Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Amanda Murphy from th Isolated Childrens and Parents Association NT talks about how they continue to advocate for equal education for the NT's rural families

Transcript

Amanda Murphy from th Isolated Childrens and Parents Association NT talks about how they continue to advocate for equal education for the NT's rural families · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: Now, another organization that's had its battles during the pandemic
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  Speaker 1: is the not for profit voluntary organization, the Isolated Children's
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  Speaker 1: Parents Association. Now they ensure that territory families that live remotely,
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  Speaker 1: whether they're farmers or fishers or those on cattle stations,
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  Speaker 1: have access to quality education, and it is a task
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  Speaker 1: that became somewhat more difficult with border closures and COVID
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  Speaker 1: exclusion zones. Now joining me on the line this morning,
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  Speaker 1: I know that Today actually the ICPA NT State Council
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  Speaker 1: is celebrating its fortieth conference in Darwin, Wow.
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  Speaker 2: Fortieth conference.
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  Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the icpa's publicity officer,
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  Speaker 1: Amanda Murphy. Good morning to you, Amanda.
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  Speaker 3: Good morning Katie. How are you? Yeah?
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  Speaker 1: Really well, thanks so much for your time this morning.
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  Speaker 1: What's on the agenda for the conference today?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? It is jam packed, Katie. We've kicked off this
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  Speaker 3: morning with a few guests. Speaker Peter Stockwell, she's a
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  Speaker 3: young girl that's been through the bush out back education scheme.
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  Speaker 3: I guess you could call it. She Yeah, she's done
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  Speaker 3: this his education. She went on to the boarding school,
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  Speaker 3: got the whole room in tears, Katie straight away talking
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  Speaker 3: about homesickness and you know the fact of being away
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  Speaker 3: from your family just to receive a quality education. And
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  Speaker 3: then she went on to to do great things within
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  Speaker 3: her university. She studied agriculture.
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  Speaker 2: So yeah, I'm her.
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  Speaker 3: We've heard from branch branch president. So yeah, it's been
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  Speaker 3: a great morning so far. Your tears and I think
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  Speaker 3: there you fear more a bit later on.
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I'm sure there will be, Amanda.
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  Speaker 1: How tough is it, you know for four families that
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  Speaker 1: you know you do have to send your kids away
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  Speaker 1: for school.
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  Speaker 2: That's tough enough, I'm sure.
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  Speaker 1: But then when you look at you know the fact
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  Speaker 1: that you've gone through this pandemic and in some cases
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  Speaker 1: those kids haven't been able to come home.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, you look at some it's ongoing to for your kids.
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  Speaker 3: As a mother, you want you to have the best
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  Speaker 3: opportunity for your children and in the bush that you know,
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  Speaker 3: anyone to receive equality education. It is harder as the bush,
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  Speaker 3: but you know, you do what you can and with
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  Speaker 3: all the with everybody has to face the border closures,
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  Speaker 3: but it has been harder in the last two years
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  Speaker 3: getting your kids home safely as well. And look those
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  Speaker 3: parents that have had their kids not home for holidays.
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  Speaker 3: And I think part of the conference, you know, celebrating
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  Speaker 3: forty years of the ICPA, is reflecting back that the
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  Speaker 3: challenges have changed. You know, when it started forty years ago,
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  Speaker 3: though they barely had a face to face meeting, so
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  Speaker 3: it was it was you know, the challenges now are
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  Speaker 3: getting your kids home for holidays because of the pandemic.
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  Speaker 3: So it's a real reflection on how things have has
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  Speaker 3: elevated and changed, and there's still some issues that are
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  Speaker 3: the same thing. You know, there's still mothers that are
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  Speaker 3: getting unpaid teaching their kids in the classrooms and that
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  Speaker 3: was happening between happening for years. So yeah, look, we've
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  Speaker 3: got life members here that a founding life members of
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  Speaker 3: the i c p A, and it's so wonderful to
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  Speaker 3: hear their stories and you know, talk about it and
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  Speaker 3: how important is to keep.
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  Speaker 1: Families in Absolutely, it's so bloody important, you know, particularly
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  Speaker 1: like when you're talking about our cattle stations, our resources
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  Speaker 1: for the whole rest of Australia. It is so important
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  Speaker 1: to have wonderful families like yours in the bush.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, it's not just you know pastors, you know, we've
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  Speaker 3: got police officers. As you said, there's you know, people
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  Speaker 3: that live out on islands that are fish farmers or
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  Speaker 3: prawn farmers. There's so many people that require to use
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  Speaker 3: the disse education distance of school over the air, such
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  Speaker 3: as Katrin or Alice Spring and then have to send
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  Speaker 3: their kids away to boarding school to receive a quality education.
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  Speaker 3: There is also you don't have to. But you know,
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  Speaker 3: I've got two kids at boarding school and they are
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  Speaker 3: receiving opportunities that I could never give them a home, Katie, Yeah,
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  Speaker 3: they can all they can ride a horse, they run
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  Speaker 3: around in the yards chasing cows any day of the week.
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  Speaker 3: But you know, my eleven year old son has played
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  Speaker 3: again in football for first time and he's so you know,
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  Speaker 3: it's it's a sacrifice. But at the end of the
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  Speaker 3: day that you know, these kids are going to have
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  Speaker 3: so many more life experiences to set them up for
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  Speaker 3: their for their life and hopefully they'll come back to
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  Speaker 3: the territory. They will because it's in their blood and
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  Speaker 3: they love it, you know.
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  Speaker 2: But they've got to get that education.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, yeah, they have to. And to get families to
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  Speaker 3: stay in the bush, an organization like ours is very
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  Speaker 3: important to make sure that ministers and people in the
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  Speaker 3: high end of our government know that there is kids
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  Speaker 3: and families out in the bush and we need a
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  Speaker 3: hand at the end of the day. And we'll keep
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  Speaker 3: advocating and keep going and yeah, but it's just so
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  Speaker 3: specially part of part of today.
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  Speaker 1: It would be Amanda, are there any issues that are
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  Speaker 1: impacting you guys right now that you really are trying
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  Speaker 1: to raise that attention for the government on.
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  Speaker 3: So we just as our organizacation, we branches bring motion
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  Speaker 3: through the Anti State Council and we just passed the motion.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, so there is a student assistant scheme for
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  Speaker 3: kids that have to board into state. The boarding is
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  Speaker 3: for kids within the Northern Territory is limited. There is
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  Speaker 3: only two boarding schools in the Northern Territory. So a
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  Speaker 3: lot of families tend to send their kids into state Queensland,
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  Speaker 3: South Australia, in South Wales, et cetera. And to do that,
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  Speaker 3: as you would imagine, is quite a cost and just
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  Speaker 3: a travel alone. For example, I live eight hundred and
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  Speaker 3: fifty commas from Darwin and that my children have to
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  Speaker 3: fly from Darwin out to Queensland. So you know, those
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  Speaker 3: costs are ongoing and the allowance that the Norn Territory
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  Speaker 3: government give us is quite minimal. It's the system is
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  Speaker 3: to apply for the grant is clunky and that has
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  Speaker 3: just been expressed by our members to the room, to
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  Speaker 3: all the conference delegates, and the motion was passed that
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  Speaker 3: the Northern Territory Government Department of Education, sorry need to
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  Speaker 3: work on this system so that it is easier, you know,
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  Speaker 3: to for families to be able to receive the assistance
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  Speaker 3: that they require send their kids to boarding school.
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  Speaker 1: Well, I think that that's fair enough. It would be
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  Speaker 1: incredibly tough. And you know, we need people living in
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  Speaker 1: the bush. We need you guys to be doing those
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  Speaker 1: jobs that you've pointed out. And for all the exports
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  Speaker 1: that we've got that come out of Australia, you know,
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  Speaker 1: they're not coming out of our major cities. They are
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  Speaker 1: coming out of the bush and our more remote locations.
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  Speaker 1: Amanda forty years Gee, whiz, is there going to be
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  Speaker 1: a bit of a party for you guys?
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  Speaker 3: Oh? We you know, we might well have a bit
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  Speaker 3: of a shindy tonight, Katie. No, Look, we've been working
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  Speaker 3: on this conference. The Catherine Branch have convened the conference
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  Speaker 3: we've been working on it for oh look honestly six months,
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  Speaker 3: as anyone that organizes an event like this would know.
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  Speaker 3: So tonight we're going to celebrate the fact. And we've got,
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  Speaker 3: as I've said, quite a few founding members and life
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  Speaker 3: members here today. So it's been you know, we need
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  Speaker 3: to celebrate what they have done, what they have put
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  Speaker 3: in play for us as future ICPA members to carry
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  Speaker 3: on with to continue advocating for equity to access of
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  Speaker 3: education in the bush well and.
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  Speaker 1: I did just receive a message actually from Keesi Epiric
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  Speaker 1: and she said that she's there today and that you know,
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  Speaker 1: there isn't enough being delivered properly for remote students through
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  Speaker 1: the government. The allowance for going into states is fraught
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  Speaker 1: with problems. So I know you've certainly got support there
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  Speaker 1: from people who are inside Parliament and I'm sure it
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  Speaker 1: will be something that continues to be discussed. But you know,
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  Speaker 1: well done to you guys forty years and like you said,
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  Speaker 1: it is such an important association. As most people know,
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  Speaker 1: I grew up in Mount Isa and we used to
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  Speaker 1: very often have the kids you know, from from various locations,
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  Speaker 1: various stations, and that near Mount Isa coming too town
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  Speaker 1: for different sports carnivals, but then obviously all go away
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  Speaker 1: for boarding school as well as we've got a bit older.
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  Speaker 1: And I know how important it is to have an
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  Speaker 1: association like this one supporting those families.
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  Speaker 3: Absolutely, Katie. And you know you keep kids in the
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  Speaker 3: bush that I'll come back in your blood. For example,
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  Speaker 3: I'm you know, I'm a distanced kid, I'm boarding school kids.
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  Speaker 3: I'm a kid that went to UNI and Jude and
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  Speaker 3: I'm back. I've gone and raising my family in the bush.
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  Speaker 3: And I'm pretty sure you know, any any anyone that
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  Speaker 3: comes from an industry that they love, they will work
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  Speaker 3: their hardest to continue that. And it's just like that
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  Speaker 3: in the bush, the beef industry, the farmers that anyone
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  Speaker 3: that if you received support to live and work, you
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  Speaker 3: will love where you live at the end of the
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  Speaker 3: day and you'll come back to it. You just you
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  Speaker 3: can't help it part of who you are. And I
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  Speaker 3: think I'm I C P A n T. Really will
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  Speaker 3: continue as long as you know the passion is there
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  Speaker 3: and the government pete listening, then you know we're not
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  Speaker 3: going anywhere.
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  Speaker 1: Oh good on you guys, And a big congratulations obviously
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  Speaker 1: on the fortieth.
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  Speaker 2: Conference in Darwin.
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  Speaker 1: I tell you what, I enjoy a good shindig with
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  Speaker 1: with people from the Bush.
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  Speaker 2: I reckon it'll be a good night tonight. Well we'll be, Katie.
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  Speaker 3: You better come and you better come, and I.
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  Speaker 2: Don't know if I'll be able to handle it. I
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  Speaker 2: still got to go to work tomorrow morning. It'll be fine, Amanda.
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  Speaker 2: Lovely to talk to you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Have a great night, and again a big congratulations on
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  Speaker 1: forty years.
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  Speaker 3: Thanks Katie, Thanks for your tom Thank you