AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS

PRESS RELEASE 448

4 November 2011

THE PRIVATE EDUCATION SECTOR AND THINK TANKS

The Private Education Sector are not happy with the Gonski Studies.

According to Andrew Stevenson of the Sydney Morning Herald October 5, 2011 they claim :

"[It's a] shameful attempt to develop class war debate" ... NSW Parents Council

Ignoring the plain fact that private schools divide children on the basis of ability to pay, thus creating “class war debate,” their representatives:

‘criticised the quality and assumptions of the key research projects commissioned by the Gonski review of education, while questioning the independence and accuracy of the work…

The NSW Parents Council criticised what it termed a ''shameful attempt to develop class war debate''. Instead of recognising that parents make radical financial decisions in order to choose schools that support their philosophical approach to raising their children, the tenor of the reports was that they chose to go private merely because they "are blessed with greater, wealth, income, power or possessions".See: http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/private-schools-say-gonski-studies-wrong-prejudiced-20111004-1l7cg.html#ixzz1cal1xq61

DOGS noted in their submission that even the NOUS report failed to recognise the historical lesson that a strong public system cannot and will not survive the subsidisation of a rival denominational system in an unregulated market place.

However, it is interesting to note the current determination of the private sectarian sector to control the facts and figures of educational funding resources together with their social and economic consequences.

There is nothing new about the rich paying people to justify their privileges. It has been the case since the late 19^th century when Andrew Carnegie, John Rockefeller and Thomas Edison bankrolled the work of Spencer, who believed in the evolution of society towards perfection through the survival of the fittest. Social security, public funded education, and laws enforcing safety at work all interrupted social evolution.

What is new is the determination of the wealthy and their middle class camp followers to obtain taxation exemptions for their ‘charitable’ think- tanks as well as their wealthy ‘charitable’ private schools as they continue to raid the public Treasuries.

In their determination to gain privileges for their offspring, many religious people, sprouting creationism, practice Darwinian ‘ survival of the fittest’ – namely their view of who is fit for privileged entry into heaven and the good job.

Today, sponsorship by large corporations, including those of the major world –wide religions, explains why free-market think-tanks outnumber and outspend any think-tanks arguing for public services and the distribution of wealth.

It should be a basic requirement of both charity law and taxation law that Australian citizens should be provided with full accountability for the taxation expenditures (or exemptions), capital resources, investments, private income and public subsidies available to the private sectarian sector in education.

The research papers commissioned by the Gonski Committee have given vital clues to the national accountability scandal surrounding the billions of dollars transferred annually from the public treasury into sectarian coffers. Their facts and figures are a half-way house in this direction.

It remains to be seen whether Gonski will bite the ‘State Aid’ and ‘Equity’ bullet.

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