Dear Members and Supporters
Welcome to our first edition of Indigenous Youth news.
We hope to bring you several more over the coming months. 
 
The Indigenous-Aboriginal Party is particularly concerned about the future of our young people. We want them to have a voice, we want them to be heard, to celebrate their lives while being honest about the battles they face.
 
 In this first edition we look at the topic of education. While some progress has been made and many schools are doing their best to close the gap, big numbers of Indigenous kids, particularly school refusers, are still missing out, and are still treated badly in some cases.
 
 State govts simply refuse to recognise that the biggest group of kids who reject schools, are Indigenous. 
We need more alternative schools to provide our vulnerable youth with flexible and friendly education opportunities.
 
 However, unfortunately we have examples where education authorities such as VRQA (Victorian Registration and Qualification Authority) and NESA (New South Wales Education Standards Authority) have actively stood in the way of Indigenous kids pursuing an Indigenous friendly education. Both these education authorities have prevented free schools for school refusers getting off the ground by making the application process, so complex, so burdensome, it is impossible for ordinary Indigenous women, even with expert help, to get a new school application, passed. 
 If you ever like dashing off a quick complaint letter to either, pls do so and demand they drop the thin veneer of caring for Indigenous kids and start supporting schools for school refusers which run a curriculum of their own choosing. It is not an alternative school if it follows the same curriculum and structure of mainstream schools.

However, there are some great alternative schools that cater for our more vulnerable kids. One of these schools we would like to celebrate is Youth off the Streets. 
Youth off the Streets have six registered and accredited independent high schools offering flexible, alternative programs for young people disconnected from mainstream education in Years 9–12.

We will hear in this newsletter from a couple of kids who have found alternative education and another young person who has found it impossible to access flexible education.
 
In our next edition will we look at some of the fun things our Indigenous young people like to do. We may also include non-Indigenous kids because the Indigenous- Aboriginal Party of Australia celebrates people of all backgrounds working together.
Gab McIntosh 
Education Spokesperson 
Indigenous Party of Australia 
0455 195 920.