The former Liberal National government’s 2021 Rural and Remote Education Strategy was simply a rehash of existing programs, with no “new ideas or solutions”, no timeframes, additional resources, or measures to track its success, the Auditor-General found.
The failures meant that “insufficient” priority was given to regional, rural and remote issues, and there was “limited action” on fixing the equity gap in regional education.
The report said two years on, the Strategy was “unlikely to achieve its vision that every child in regional NSW has access to the same quality of education as their metropolitan peers” and that shortcomings with the design and implementation meant “there is little to report on its impact”.
The Strategy, along with the Regional, Rural and Remote Policy unit, were announced in 2021 by former Nationals Leader John Barilaro and then Education Minister Sarah Mitchell who promised it would “drive reforms and implement programs to eliminate the equity gap that exists between the bush and the city”.
However, the Auditor-General found that the announcement was made despite confusion and lack of clarity over the role of the unit.
Furthermore, no dedicated team was in place when the strategy was announced, and it took more than a year to properly staff the unit which the Auditor-General said “was not fast enough to support a four-year strategy with an ambitious vision”.
No implementation plan was put in place which made it “difficult for executives to monitor whether the strategy was on track”.
The report found that the former Liberal National Government repeatedly ignored concerns raised by bureaucrats, who flagged the lack of support for the strategy, ineffective governance, and poorly planned implementation as early as March 2020, a year before it was announced.
There was no implementation plan in place when the strategy was released to guide it through its first years. This made it difficult for executives to monitor whether the strategy was on track.
The report has prompted an urgent response by the Minns Labor Government, who have tasked senior education executives with reprioritising rural, regional and remote students, putting a fresh focus on the initiatives that will deliver the biggest impact for the bush.
There will now be stronger accountability, with responsibility for the strategy now elevated to Deputy Education Secretaries to oversee the delivery of the key measures to target inequality in regional education.
Deputy Premier and Minister for Education and Early Learning Prue Car said:
“The Auditor-General has exposed the Liberals and Nationals’ contempt for regional communities.
“The Liberals and Nationals promised to close the educational gap in the bush despite being told repeatedly they did not have an adequate plan to deliver.
“This was shameless politics by the Liberal and Nationals and they need to apologise to parents and students in the bush.
“This wasn’t a case of having a failed plan for regional education - the Liberals Nationals failed to have any plan at all other than a press release.
“The failures by the Liberals and Nationals to back their words with any action has meant we have wasted several years in our fight to improve educational outcomes for kids in the bush.
“We will not waste another day, and we have today asked executives in the NSW Department of Education to reprioritise our students in the bush, with a keen focus on pieces that will deliver the biggest impact.”