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Rural and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

Rural

and Remote Education Inquiry Briefing Paper

9. Housing

Overview

Adequate housing

for staff in isolated communities is essential to the success of the teaching

placement (Kalkaringi school meeting, WA, 13 May 1999). In isolated communities

where there is no housing stock available for rental, teachers are dependent

on the accommodation provided by the education department. Currently there

are a number of subsidies and provisions for teacher housing across the

States and Territories, though there is no nation wide consistency in

these housing allowances (see table above, 'Comparison of Australian State

and Territory Teacher Allowances and Incentives').

The quality of the

accommodation in rural and remote communities is also an important determinant

in the success of the teaching appointment. Factors such as extremes in

temperature combined with isolation from family and peers can make the

teaching placement very demanding. Housing that is relatively safe, comfortable

and air-conditioned is desirable for all teaching staff. Limited housing

stock can mean that staff are forced to share accommodation and this can

also lead to tension amongst the teaching community.

It is also important

to note that in the Northern Territory and in Western Australia, Aboriginal

and Islander Education Workers who teach in their own communities are

not eligible for housing subsidies (Robert Laird, Australian Education

Union (NT), Darwin public hearing, 10 May 1999; Michelle White, Australian

Education Union (WA), oral submission, 1999).

Evidence

to the Inquiry

At this

current moment, our most remote communities are short of teachers that

they are entitled to under the staffing formula of the Department of Education.

They're short of teachers because there is a national shortage of teachers,

but they're also short of teachers because there are no facilities for

those teachers to live in, so there's a shortage of housing. This is on

top of the shortage of housing that's already been referred to by my colleague

from Milingimbi, and the entirely discriminatory practice of not providing

public housing to Indigenous teachers in their own communities, the so-called

local recruits clause (Robert Laird, Australian Education Union (NT),

Darwin public hearing, 10 May 1999).

Last

updated 2 December 2001.