Comments on: Why Christopher Pyne should go back to school

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 06:03:59 +0000

GERRY HATRICK: They’d both be teaching school kids to pronounce the letter ‘H’ as haitch instead of aitch.

By: The Pav

The Pav — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 05:57:42 +0000

Achmed

I have a certain reservation against people who chose to opt out of the system getting any support. If all the resources are devoted to the govt system then wthe quality should be there so the choice would be on other grounds.

If it is religious then they already get a free kick with the tax system but I guess a pro rata payment would have a dgree of equity.

The criminal part of the Howard way was that 70% of the funding went to 30% of the students. If it had been solely to disadvantaged schools then maybe OK but way too much went to genuinely wealthy schools so you had the ridiculous situation of the poor/ middle class subsidising the rich through the tax system.

For example in WA a local WAFL club couldn’t recruit the coach they want becasue the PSA school he coached paid more. Or Geoff Marsh coaching cricket..His next gig was ciaching Australia. If schools can pay that much for sports then they don’t need subsidies.

It is this dishonesty and inequity that Pyne wants to perpetuate

By: Achmed

Achmed — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 05:34:12 +0000

No problem with Govt providing a subsidy to private schools. But it should NEVER be more than what public schools get

By: Melinda Hughes

Melinda Hughes — Tue, 05 Mar 2013 00:10:36 +0000

It appears that the Coalition is determined to widen a class gap by denying quality education to all Australian children regardless of parental income or family location. Sad day indeed for Australia when these mean mouthed men take power.

By: Achmed

Achmed — Sun, 03 Mar 2013 02:18:45 +0000

To afraid to be seen agreeing with Labor. Labor say “white” the Liberals have condemned themselves to saying “black” no matter what.

Pyne has always reminded of the school Prefect/tattle tail. “miss miss he hit me” “misss miss they were talking in class” “miss miss he did it he did it”

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 07:08:15 +0000

SHANIQ’UA SHARDONN’AY: Jesüs!

By: Ian

Ian — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 01:42:21 +0000

Actually far more symptomatic of the entire malaise associated with supposedly smart (i.e politicians and advisors) people dealing with complex, well thought out and documented research - with definite conclusions.
If it is a long paper the smarties decide that Jo and Joe will go to the conclusions. hence you can make up the middle.
Bernard - Fran must have been itching to ask Pyne whether he had actually read the report.

By: Margaret Ludowyk

Margaret Ludowyk — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 09:55:22 +0000

Only Pyne and Costello could attempt to defend the current education funding models which is just a cover for providing more funds to private schools than they deserve.Like all wealthy vested interests the private schools will fight to keep their money and they will fight to maintain the gap between their schools and government schools. After all, if government schools are well- resourced, what would be the attraction of paying private school fees. Their marketing plans rely on keeping the governments schools down!

By: Gavin Moodie

Gavin Moodie — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:50:17 +0000

@ Gerry Hatrick

Great idea! My modest suggestion is Cory Bernardi to set the science curriculum since he has the dual qualifications as a global warming denier sympathetic with christian fundis and presumably creationism.

By: Gerry Hatrick, OAP

Gerry Hatrick, OAP — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:39:21 +0000

Surely Barnaby can set the curriculum for English, and Joe Hockey can teach both Mathematics and Accounting, surely?

By: Malcolm Street

Malcolm Street — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:15:37 +0000

Paddy - don’t forget allowing councils to opt out of flouridation. Yee haw!!!

By: Pedantic, Balwyn

Pedantic, Balwyn — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:11:09 +0000

@Scott Grant. If only!! However the problem of communication doesn’t lie only with the Government. News Ltd will not expend any time on analysing or comparing the policies of the only parties that will count in this election. They are waiting for the savage cuts to the ABC under a Coalition Government to further their own cause.
Fairfax makes an occasional and half hearted attempt to offer balanced and insightful commentary, but seem to believe that the readers want rumour and innuendo to sell more copies.
When we have Abbott and the No-hopers in power and it all goes backwards, as we have found in Victoria, maybe the media may consider whether their dollar driven headlines were in the interests of the country, but I doubt it.

By: Paddy Forsayeth

Paddy Forsayeth — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 08:06:16 +0000

For a foretaste of whats to come federally watch Qld. Springborg is aiming to privatise the hospitals. Newman is winding back the wild rivers act. Newman and his “Country Party” are determined to slash, burn and dig. The pristine Diamantina river is next on the list to have its waters sucked out to irrigate more farms.
The election of Abbott will be akin to the populace donning a hair shirt for three years.

By: David Coles

David Coles — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 07:47:18 +0000

Labor has done a lot that I don’t like but I like a lot less what I am starting to see of the policies of the Coalition. Four years in the job and needs to appoint a Ministerial Advisory Group to tell him what needs to be done for crying out loud!

By: Shaniq'ua Shardonn'ay

Shaniq'ua Shardonn'ay — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:40:31 +0000

@Venise - his middle name is actually ‘Maurice’

By: Scott Grant

Scott Grant — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:21:30 +0000

For all their faults and backsliding and stuff-ups, the Rudd/Gillard governments have done a few significant things, which are in danger of being undone if the government changes in September. In Technology Spectator, today, there was an opinion piece which suggests “If the Coalition assumes power at the next election, there will never be an affordable universal optical fibre to the premises (FttP) network.”. In today’s SMH business section there is an article in which Chris Rex, CEO of Ramsay Health Care “… says he is confident a coalition government would roll back means-testing of private health insurance …”. Then there is the news from a week or three ago that the ACT clubs are not going ahead with their pre-commitment trial until after the election, because they might not have to do it at all. And then there is the pricing of carbon.

All in all, I think a clear choice is emerging for the September election. If Labor could just communicate that choice effectively, they ought to romp home.

By: CML

CML — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 06:04:27 +0000

My family lived in Scotland (Edinburgh) in the 1980’s, and we had two primary aged children at the time. The set-up there was that Catholic and state schools shared the same campus and facilities, and were funded exactly the same. They also had to teach the same curriculum, and religious education was mostly conducted out of school hours. I am not aware that any other religious group was included. I think children of all other religions attended the state schools.
There were some very expensive “private” schools, but as far as we could determine, they did not receive government funding. Way out of our price range, anyway!
That was several decades ago, so things might have changed now.

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 05:07:15 +0000

ZUT: No, Australia isn’t the only one. All Catholic countries, perhaps Islamic countries as well, would have state subsidised school systems.

England too has subsidised schools, even to the extent that the well known repository of under privileged children known as Eton, where each pupil is subsidised to the tune of $6000 per annum. I don’t know how far that money would go, but it does answer your question.

By: Venise Alstergren

Venise Alstergren — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 04:17:50 +0000

””— making a rare foray into his own portfolio — ””

What a wonderful serve. Chrissy Wissy wouldn’t even know how to spell Gonski without looking it up. This sorry excuse for a parliamentarian, this overweight and elderly schoolboy with the crimped hair wave, this hollow human being has to epitomise all that will be rancid on the front benches, when Tony Abbott gets into power.

Chrissy Wissy Pyne is to intellect what vomit is to Verve Cliquot.

By: zut alors

zut alors — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 04:14:10 +0000

Please someone correct me but is Oz the only country where government (ie: taxpayers) subsidise private schools?

By: Andybob

Andybob — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:48:34 +0000

Working as intended then Chris ?

By: mikehilliard

mikehilliard — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:10:11 +0000

Thanks Benard.

So Gonski recommends taking some funding from private schools and distributing it more equitably amongst the public schools.

I don’t understand this dichotomy. Labor support is stronger in the inner western suburbs of Sydney where children are more likely to be privately educated and weaker in the outer western suburbs where children go to predominantly public schools.

It would appear that for some reason one group supports equity at the risk of being disadvantaged and another supports inequity with the same risk of being disadvantaged.

Something doesn’t make sense here.

By: CML

CML — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:06:24 +0000

@ Peter - at the very least, you would expect voters to be concerned for their children when they make important decisions about who to vote for in the coming federal election.
Then again, I guess the Coalition have worked out that few parents who have children in disadvantaged schools would be voting for them anyway.
What a morally bankrupt mob of +ankers! I’m alright Jack, is alive and well among the “aspirational” voters too, it seems.

By: The Pav

The Pav — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 03:03:03 +0000

Quelle suprise!!

An opposition front bencher who didn’t know his own portfolio!

Goes with a leader who can’t read a power bill.

Gee whizz why would anybody support these morons

By: TheFamousEccles

TheFamousEccles — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:57:51 +0000

Very typical of the poodle, and yet another Coalition furniture piece that doesn’t like being pulled up on his own lack of portfolio knowledge.