Campbell Newman holds out on funding for welfare trial

SCHOOL attendance rose 24 per cent in Aurukun during the welfare reform trial, which faces tougher funding controls by the state.

SCHOOL attendance has jumped 24 per cent in the trouble-plagued Aboriginal community of Aurukun during the Cape York welfare reform trial, which is now facing tougher funding controls by the Queensland government.

Indigenous leader Noel Pearson's Cape York Institute and the Newman government have failed to reach agreement over "governance changes" being demanded in exchange for $5.65 million in state funding for an extension of the trial until the end of next year.

Mr Pearson last week wrote to Queensland's Indigenous Affairs Minister Glen Elmes rejecting the new measures, which include new performance benchmarks and the removal of the Cape York Institute from directly allocating state funds for the trial.

Instead, the institute -- which previously sat on a board with federal and state officials to allocate funding -- will serve on a proposed new advisory body with community leaders and government representatives that will make recommendations on funding to Mr Elmes.

The stand-off between Mr Pearson and the Newman government comes as preliminary findings of a review of the trial -- which links welfare payments to school attendance, child safety, tenancy issues and criminal convictions -- has found the communities involved are recording improvements in school attendance and falling child-protection notifications.

Since 2008, the state-commonwealth funded trial has been running in four Cape York communities of Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge.

A review by the Gillard government, which last month committed $11.8 million to extend the trial, has found school attendance has jumped in all four communities -- in contrast to nine other Aboriginal communities which recorded the number of children going to school falling over the same period.

The most significant result was in Aurukun, which has more than 200 school-age children. It posted a 24 per cent increase in school attendance from 46.1 per cent in 2008 to 70.9 per cent at the end of the first term of this year. Mossman Gorge recorded an 8 per cent jump to 68.9 per cent, with Coen and Hope Vale -- which have traditionally high school attendance rates -- posting minimal gains of 0.2 per cent to 91.5 per cent and 4 per cent to 84.6 per cent respectively.

The program's Family Responsibilities Commission -- which can withhold welfare payments from parents -- took action against 424 people in the four communities over the period, with school attendance accounting for more than half of the cases in Aurukun and Coen.

"In the same period, nine (of 17 Aboriginal) communities saw attendance rates go down, there is no general trend," the reviewers said in a presentation of their preliminary findings leaked to The Australian. "Importantly, the improvements in Aurukun have been sustained and appear to be related to the FRC's activity."

The final review is expected to be completed next month.

Mr Elmes said yesterday the government would not hand over new funding until there was agreement on the new financial accountability measures and greater community representation was achieved in the trial's oversight.

A spokesman for the Cape York Institute said he believed the impasse would soon be overcome in negotiations. "The conditions of the funding are different to those of the previous government but they will not interfere in the smooth operation of the welfare reform trial," he said.