Last month ( July 2007) DOGS discovered that Julie Bishop is going to have a launch of the "Official" History of State Aid to Non-Government Schools in Australia.

DOGS have been trying to get to the bottom of this document since January 2006.  At the launch DOGS request that Julie Bishop provide answers to the following concerns and requests:

Could Julie Bishop provide concrete argument and evidence to the following statements in her  November 2006 foreword to this official document and answer the concerns expressed by DOGS :

Claim One: "This book draws together the numerous threads of the subject into one volume.

DOGS note : This claim is nonsense, the important thread of the No-State Aid arguments and the No-State Aiders have been sidelined. This book is basically a product for the lib/lab political parties, alongside friends and supporters of church school interests. It is basically produced by the same group.

Claim Two: This "work will significantly contribute to community understanding of this important issue ."

DOGS note; How can such a work significantly contribute to community understanding when it is one-sided?

Claim Three: "This work captures new evidence from key participants in the field", from both sides of the political spectrum.

"DOGS note: Where is the new evidence and argument from the point of view of the No-State Aiders? For example, the New South Wales Teachers Federation and the DOGS?

Claim Four: "This work provides a balanced and apolïtical account of its background

DOGS note; This work is neither balanced nor apolitical.

Claim Five: "It ( this book) gives a fair and balanced view and provides a solid platform from which discussion on the importance of State Aid to non-government schools may continue"

DOGS note: DOGS believe that State Aid to non-government schools is of utmost importance. It is one of the key issues in Australian life. But this book leaves out the most crucial point in the book. That is, church schools have proved themselves to be and still are and will continue to be a cancer in our erstwhile  liberal, secular and democratic society. 

This  one-sided interpretation of the history of State Aid is a reflection of this cancer in the body politic.

In an attempt to make sense of this book, DOGS will be writing a letter to the relevant authorities requesting answers to who did what and where in this book. We request that Julie Bishop, at the launch provide the following details:

• Who of the authors contributed to each of the chapters and sections in the book?

• What connection, if any, has the academic historian, Richard Selleck had with the church school interest? Why is everybody so coy about the provision of this information?

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