Credit: Illustration: Cathy Wilcox
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EDUCATION
Well, the gloves are off with the private school lobby finally acknowledging the class war that is now education (“Private school lobby targets federal seats”, 27/2).
And on the same page, we see that Victorian public schools are the least funded. We also read about a bullying scandal in a regional private school, and that commuters in the western suburbs of Melbourne may finally get decent public transport – and hopefully some new schools to go with the unprecedented growth in housing.
Australia is one of the very few countries that funds private schools, and it is encouraging to note the Greens seeking to remove overfunding of private schools by 2029 – though a better approach would be zero funding.
It will take a courageous government to finally resolve the education mess we are in, noting that the much admired Finnish model of free public education, took many years to implement.
If we want to be truly innovative to meet the challenges ahead, then we must start sometime soon.
Denise Stevens, Healesville
Careful what the lobby wishes for
Independent Schools Australia (ISA) should be very careful not to shoot itself in the foot with its proposed campaign to target 20 federal electorates (“Private schools lobby targets federal seats”, 27/2).
I can recall the days when private schools received no government funding. Years of campaigning by the Catholic Church, on behalf of poor parish schools, culminated in the Menzies government introducing limited federal funding for both non-government and government schools in 1964.
The bitter ‘state aid’ debate continued for decades with the religious lobby on one side and groups such as the Defence of Government Schools on the other.
Government schools had always received a majority of their running costs from the states and this continues to be the case.
Over the last 60 years Coalition governments, especially during the Howard years, progressively increased funding to non-government schools.
Private schools in Australia are funded at much higher rates than any other country in the world. This funding is at the level recommended by Gonski (2018).
However, as Education Minister Jason Clare says, “The problem is that government schools are not” funded at the Gonski recommended level.
By targeting independents, Greens and some Labor seats, including that of Jason Clare, the ISA may succeed in bringing back the acrimonious state aid debates of the past. This is not a wise move considering that an overwhelming number of Australians still send their children to public schools.
James Young, Mount Eliza
Time to reset priorities
Re “Victorian students come last in funding” (27/2). Time for the Allan government to pause the SRL and put high-priority essentials back on track.
Elizabeth Meredith, Surrey Hills
State schools fall to bits, private schools grow
I nearly choked on my crunchy granola when I turned to page 4 of The Age (27/4) to read the rest of the article on Victorian students coming last in funding, and lo and behold, there is an article about federal seats being targeted by a private schools lobby.
Am I in some parallel universe where irony is the ‘go to’?
The current state of the public school system is frightening. Schools falling to bits while private schools buy up property close by. This privileged section of our society fails to understand the paradoxical nature of their actions. As a result, their moral credit is in the red.
David Legat, South Morang
THE FORUM
Lifters not leaners
We’re hearing a lot about Peter Dutton’s real estate purchases. The tall poppy syndrome is alive and well. He started buying when he was 19. Who really gives a toss? Robert Menzies lived in a luxury home in Malvern, Malcolm Fraser was part of the affluent western district, Paul Keating was an art connoisseur and had a stake in a piggery. Kevin Rudd and Malcolm Turnbull weren’t paupers either. Some may remember the maths teacher in the 1980s who wrote a book about real estate investing. Pity the naysayers don’t take a leaf out of her book.
Ian Anderson, Surrey Hills
Foreign aid target
UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer has pledged massive increases in defence spending, partly paid for by reducing the foreign aid budget. Trump and Australian defence hawks will be pleased. Australia’s per capita aid budget is below the UK’s and UN targets, but I suppose there’s room for “savings”. Bellicosity seems to trump compassion in Australian politics, and aid budgets are vulnerable. It is hard to see how any cuts would make us safer, regardless of how many dollars were diverted into US shipyards.
Norman Huon, Port Melbourne
Subtle response required
China’s grey zone attacks on Australia need to be reciprocated, subtly. The absence of consequences for misconduct will produce continued war-like behaviour. If pushing the boundaries is costless, and it produces benefits, the behaviour will continue.
This isn’t advocating for Scott Morrison-style bellicose acts. It’s to make a strategic mix of publicly visible and invisible responses each time China’s behaviour is improper.
Richard Gould, West Melbourne
Airport messiness
It’s wonderful news that at least the federal government gets it when it comes to the efficiency and productivity gains to be had from a rail link from Melbourne airport to Sunshine, from whence travellers can then enjoy the benefits of previous productive rail investments in the regional rail link all the way to Geelong and beyond.
A pity the Allan state government is still obsessed with wrecking Melbourne’s liveable leafy eastern suburbs to prop up a business case for SRL East that has never existed, and is the very opposite of good governance.
Given Melbourne Airport operates on federal government owned land, how can Victoria make millions from car parking and yet not be expected to contribute, surely at least a third, to the cost of the rail link to Sunshine, which then gives access to CBD and the entire metro network?
Brisbane has had an excellent link built by the state government more than a decade ago. Ditto Perth in more recent times, Sydney too. How can Melbourne claim to be anything but an embarrassing mess these days, not the least, leaving so many visitors vulnerable to appalling behaviour by taxi drivers too?
Bernadette George, Mildura
Fewer flying miles
Why are taxpayers supporting the expansion of another fossil fuel industry? The planet is now hotter than 1.5 degrees and flying is the most warming single thing we can do. So we can’t do both – keep flying and avoid the agreed existentially risky consequences of 2 degrees. Unfortunately, it seems flights back to the “normal” world have been cancelled. No airport rail. No third runway. Please.
Mark Carter, Chewton
Turn down the volume
One reason I use public transport is to allow me to read. One deterrent is the loud and repetitious on-train announcements which are often incorrect. One that I have heard frequently on the Frankston line is: “This is a service to Werribee, stopping all stations except Seaford” when the train is a limited express service to Werribee. Worse, is when the train carriage display is also incorrect. I have been told by drivers that they have no control over the announcements. The repeated announcements on the platforms, however, are invariably accurate.
It would be better to have no announcements as on some lines, except for unexpected changes which can be given by the driver. Then, passengers can read in uninterrupted comfort.
Rod Watson, East Brighton
Save the streetscapes
Thank you, Chip Le Grand for stating what the state government neglects to mention: their housing targets will dramatically change the very context of our neighbourhoods.
In “Toastie that upends planning laws” (27/2), Le Grand explains how the government’s new Housing Choice and Transport Zone (HCTZ) will lead to a loss of neighbourhood character and inevitably, some treasured heritage aspects within our municipalities.
As an inner suburban councillor,
I know how much residents value their streetscapes and the HCTZ will dramatically alter our neighbourhoods. And regrettably, residents will no longer have a voice as the state government continues to disenfranchise local residents.
Sally Davis, Malvern East
Subtle price rises
While price increases of products are obvious and easy to monitor, many companies are using more subtle, less public means to improve their bottom line at the expense of consumers. Two recent examples of which have affected me. My credit card provider has just reduced its interest-free period from 55 days to 44 days arguing this is to match competitors, which is not correct as many still offer 55 days.
Telstra in June will change payment terms for its internet plans from being in arrears to paying in advance – their justification “to make it easier for you”. Both organisations will improve their cash flows, but consumers will have to fund the payments earlier than before. How many of these less obvious cash grabs are taking place?
Robin Schokman, Doncaster
Spending habits
Your correspondent (Letters, 27/2) listed evidence that not all Australians are struggling with the cost of living. I add to that list – the huge amounts of money spent on illegal drugs and tobacco products and then add the amount of damage they do to our health services.
Elizabeth Rhodes, Gisborne
Doomed UN
The US is breaking with its (apparently, former) Western allies to side with Russia, North Korea and Israel in opposing an United Nations resolution condemning Russia as instigator of its war on Ukraine (“Macron corrects Trump on Ukraine”, 26/2).
The balancing power of – and global respect beyond the US, Russia and China for – the United Nations is doomed, unless Trump is brought into line. The League of Nations, founded in great hope from the ashes of WWI, failed to prevent WWII, much because the US refused to join, and Germany was not allowed to.
If the UN is to survive with a skerrick of influence, then all other nations must get out from under the superpowers and insist on the international rule of law.
Caroline Leslie, Hawthorn
Is this how it starts?
The last few weeks in global news has been crazy. I find it difficult to believe and frightening. Is this how people felt before World War II? I cannot believe how people have been swept up in it accepting lies, and drawn towards intolerance and hatred.
I agree with Dennis Glover’s article “Ignore history’s lessons at our peril” (26/2). I can add to it by quoting Karl Marx, “history repeats itself, first as a tragedy, second as a farce”. The farce is that we should know better for we have seen this all before.
Jane Cheong, Aspendale Gardens
Quid pro quo rules
Given the importance Donald Trump is placing on reciprocity for military support, surely it is inevitable that the US will now compensate Australia for the losses we incurred in the needless wars they led us into in Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq?
John Lambrick, Malvern
Real estate rules
Donald Trump is insisting that Ukraine ‘repay’ America for all the military supplies it provided over the years of the war. Will he make the same demand on Israel?
Oh, silly me. I don’t think Israel has equivalent mineral resources to those of Ukraine, and Israel can assist in his proposal to develop Gaza.
Jenny Callaghan, Hawthorn
Broadcast standards
Well done, Triple M for acting swiftly to “part ways” with host Marty Sheargold. But how did it get to the stage that the host felt he had licence to flagrantly air his disrespectful, misogynistic views?
Is it because he was surrounded by his co-hosts who might have
thought the comments were hilarious?
Thankfully, many courageous sportswomen have denounced the comments. However, until men challenge and voice outrage like the co-hosts had the chance to do, then moving the dial in combatting sexism and disrespect for women will just be that much slower.
Pip Carew, Ruffy
Flack’s contribution
The wire service article about the death of Roberta Flack (26/2) had no local context which an artist of her calibre and international fan base deserved.
Flack’s sold-out Australian tour of early 2009 coincided with the devastating Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria that killed 173 people.
If I recall correctly, one of Flack’s Melbourne concerts in late January 2009 had to be evacuated because power cuts during the heatwave caused the air conditioning at Hamer Hall to fail. Apprehending the crisis engulfing the state, this gracious lady quickly pivoted her schedule to include a benefit concert at Hamer Hall with the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra with proceeds going to the Victorian Bushfire Relief Appeal.
Flack was an artist of superlative ability and I think many in Melbourne would also remember her for her deeply felt artistic solidarity, civic mindedness, and willingness to offer what support her status could bring to a traumatised populace during that dreadful time for so many in Victoria in 2009.
Inga Walton, East St Kilda
AND ANOTHER THING
Credit: Illustration: Matt Golding
Trump’s Ukraine ‘deal’
The quid pro quo plan of Trump in Ukraine may be sabotaged by Mother Earth herself, who might simply refuse to give up her precious charges.
Ruth Davis, Carrum
Elon Musk the new emperor? He seems to have appropriated the emperor’s new clothes.
Meg Paul, Camberwell
The USA can no longer be called ‘leader of the free world’ after voting with Russia and North Korea in the UN General Assembly.
Malcolm Fraser, Oakleigh South
What concessions would Netanyahu make when, in the interests of equal treatment of ‘allies’, Trump asks for his money back for the enormous funds flowing to Israel in its war. Of course, ‘sell’ him Gaza.
Laurine Hurley, Northcote
If you siphon all the diversity, equity and inclusion from free speech, you’re left with base hate speech.
Nina Wellington Iser, Hawthorn
Mr Albanese should talk more like Monsieur Macron (“Macron corrects Trump”, 25/2).
Ray Jones, Box Hill North
Furthermore
Thank you, Antony Green, for your 36 years of excellent reporting. I have watched every one of the 13 federal elections he covered and am glad that we will hear “These are very early figures” one last time.
Sandra Torpey, Hawthorn
The Independent Schools lobby, by its very existence, has been engaging in class warfare against the funding of public schools for years.
Peter Baddeley, Portland
What entitled audacity for the private school cohort to lobby for even more funds during the upcoming federal election when they already have so much.
Jenni King, Camberwell
Peter Dutton wants our PM to get tough on China over the flotilla of its navy ships off our east coast. We saw what happened when Morrison got tough on China.
Dan Drummond, Leongatha
Finally
Looks like Triple M has nailed it!
Bob Stensholt, Glen Iris
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