Labor's largesse to private primary schools is even too much for the Murdoch right-wing newspaper, The Australian. According to this newspaper on 10 June 2009, elite private schools that boast of superior facilities have been handed hundreds of millions of dollars for new libraries, halls and refurbished classrooms. To illustrate the point, the reporter, Natasha Bita provided examples as follows:

Geelong Grammar junior campus in Melbourne Toorak which in its prospectus boasts of 'light-filled, carefully designed' classrooms, music and arts studio and 'well-equipped' theatre and science facilities, - will receive $2 million for classroom renovations and extensions.

Scotch College at Hawthorn will receive $3 million for a 'multi-purpose hall extension'. The school's prospectus indicates that it already has 'fully-equipped classrooms with the latest resources in computer, television and video' with specialist buildings for music, a 'well-stocked 'library and technology centre, a multi-purpose assembly hall and a computer centre with 'state-of-the-art hardware'.

Brisbane Grammar School , which promotes its 'outstanding learning and teaching facilities'- received $2 million for a new multi-purpose centre. 'Apart from ample general classroom spaces, the school has air-conditioned, computerised library which accommodates two hundred readers and around 100,000 books and other reference sources. The school prospectus states 'special learning facilities which include well equipped science laboratories, computer rooms and additional computer work stations within various subject areas.'

The writer also referred to Scotch College in South Australia, and the elite Haileybury College in Melbourne as well as St. Margaret's Anglican school in Brisbane. 

Fairness, Justice and Equality of Opportunity Out for Gillard

According to The Australian, Julia Gillard defended as 'equitable' the decision to given millions of dollars of infrastructure funding to some of the nation's wealthiest primary schools.

DOGS however, have not been able to discover in their research on Gillard's Media Releases and speeches on  her infrastructure funding decisions any direct reference to the actual word 'equitable.'

DOGS wonder whether The Australian sources have interpreted Gillard's defence of the funding of wealthy schools as 'equitable' when she said: 'the allocations had been based purely on size of each school.'

State schools that have been forced to amalgamate in order to obtain sufficient enrolments for funding would hardly interpret 'size of school' as  'equitable'. And citizen-taxpayers that have watched the alienation into the private sector of their public property when  State schools  declared as 'too small' have been sold or given to religious organisations would wonder at the use of the word.

 The Macquarie dictionary defines equitable as: 'characterised by equity or fairness,  just and right,  fair and reasonable.'

 MS Gillard does not defend the largesse to the richest schools in Australia with words and phrases such as equality of educational opportunity',  'fairness, '   'justice'  or  'equity'  or  'equitable'. She defends it in the following terms:

The Rudd government wants to ensure that teachers and students in every school, primary and secondary,, government and non-government, urban, regional, rural and remote schools - are teaching and learning in 21st century facilities.

There is nothing more important to the future of this country than quality of our schools

This is a program for all schools. We said we wanted to make a difference in every school and every community.

Building the Education Revolution is a key element of the Rudd Government's 42 billion national building- economic stimulus plan to support jobs, stimulate local economies and invest in important infrastructure for the long term.

To illustrate the point, Rudd produced a picture in Parliament. It was significant that the exemplar of his  $42 billion infrastructure projects that he held up to taunt the opposition benches, was a picture of St. Clare's Roman Catholic school. Was Rudd making the point that he looks after the religious school interest even better than Mr Howard did? Does Mr Rudd think that the vote of public school supporters no longer matter, even though more than two thirds of Australian children attend public schools. In a joint Conference with Julia Gillard on 9 June 2009, the premier of Victoria, John Brumby, supported her position when he said: 

this announcement today is a fantastic announcement. It's a partnership, a genuine partnership between the federal government and our state government and it is going to mean and education revolution. It is going to mean making sure that every student in our state will get the best possible education,  and that means a 21st century education to provide 21st century job skills.

The above statements clearly show that Julia Gillard does not refer to fairness, or equity in any of her handouts to the richest religious schools. She is  bald faced in adopting the principle that the richest have to get the cream before the poor get anything at all. Brumby's support of her position makes crystal clear the nonsense in her funding formula. How can every student obtain the 'best possible education' when the opportunities are so grossly unequal?  How can opportunities be equal when a wealthy religious school has 100,000 books and other reference resources in a state-of-the art library while  a little state school has a library with less than 100 books. How can opportunities be equal when wealthy religious schools have up-to-date libraries, classroom facilities, sports fields, heating, cooling and cooking facilities for staff and students while state schools have been neglected with so little for so long. For example, in New South state schools are left with unsafe, unflued gas heaters that can release pollutants including carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide directly into a classroom. Such air-pollutants might affect the health of the occupants of the room. (See NSWTF Press Release: 'Time to Remove all Unflued Gas Heaters'; dated 29 May 2009).

Given the Labor party performance on the infrastructure project funding formula, citizen/taxpayers and supporters of public education can only view with deep suspicion and dismay the so-called Review of the SES Funding Formula proposed for implementation after the next federal election.

The Hollow men

Gillard, in an interview with Jon Faine on 9 June 2009, indicated some sensitivity about her spin doctoring being classified as worthy of the extraordinarily cynical ABC TV Show 'The Hollow men.' She is right to be concerned. Her motherhood statements about concern for all Australian children in all Australian schools is starting to ring not only hollow, but downright hypocritical.

Gillard should look carefully at the consultants who provide the spin for her speeches and justification of largesse to wealthy schools. She can fool the wealthy  and religious men some of the time, but she cannot fool parents and teachers in public schools starved of funds for decades. They have watched taxpayers'  money passing their doors to the religious schools that duplicate their facilities for decades. They  have watched an education revolution all right. It is a revolution taking Australian education way back into the gross inequalities of the early nineteenth century. 

DOGS  refer readers to previous Press Releases  relevant to this subject, namely Press Release 293 at www.adogs.info/pr293.htm and Press Release 298 at www.adogs.info/pr298.htm

 LISTEN TO THE DOGS RADIO PROGRAM

3CR 855 ON THE AM DIAL

12.00 noon  ON Saturdays.