http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-02-02/20120202-school-attendance-welfare-pay-lin...An evaluation of a trial linking the welfare payments of parents to the school attendance of their children has found the threat can be effective but not for long.
The trial, known as SEAM, focused on schools in parts of Queensland and the Northern Territory, in areas where attendance is particularly bad.
It involved 14 schools in the Territory and 30 in Queensland.
The evaluation found that, in 2010, there were about 5,000 parents involved in the trial.
Only seven parents had their welfare payments suspended because their children were not in class.
Another 85 had payments suspended for not having their children enrolled at school.
Federal School Education Minister Peter Garrett says the trial is having a positive effect on enrolment and attendance.
However, the evaluation warns that both attendance and enrolment tend to slip back over time.
Overall, it found children's attendance at the schools surveyed rose by about 5 per cent.
Attendance by SEAM students rose from 74.4 per cent to 79.9 percent of children enrolled in the Territory, and from 84.7 per cent to 88.7 per cent in Queensland.
Mr Garrett says he is not disappointed with the results of the trial.
"We have got challenges still in play with communities to make sure attendance and enrolment is given the priority it needs," he said.
The trial is costing more than $3 million a year to run.
The Federal Opposition says the trial is a joke.
The Opposition Indigenous Affairs spokesman, Senator Nigel Scullion, says given the scale of non-attendance, the figures are ridiculous.
"This is actually a test of whether the Labor Government can even run a trial," he said.
"This is an absolute, complete joke."
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