ESSENTIAL BACKGROUND TO

"AUSTRALIA'S EDUCATION CHOICES":

REPORT TO THE MENZIES RESEARCH CENTRE

The Australian Council for the Defence of Government Schools considers the following background to the above report essential to an understanding of its ideological thrust and findings:

DOGS experience, research and recent study of the internet reveals the following:

  1. Internet Research:

               Directors of the Menzies Centre:

a)      Malcolm Turnbull is the Chairman of the Menzies Centre. He is also the  Federal Treasurer of the Liberal Party of Australia.

                    b)     John Gough

                    c)      Tom Harley

                    d)      Michael Osborne

                    e)      Andrew Robb

                    f)      Hon. Shane L. Stone, Federal President of the Liberal Party of Australia

2.  WHO'S WHO IN AUSTRALIA 2000:

                    Private School Connections of the above Directors of the Menzies Research Centre

                a)    Malcolm Bligh Turnbull educated Sydney Grammar School, Director Sydney Grammar                         School Foundation since 1985.

                b)     John Gough, educated Melbourne Grammar School

                c)     Tom Harley, educated Melbourne Grammar School

                d)      Michael Osborne, settled in Australia 1983 and connected with the launching of the                           Australian Catholic University in Victoria.

                e)      Andrew Robb, educated Christian Brothers College, Parade, Victoria.

                f)      Shane Stone, Wodonga High School, Christian Brothers College, De La Salle.

3.    ABOUT THE MENZIES CENTRE:

               The Menzies Research Centre was established in 1994, and according to their Web Site is "an independent                   think tank affiliated with the Liberal Party of Australia. It is described as an organisation established to                   undertake research into policy issues which will enhance the principles of liberty, free speech, competitive                   enterprise, limited government, and democracy."

                The Centre is named after Sir Robert Menzies, Australia's longest serving Prime Minister. This centre is                   committed to the debate and exploration of ideas and policies espoused by Menzies.

4.    WHO WAS SIR ROBERT MENZIES?           

                DOGS note that Menzies pointed out that "private schools aimed to produce Christian gentlemen and                  implied that State Schools produce educated savages , hewers of wood and carriers of water."

                Bob Menzies was the first politician to promote and produce aid to private Church schools at the federal                  level, commencing in the Australian Capital Territory in the 1950s and with science blocks federally in the                  1960s.

5.    WITH WHOM DO THE MENZIES CENTRE LINK THEMSELVES ?

                DOGS note that website links usually reflect friends rather than foes. The Menzies Centre webpage is linked                  to :

                    a)     The Liberal Party throughout Australia

                    b)     The Federal Government

                    c)     The Adam Smith Institute

                    d)     The American Enterprise Institute

                    e)     The Centre for Independent Studies

                    f)     The H.R. Nicholls Society

                    g)     The Institute of Private Affairs

                 h)    The Institute of Public Affairs

                            and others

    6.    WHO PROVIDE FINANCIAL SUPPORT?

                DOGS note that one of sources of financial support for the Menzies Research Centre is the Commonwealth                  Department of Finance and Administration.

  7.    AUTHORS OF THE REPORT:

               At Page 65 of the Report there is a note that the views expressed in this publication are those of the authors                  and do not necessarily reflect the view of the Directors or staff of the Menzies Centre.

                The authors are listed at page 49 of the Report as John Roskam and Brian J. Caldwell:

                        a) John Roskam,who was senior adviser to Don Hayward, the Victorian Liberal Minister for Education                          for a total of four years between 1990 and 1996. He was chief of staff to Dr. David Kemp, the                          Commonwealth Minister for Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs from 1996 to 1998.                          He was also a former executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre.

                        b) Brian Caldwell is Professor and Dean of Education at the University of Melbourne. Readers need                          only to read our previous Press Release to discover what he is on about!. However, if one wishes to                          read more about his ideas one need go no further than the contribution of Brian Caldwell and Don                          Hayward in a book called "The Future of Schools: Lessons from the Reform of Public Education."

                        Readers should note that Don Hayward was Jeff Kennett's Minister for Education and the attack on                          public education in Australia has never been more vicious than during the terrible Kennet regime when                          public schools were closed and sold off while children were literally thrown onto the streets.

8.    DON'T HOLD YOUR BREATH IF YOU ARE A SUPPORTER OF PUBLIC EDUCATION:

                In following News Releases and on 3CR the DOGS will consider the 66 page Report. However given the known ideological preferences of its authors and the acknowledgment on page 2 that Australia has a series of seemingly intractable problems in school education including "unrelenting division in views about approaches to funding". These problems are described as "intractable because no solution is in sight or seems possible within the current framework" so for them "Fundamental change is required."

No-one can doubt under the tender mercies and "independent research" of these authors that the concept and survival of public education is in grave danger and more money will be going to the private sector.