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.
