Warren Mundine hopeful Malcolm Turnbull's app idea will cut truancy
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Version 0 of 1. Malcolm Turnbull is a self-confessed gadgets man, and within minutes of meeting a group of Indigenous leaders, the new prime minister had come up with the idea of using technology to reduce truancy rates. “Within five minutes he said, why don’t we get an app,” the chairman of the prime minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council, Warren Mundine said. “The teachers have an app. They sit there and they tick off Little Johnny and Joe and Mary as they come into the classroom. And if the kid is not there, then it sends an SMS to their parents.” Related: Tony Abbott sets goal to close gap on Indigenous school attendance A prototype of the app is already in existence and will be modified for use in Indigenous communities. “Now it’s about how we trial it and test things and make sure it’s doing the stuff that we need to do,” he said. Closing the gap in school attendance had been a focus for former prime minister, Tony Abbott, who in February last year vowed to eradicate the problem within five years. “One of the worst forms of neglect is failing to give children the education they need for a decent life,” he said. But the drive to improve literacy and numeracy rates in 72 Indigenous communities, at an expense to the federal government of $47m, has yielded poor results. Mundine said Turnbull’s approach to Indigenous affairs is in line with his emphasis on innovation. “He said … we need to think outside of boundaries and have crazy ideas,” he said. “It’s going to be a whole new ball game.” Mundine, a close friend of Abbott’s, said the leadership spill has created a “dynamic change” between government and Indigenous leadership. He has welcomed the new prime minister’s focus on enhancing economic opportunities for remote communities. The council has spoken to newly-appointed small business minister, Kelly O’Dwyer, on how to create jobs that will increase prosperity for entire communities. “For remote and regional Australia … small to medium enterprises are going to be the big area that closes the gap,” Mundine said. Despite the emphasis on economic opportunities, the council will continue to advance work it did under Abbott, including the push for reform of the constitution to recognise Australia’s first peoples. Initial consultations on constitutional reform were supposed to take place in September, but have not done so. However, Mundine said unofficial town hall meetings on the subject were occurring. He said the official consultation process will start by the end of the year, in order to stick with the timeframe of a 2017 referendum on the issue. |