Education is another area where for too long different standards have been delivered and different standards have been accepted. And guess what we have ended up with – different standards again for First Australians. In many of our remote schools different standards are expected of Indigenous children. We use excuses like cultural difference to explain to ourselves why they cannot learn. Does this mean we are saying they are somehow less intelligent? If you expect less and then you give less, you get less.

Second-rate education offering the preservation of Indigenous culture as its objective does not provide a basic education that Indigenous Australians should be able to expect.

Everywhere in the world, hope for the future starts with education. Parents not sending their children to school is a powerful statement of their loss of faith in a better future. The longer it takes us to tackle this, the more children are missing opportunities to truly determine their own future.

States and territories must take action to get kids to school and retain their interest. They must recruit bright and effective teachers who will relish the challenges and rewards of making a difference, like in Cherbourg. States should start publishing attendance rates in communities. Unless we face reality, we cannot hope to build a better future. Some of our innovative approaches such as the ‘no school, no pool’ initiative are starting to pay off. We need more new ideas.