-Country Learning” as part of the $250 million A Better, Safer Future for Central Australia plan.

But Yipirinya School principal Gavin Morris is questioning whether the $18m will be enough to provide substantial upgrades to schools in Central Australia.

“What happens if eight, nine, 10 organisations put their hand up for some money?” he said.

“Does that get split evenly? Does one organisation get more than the other?

“In my view, $18 million does not reflect the significance of the problem with the 1500 homeless children in Central Australia.”

Mr Morris’ hesitancy towards the grants comes from a $10.8m 80-bed boarding house the school has been advocating for the last decade.

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Martin Ollman

The ministerial statement said the funding announcement came after an “assessment” by the federal and Territory governments of boarding capacity options in Central Australia.

Ms Burney said building better boarding schools would help close the gap.

“Better quality boarding facilities with more places available will remove a barrier to education for First Nations young people in Central Australia who often don’t have secondary schools located close to home,” she said.

“Investing in these facilities will give more First Nations young people from Central Australia the opportunity to complete their secondary education and achieve their full potential.”

Mr Morris said he agreed that Aboriginal children needed better accommodation options, and welcomed the funding – which could potentially be used to build the new boarding house at Yipirinya, were the grant approved.

“We don’t for one minute think that we’re any more important than the rest of Central Australia who are doing great work on country,” Mr Morris said.

He said the funding was welcomed as it could help address the problem of overcrowded homes which are rampant with drug and sexual abuse.

But he also said the funding needed to be one step of many if real change were to occur.

“(The funding is) a welcome announcement, but 18 million has to be stage one of a whole bunch of if we’re serious about Aboriginal boarding in Central Australia,” he said.

Mr Clare said this funding could go to improving existing facilities or building new ones.

“This investment in boarding facilities in Central Australia is about supporting school students in remote Northern Territory communities,” he said.