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Mara Greenwood, Regional Manager, School to Work program

Jason Solomon, Regional Manager, School to Work program (Central Coast, NSW)

Charmaine Piper, Robyn Pelle, Nicole Lean, Melissa Lightburn, Project Officers, School to Work program

Timana Tahu, Business Development Officer, School to Work program

Shaun Humphries, Program Manager, School to Work program

Dear Mara, Jason, Charmaine, Robyn, Nicole, Melissa, Timana and Shaun et al

The Writer invites the NRL to appraise the Pilot of Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' RTV Social Inclusion Early Intervention Programme that -

*        will demonstrably Close the Gap on Indigenous Disadvantage with millions of RTV Viewers (during Nov 2022) learning inter alia the How and Why in Four Proposed RTV Programmes because of the Powerful Phenomenon that is Reality TV and the Motivational Incentive of RTV;

*        will materially broaden the ARL's School to Work program:
 (a)      Equally motivating both sporting and non-sporting Indigenous senior school students to Attain Teenager Life Skills.

         (b)      Enable Year 9  Indigenous school students to commence the three years' ATLSEIP, thereby extending the scope of the School to Work program from two to four senior school years;

*        is partially Administered and fully Funded by Ten Corporate Sponsors for the Thirteen Deliverables from the 'Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' Programme involving 140 Accepted Year 9 Aboriginal Students drawn from the Selected Six Townships in the Northern Territory with a Population >2000;

*        is fully Funded by Ten Corporate Sponsors for the Three Benefits To Ten Corporate Sponsors;

*        involves a high percentage of Aboriginal administration, including the Indigenous Principle's Representative and 18 Indigenous Local Connectors that each live in one of the Six Regional Townships in the N.T. that would be Elders at the Coal Face to assist each of the Ten Regional Township Teams prepare for and compete in the Three Motivational Teams Challenges, starting with the Year 9  Mixed Teams' Tri-Sports Challenge in Sept 2022; and

*        will broaden S2W's scope to a fifth State/Territory, namely the Northern Territory "... following access to work experience opportunities, industry visits and workshops across Queensland, New South Wales, Australian Capital Territory and Victoria".

*        accords with Recommendation 236,  Chapter 7 and the Prime Minister’s Community Business Partnership where "Levels of philanthropy have tapered off in recent years, with Australia now lagging behind other countries".

Tens of thousands of indigenous Australians would be able view 34  x  One Hour RTV Episodes of "Attaining Teenager Life Skills" that will equip them to avoid:

                  youth suicide, assault, break and enter, motor vehicle theft, malicious damage to property, child sexual abuse, neglect, family violence, school absenteeism, boredom, Social Disadvantage, dilapidated housing, early experimentation with alcohol, petrol sniffing and excessive cigarette smoking.

Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' RTV Social Inclusion Early Intervention Programme explained herein will reduce indigenous incarceration empirically more than programs that cost more than $130.2 billion over the eight years to 2016.  ATLSEIP will not cost the Public Purse a solitary dollar because it would be partially Administered and fully Funded by the Life Skills Philanthropic Service Movement for the Three Benefits To Ten Corporate Sponsors.

References:

1. Amnesty International Australia's comprehensive, 871-page report opines on governments’ lack of progress in implementing many of the 339 Recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths In Custody, in particular "Breaking the cycle: programs for Aboriginal youth (recommendations 234-245)"

2. Professor Patrick Dodson's call for accountability from legislators almost 25 years later (at the National Press Club Address on Wed, 13 April 2016) re a lack of attention to most of the 339 Recommendations

3. ABC The Drum programme on Monday, 16 Dec 2019 where Arthur Moses (President of Law Council of Australia) was critical of Governments ineptitude, particularly in not raising the age of criminal responsibility to 14 years old

4. ABC Youth Detention articles

5. Royal Commission and Board of Inquiry into the Protection and Detention of Children in the Northern Territory - Recommendations

6. "The Northern Territory Government would save hundreds of millions of dollars by implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Youth Detention and Child Protection"

7. Uluru Statement from the Heart  rejected by P.M. in Sept 2018 as a third chamber.

8. Coalition of Peaks and National Agreement on Closing the Gap - 2020

9. NRL School to Work education and employment program

10. NRL School to Work Program -  Corporate-Brochure

11. National Rugby League School to Work (S2W) Programme – Australia

12. NSW Government - School to Work program

13. NATIONAL RUGBY LEAGUE ANNUAL REPORT 2020

14. Former NRL star Timana Tahu determined to change lives of Indigenous youth through education and employment - SMH  -  29 May 21 - Chloe Hart

The Executive Summary of CLOSING THE GAP - PRIME MINISTER’S REPORT 2018 listed (page 9 of PDF) four of seven 'Closing the gap' targets that were not on track to be achieved.  There were 798,400 circa indigenous Australians at the 2016 census which represented 3.41% of the Australian population of 23.401 million people at the 2016 census.  Yet as at 30 June 2020, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners made up 29% of all prisoners.  N.T. continues to lead the country in imprisonment rates: ABS - 17 Sept 2020.

Below is an on-line 'Response Comment' to the newspaper article "The cost of programs that helped meet the government’s Closing the Gap targets to improve indigenous Australians’ lives over the eight years to 2016 exceeded $130.2 billion, according to analysis of government spending data by The Australian.":

        ".... Only an idiot keeps doing the same thing and expects a different result...." referring to the previous practice of funding exceedingly small isolated Indigenous populations at materially higher delivery costs.

Motivational Incentive of RTV highlights the enormous driving force upon all competitors appearing on national RTV programmes for 'mundane challenges' (eg. cooking contests, dancing or renovating the third bedroom or the backyard).  Similar incentive from national exposure on Four Proposed RTV Programmes would -

*          motivate  Ten Regional Township Teams drawn from Six Townships in the Northern Territory with a Population >2000 to train diligently to compete in Three Separate Annual Motivational Teams Challenges, as well as receive Mentoring Support Messages at On-Site Workshops; and 

*          marshal Thirty Philanthropic Elder Colleagues who possess Three WOO Qualities to use their Project Development Expertise and bring Complimentary Low Cost Initiatives to -
+       assist Socially Disadvantaged Indigenous Australians "Our Indigenous kids, they are not all athletes," Tahu said"; and
+       evidence Corporate Social Responsibility, thereby enhance the Brand Name of Ten Corporate Sponsors.

Pursuant to representations in the NRL's School to Work website, the Writer invites employees directly familiar with the School to Work program within the National Rugby League to -

(i)         review Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' RTV Social Inclusion Early Intervention Programme; and

(ii)        rate it between 0 and 10 under each of Ten Business Case Parameters for its cost-effective utility to address the four 'Closing the gap' targets that are not on track to be achieved - Executive Summary - page 9 of PDF. 

Inter alia, ATLSEIP:

(A)       Would be ostensibly  Administered and fully Funded by the Life Skills Philanthropic Service Movement for the Three Benefits To Ten Corporate Sponsors to provide Thirteen Deliverables which include Overriding Purpose Of 'Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' Programme.

(B)       Entails Three Philanthropic Elder Colleagues From Each Of Ten Corporate Sponsors Providing Different Project Development Expertise.

(C)      Draws on the potent Motivational Incentive Of RTV and taps into the burgeoning number of Baby-Boomers that possess Three WOO Qualities under the Private Sector Philanthropic Administrator Model.

(D)      Enables New Role Models In Isolated Country Towns By Building Upon Valuable Survival Skills - Enhance Pride In These Towns.

(E)      Would Mitigate Risks to Corporate Brand Names.

(F)      Will cost the National Rugby League, a television production company, the ABC, SBS or the Life Skills Philanthropic Service Movement  a  Peppercorn Fee of $10 to purchase from the 'Life Skills' Programme Developer (Writer) the I.P. associated with the 7 months (ave. 35 hours a month) R&D to prepare 'Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' RTV Early Intervention Programme.

The Writer's final position at Commonwealth Bank prior to retirement after a 37 years' career was in Social & Corporate Infrastructure after previously acting as a Fiduciary (under the Principle-Agent Relationship) for 18 years to syndicates of first ranking banks that funded a welter of very large social, corporate and transport infrastructure projects such as the privatisation of Sydney Airport and Brisbane Airports, construction of Sydney Harbour Tunnel.  In acting as a Fiduciary for large syndicates of 1st and/or 2nd ranking debt providers, the Writer dealt with talented lawyers, civil and structural engineers, accountants, CFOs and bankers.  These parties were senior execs well used to completing complex projects on time and within budget.  Hence, sourcing Three Philanthropic Elder Colleagues that possess Three WOO Qualities from each of Ten Corporate Sponsors would be a veritable walk in the park due to the Three Benefits To Ten Corporate Sponsors.

The Writer -

(a)      is confident of sourcing three of the Ten Corporate Sponsors from former business contacts when he worked at CBA in Infrastructure Finance (a major Australian law firm, one of the Four Pillar banks and an Investment Bank); and

(b)      will answer in writing any written questions put to him by anyone that reviews ATLSEIP.

Aforementioned Recommendation 236, Chapter 7 and representations and aspirations within the School to Work website,  behoove the NRL to appraise inter alia the Thirteen Deliverables from ATLSEIP:

" .......... this attention to youth and valuing their contribution is a useful lesson that should be considered by other initiatives."

'Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' Programme Budget Costs provides an Excel spreadsheet 'Life_Skills_Programme_Budget.xlsx' (for the initial three years of the Max 4¾ Years of the Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills Coverage Period).  It contains 19 linked worksheets of all costs for the Cross Section Of Mentors and Various Parties, including substantive travel costs for the 120 Accepted Year 9 Aboriginal Students to attend each of the Three Motivational Teams Challenges:

*         1st worksheet 'Summary Costs & Receipts' and a $50,000 pa Pro-rata Annual Contribution To Budget Costs Funded by each of the Ten Corporate Sponsors which aggregates to $1,500,000 for the initial three years of the Max 4¾ Years of the Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills Coverage Period. 

*         2nd worksheet 'Summary Budget item costs' provides a detailed break-up of the extensive budget items which aggregate $1,393,653 over three years which is 92.91% of the $1,500,000 Pro-rata Annual Contribution To Budget Costs from the Ten Corporate Sponsors, leaving a forecast surplus of $106,347 even after providing a 'Contingency' of $30,000. 

*          2nd worksheet 'Summary Budget item costs' calcs that each of the 30 Indigenous Local Connectors roles (who live in each of the Six Regional Townships in the N.T. that would be Elders at the Coal Face to assist each of the Ten Regional Township Teams prepare for and compete in the Three Motivational Teams Challenges) would each be paid $7,350 p.a. and be covered for out-of-pocket costs $2,000 circa pa. 

The above programme costs are very low, because ATLSEIP is Administered, in concert with the Indigenous Principal's Representative and the Indigenous Local Connectors in each of the Six Regional Townships, by Thirty Philanthropic Elder Colleagues who possess Three WOO Qualities to use their Project Development Expertise and bring Complimentary Low Cost Initiatives to -
+       assist Socially Disadvantaged Indigenous Australians; and
+       evidence Corporate Social Responsibility thereby enhance Brand Name of Ten Corporate Sponsors.

ATLSEIP is not a dozen pages of ideas.  It is hundreds of pages of intertwined detail to review:

1.     What, Who, Where, When, Why, How & How much?  

2.     SWOT Analysis  '

3.     Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills' Structure Diagram,

4.     Executive Summary

in order to answer nine Business Case Questions to thereby provide evidence that each 'reviewer' possesses the concentration and capacity to properly appraise ATLSEIP that the Writer has expended many hundreds of hours structuring, drawing upon 18 years working in Infrastructure Finance at CBA.  The afore-mentioned woeful results in Closing the Gap whilst continuing to pour billions of the Public Purse into failed programs, are to some extent due to administrators and politicians not possessing the capacity, or interest, to appraise detailed business plans and quantify the associated Cost-Benefit Analysis.

Due to COVID, the Pilot of ATLSEIP involves Ten Regional Township Teams drawn from Six Townships In the Northern Territory With A Population >2000.  Upon the 1st year of the Pilot programme completing successfully, ATLSEIP could be Propagated to a national RTV Social Inclusion Early Intervention Programme involving schools from all six states and two territories.  Alternatively, the above Pilot could be in a state other than the N.T.

Hence, will The National Rugby League thoroughly review ATLSEIP?

ATLSEIP will -

1.)       reduce Aboriginal incarceration rates (measured and publicised annually due to the Max 4¾ Years of the Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills Coverage Period) more effectively than achieved over the eight years to 2016 on programs whose costs exceeded $130.2 billion; and

2.)       further increase indigenous Australians gain meaning employment and commence tertiary studies (would be measured and publicised annually during the Max 4¾ Years of the Aboriginal Teenager Life Skills Coverage Period)

3.)       not cost the Public Purse a solitary dollar because ATLSEIP will be fully Funded by Ten Corporate Sponsors for inter alia the Three Benefits To Ten Corporate Sponsors.