ASIO AND AUSTRALIAN FEDERAL POLICE INVOLVED WITH PRIVATE SCHOOL EXPENDITURE

According to The Australian January 11, 2008, taxpayers are to spend $20 million on high technology security measures to protect Jewish, Muslim and other schools at risk of hate based attacks. According to Reports, Education Minister, Julia Gillard, confirmed the plan. Central to the $20 million activity is the guiding hand of ASIO and the Australian Federal Police. They have been instructed to do this task by the Federal Rudd - Gillard Government. Please note that we are no longer referring to the ALP.

One is tempted to wonder whether  ASIO is short of jobs and finance.

ACTIVITY WELCOMED BY BOTH JEWISH AND MOSLEM LOBBY

While both Jewish and Islamic schools have welcomed the move, there is a concern that the announcement could have been handled more delicately.

 The Federal Government will assist in the payment for security measures such as guards, cameras, and perimeter walls that many schools have so far had to cover with their own money. The Australian report noted that Jewish and Islamic community spokesmen said they would welcome help with security measures such as cameras, 24 hour patrols, bollards to restrict vehicle access; and shatter proof glass. The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils which runs five Islamic schools would like to see security officers at front gates, at drop-off points or exposed play areas. They noted that minimal fees charged by their schools meant that they had not been able to afford extra security until the taxpayers paid for it. 

JEWISH SCHOOL SYSTEM LED THE LOBBYING

According to the ABC PM program, the Jewish school system has been leading the lobbying for taxpayer assistance with security expenditure. They have been seeking assistance from the federal government for a number of years because they claim that the financial burden of securing their schools and other institutions have been prohibitive, if not crippling.

So the public has now discovered that, during the election campaign the Jewish community extracted a promise from the Howard Government of tax deductibility and Rudd matched it, at the same time indicating a policy to extend it to all schools.

THE FEDERAL OPPOSITION SUPPORTS THE PROPOSAL

The federal opposition has now backed the plan. The Sydney Morning Herald, in their report, noted that the federal opposition backed the plan but sounded a warning about bureaucratic nit picking. The opposition Justice spokesman, Christopher Pyne, described the proposal as a positive step forward following the former Howard Government's decision to make the cost of security measures at Jewish schools tax deductible.

RUDD INVOLVES THE SECULAR, ALL-EMBRACING PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN THEIR SCHEME:

Rudd and his spokespersons found it very difficult before and after the recent Federal election to refer to public education and public schools. Insultingly, the Rudd Government has linked up the words 'public' and 'secular' to 'hate filled crimes''. Such aspersions and links are totally unacceptable. Since when, in Australia, has a public school been attacked because of racial, religious, or tribal hatred? This suggestion is just another one of the deceitful Ruddite attack on public education, trying to justify the unjustifiable his Billions of State Aid dollars for division with no strings attached.

Public Education is being repulsively used as a straw man, castles in the air argument to foster the policing of divisive schools.  Has anyone heard of public schools and children being physically attacked for 'hate reasons' and needing expenditure on security because of religious/tribal hatred?

Public schools have been burnt but not for religious or tribal reasons and the matter has been left with the local State police.

 TRIBALISM OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOLS THE REAL PROBLEM

On  12 January 2008,a day after the above report,  the Australian inserted  an article on tribalism in Kenya together with a letter pointing out that religious based schooling leads to tribal and religious disputes.

ANSWER TO TRIBALISM IS NO STATE AID AND PROPER FUNDING OF PUBLIC EDUCATION

The answer to religious hate/tribalism is not the funding of security measures for schools that divide or the public funding of such schools in the first place. There would be very few if any Muslim and Jewish schools if they did not receive taxpayers dollars to divide their children on the basis of religion.

The answer to the violence of tribalism has always been a strong public school system open to all children and the withdrawal of public moneys from schools which divide children on the basis of  religion or ability to pay.

The writer of the letter to the Weekend Australian, 12-13 January 2008 Geraldine Box, clearly understands the problem. She wrote:

We reap what we sow. The apparent need to provide taxpayer funded security to private religious schools has only arisen because successive Australian federal and state governments have allowed, encouraged, and supported the growth of the religious based education sector. If there were one publicly funded education system for children of all faiths and cultural backgrounds, then we would not have to be responding to at risk schools. The use of public money to do this whilst many public schools remain underfunded is quite outrageous...segregated schooling is one of the greatest contributors to division in Australian society. Is there a government brave enough to really look at this issue?

So, $20 million overwhelmingly granted for security on  Jewish and Muslim schools is yet another $20 million withdrawn from public education.

 The establishment of police and security measures in schools is an admission of failure. Yet, with their billions of dollars of State Aid for division,  Mr Rudd and Ms Gillard are determined to re-create in Australia the religious and tribal disputes of the Middle East, Northern Ireland and the Indian sub-continent. 

Supporters of Public Education still await a statement from Rudd, Gillard and Nelson recognising the value of public education  in a cohesive liberal minded democracy, together with its crucial role in the prevention of religious hate and tribalism. They have not yet got to the stage of recognition, let alone support.

The Founding Fathers had no problem in  expounding the value of our public education system, as distinct from a divisive religious system.

 What is tying up the tongues of people in leadership positions in Australia ? 

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