The Sauce: Nine bruised in public v private school free-for-all

The Nine marketing team was in clean-up mode after a full-page ad spruiking the public-school system appeared in its Independent Schools Guide. PLUS Former minister Don Harwin in vote-counting fracas, in this week’s Sauce.

The Nine marketing team had its mops and buckets out after a full-page ad spruiking the public-school system appeared in The Sydney Morning Herald’s 2024 Independent Schools Guide.

Individual private schools pay thousands of dollars to appear in the guide, with one private-sector source declaring it cost “about $15,000”.

It is then no surprise some in the independent schools sector were unimpressed at the appearance of a NSW Education Department ad boldly spruiking its “free schools”.

“The best education money can’t buy,” it screamed, saying how public-school alumni were “leading the way”, from Reserve Bank governors to High Court judges and international film and sports stars.

The ad clearly triggered a few “please-explain” calls from the independents, culminating in an apology from Nine’s commercial team.

Margery Evans, CEO of Independent Schools Australia. Picture: Supplied

Published in an email sent from the Association of Independent Schools of NSW to its members, Nine said the government ad would “not have been accepted in the publication had it been viewed before it was sent to print”.

“Nine’s commercial team sincerely apologises to the schools that appeared in the magazine, and to the AISNSW, and as a result have implemented more rigorous approval processes for all future independent school special reports,” it said.

The apology said the parties had “agreed on the importance of future networking and collaboration opportunities” between the SMH editorial executive team and AISNSW.

Association chief executive Margery Evans said the Nine team had also made contact to “proceed towards the possibility” of a roundtable with “senior editorial staff of the SMH and representative principals” in the way they “now meet with vice-chancellors of our universities”.

“Our sector’s messaging has always highlighted choice and parents’ ability to educate their children in a learning environment that suits their children’s needs and their family’s values,” she said.

“This is not done in the context of a comparison with public schools or Catholic systemic schools.

“I will keep you informed of our progress in advocating for your schools to be included in quality media reporting that is independent while also being balanced, accurate, and genuinely informative about important education issues for all NSW schools.”

A win for all.

TICKED OFF

Tensions were flaring within the NSW Liberal Party on Saturday after the “ticks and crosses” debacle of the Voice referendum infiltrated a ballot for the party president role.

On Saturday, former Berejiklian government minister Don Harwin was one vote ahead of rival Mark Baillie after two separate counts, with up to four votes with a tick or cross — instead of number — in dispute.

Former minister Don Harwin has been caught up in a vote-counting fracas. Picture: David Swift

Investigations were also under way into allegations a NSW upper house MLC dropped off a “batch of ballots” to party HQ.

Under the rules, city delegates were required to individually submit their ballot paper, while those in the bush were allowed to mail them.

Harwin, a moderate powerbroker, had been tipped to win the ballot over Baillie, who is the party treasurer.

However, one conservative party source told The Sauce Baillie had attracted support from members who wanted someone who was unaligned, given the years of dysfunction within the party executive.

The source pointed to the more than 90 per cent of almost 800 delegates participating in the ballot, “the highest ever”.

One delegate who believed four votes were in dispute told The Sauce Harwin would still win if the ticked and cross ballot paper were accepted.

Another who believed only three votes were affected said it would become a tie.

“It’s the hanging chads debacle all over again,” a senior Liberal source said, referring to the incompletely punched paper ballots of the 2000 US presidential election between George W. Bush and Al Gore. The Florida vote was settled in Bush’s favour.

The Sauce was told that the ballot papers had been “sealed” over the weekend, with Liberal Party state director Richard Shields to sort out the mess on Monday.

THE “RAT”

If NSW Upper House president Ben Franklin needed any clues that he was going to be in for a grilling from one of his National Party counterparts, he only needed to catch a glimpse of the folder his party colleague Wes Fang carried in with him to a Budget Estimates last week.

The pair have been at loggerheads since Franklin accepted the a presidency role from the Labor government, thereby diminishing the Nationals numbers in the NSW Legislative Council.

“Ben Franklin (The Rat)”, Fang’s folder declared, with the notes inside containing “evidence” of Franklin’s alleged betrayals of the part.

This included how vastly more Nationals MP had been the subject of a “call to order” than Labor, Liberal and crossbench MPs combined.

Fang, who did the counting, topped the list of all MPs with 40 calls to order, including two expulsions.

And on two occasions, every single Nationals MP in the Upper House was on two calls to order, Fang claimed.

“I’ve been punted twice,” Fang told The Sauce.

“Ironically, both times it was due to me raising Ben’s lack of impartiality in the chamber.

In the chamber, Fang grilled Franklin over how much his president’s office was costing taxpayers “$917,000”, how many times had he travelled overseas “once … in a private capacity” and getting pay rise by taking on the role “there’s a salary of office that goes with the presidency, yes.”.

Tensions erupted between the pair after Franklin accepted the role of president from NSW Premier Chris Minns, whom he counts as a personal friend.

The premier and Franklin have known each other for two decades – Franklin is also the godfather of Minns’ son Nick.

It is rare that a non-government member is given the role of president.

The tried to reach Franklin to see if he had any regrets, but was unable to make contact.

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