NT government sticks to hardline school policies despite attendance slipping

The Northern Territory government is maintaining its hardline stance on student truancy, even as new data reveals a significant decline in school attendance, particularly among Aboriginal students. Since August 2024, the Country Liberal Party (CLP) government has invested over $20 million in policies aimed at improving attendance, including the deployment of truancy officers.

However, data from the first term of this year shows that Aboriginal school attendance rates, spanning preschool to high school, have fallen to an average of 57 percent. This represents a drop of more than 2 percent compared to the previous year and marks a decade-low. The Barkly region recorded the lowest average attendance rate at 41.7 percent.

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The CLP Government will continue to hold parents to account for school attendance.

NT Education Minister Jo Hersey attributed the dismal figures to severe natural disasters, such as widespread flooding in late 2025 and early this year. Despite these explanations, the downward trend in NT attendance rates has been consistent over the past decade, declining from 81 percent in 2015 to 72 percent in 2025, the lowest in Australia. For Aboriginal students specifically, attendance has decreased at four times the rate of non-Aboriginal students.

Despite the continuing fall in figures under the CLP's governance, Minister Hersey remains committed to the government's truancy policies. These include placing parents of repeat offenders on income management, issuing compliance notices, and utilizing uniformed personnel in remote communities to enforce attendance. "The CLP Government will continue to hold parents to account for school attendance," she stated, adding that every school will implement a mandatory attendance plan with additional support for disengaged students.

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Parents have been warned loud and clear, get your children to school or you will be referred to income management.