Coronavirus: Indigenous leaders blast the Palaszczuk government over boarding school students

Palaszczuk government blasted over its failure to act on calls to reduce the risk of bringing coronavirus into remote communities.

Torres Shire Mayor Vonda Malone. Picture: Anna Rogers

Indigenous leaders have blasted the Palaszczuk Government over its failure to immediately act on calls to allow aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to return early from boarding schools and reduce the risk of bringing coronavirus into remote communities.

Torres Shire council mayor Vonda Malone – chair of the Torres Cape indigenous Council Alliance (TCICA) – said it “may soon be too late” for some students to return home, leaving them stranded all over the state.

There are an estimated-1200 high school students from Cape York and the Torres Straits studying away from home in schools stretching from Cairns south to Brisbane.

Some students began returning home last week, but Cr Malone said it has been “an ad hoc approach’’ with many schools waiting for direction from the Palaszczuk government and a statewide shutdown of schools before releasing any students.

Queensland has so far refused to close down schools and the school term doesn’t end until April 3.

Cr Malone said the 14 council mayors that made-up TCICA had begun asking Queensland’s Department of Education three weeks ago to allow students to leave school.

“It has been very frustrating, the response from the department of education has been very, very slow, we hear little from them,’’ she told The Australian.

“We wanted the kids released from school so that they could get home before the virus spread, we don’t want them unwittingly bringing it back to the communities.

“It could be devastating if that happens, we have a lot of health problems with diabetes, heart disease, our life expectancy is shorter, and the experts are saying that our people are very vulnerable.”

Cr Malone said the aboriginal and Torres Strait leaders had last week asked for personal intervention from Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk, including seeking changes to Commonwealth-funded assistance for indigenous students to help them get home.

“Some students started arriving home on Cape York in the middle of last week, and we got our first student home to the Torres Strait only on Friday,’’ she said.

“There is a lot of fear that it may soon be too late and too dangerous to allow the kids back into the communities.

“What happens then, who looks after them?”

On Friday, the first case of coronavirus in Cairns was confirmed by Queensland Health officials.

Many of the students who had already returned to communities came from the coeducational indigenous school Djarragun College, in Gordonvale, south of Cairns, which closed on March 16.

The independent school defied the statewide decision to stay open, saying it closed for the remainder of Term 1, citing the risk posed to vulnerable students and family members with chronic illness.

The 270 students are from Cairns, Cape York, Yarrabah, The Northern Territory and the Torres Strait Islands.