That ICPA (Aust) lobbies the Federal Education Minister, Social Services Minister and other relevant ministers and departments to recognise rural and remote students as being ‘Vulnerable Persons’ to ensure adequate funding is available to meet the needs of these students and their families.
There are various Australian Government definitions of a ‘Vulnerable Person’ but this terminology can refer to a child who is experiencing disadvantage whilst accessing a regulated activity or service related to the disadvantage. A ‘regulated activity’ in this sense, is identified as an activity provided to vulnerable persons and child education services is identified as one of these activities.
The intent of this motion is to precipitate momentum towards identification of isolated children and their families/carers as being within this ‘vulnerable’ category. It is after all, the families/carers that will be assessed as to the ‘vulnerability’ of these students/children/persons. We need to attract and retain these ‘vulnerable’ families in rural/remote regions by securing additional funding for the education of their children when they do need to attend boarding school for face-to-face learning.
As we all know, the AIC allowance alone is insufficient to cover the costs of educating isolated children (even for those who are eligible). So perhaps then we, as guardians of isolated children, need to “think outside the square” and potentially open a new funding stream, separate to the education funding space (AIC), to narrow the gap between the current funding provided and the actual cost of educating isolated students.
