Remote kids need full Western education: MP

WEST Australian indigenous MP Ben Wyatt says Aboriginal children in remote communities need a "full Western education".

WEST Australian indigenous MP Ben Wyatt says Aboriginal children in remote communities need a "full Western education" and many parents must compromise on activities they consider part of cultural life for the sake of their children's economic futures.

The Labor indigenous affairs spokesman told the second annual Indigenous Business Corporations and Enterprise Conference in Perth this week that Western Australia, like every other state, had delivered "a palliative education system" to regional and remote Aborigines for many years, endorsed by low expectations. "This is a challenge to Aboriginal people," Mr Wyatt said. "How seriously will you take the education of your people? Education must always be a full Western education. Aboriginal people cannot be empowered if they are not willing to prioritise the one key to empowerment, education."

Mr Wyatt, a descendant of the Yamatji people of the northwest who grew up in the northern goldfields, said the growing practice of funerals dominating life in remote communities had to change.

"Funerals interfere, often for many weeks, with the regular disciplined education of children."

He said there were countless examples of children travelling huge distances to attend funerals. This was not traditional practice, he said, but resulted from the fatal conditions and mental health issues that plagued the indigenous community as well as a more modern ability to travel by car.

Mr Wyatt acknowledged there had been some recent improvements in the NAPLAN results of indigenous children in years 3 and 5, but he said a rise in the number of indigenous children from remote West Australian communities at private Perth schools indicated that "Aboriginal people are voting with their feet".

West Australian Education Minister Peter Collier, who is also Indigenous Affairs Minister, said the most recent NAPLAN results were encouraging and suggested the Barnett government's focus on literacy and numeracy in the crucial early years was delivering tangible outcomes.