RUN commends the inquiry’s explicit focus on differences in education/employment outcomes based on gender, cultural and linguistic diversity, and socio-economic status. However, RUN also notes the absence of geography from the inquiry’s Terms of Reference, despite it being one of the most consequential drivers of differential outcomes in educational aspiration, participation, and attainment amongst Australians. RUN believes the lack of attention to matters of regionality is a major shortcoming, and recommends that the inquiry extend the scope of its focus to include issues of regionality/geography to ensure a more meaningful consideration of the barriers to education affecting the one-third of Australians who live outside of metropolitan Australia.
