DOGS SUBMISSION TO THE SENATE INQUIRY INTO

 COMMONWEALTH FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS

THE DOGS SENT THE FOLLOWING SUBMISSION ON FUNDING TO THE SENATE INQUIRY

READERS MAY WISH TO PERUSE OTHER SUBMISSIONS ON http://www.aph.gov.au/

and go to the Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education Committee, Inquiry into Commonwealth Funding for Schools.

The Submission received by the committee can be found on the above site.

Australian Council for the

Defence of Government Schools

P.O. Box 4869

Melbourne  3001

Phone  : (03) 9326 9277 (Office)

Fax      : (03) 9326 9180

Phone  : Fax: (03) 9326 9180 (Home)

                                                                                                                                                        24 June 2004

                                        SUBMISSION

                To

Senate Employment, Workplace Relations and Education References Committee

Submitter :         Ray Nilsen, President

Organisation:     Australian Council for the Defence of Government Schools

Address:             P.O. Box 4869 Melbourne 3001

Phone:                (03) 9 326 9277

Fax:                    (03) 9 326 9180

Email:                 adogs.@adogs. info

Authorised by the Australian Council for the Defence of Government Schools

____________________________________________________

SUBMISSION TO THE INQUIRY INTO COMMONWEALTH FUNDING FOR SCHOOLS ( established 13 May 2004)

Public Hearing Request:

We request the opportunity to present our submission and give evidence in person at a Public Hearing wherever it is held.

We believe this request should be granted as we have been making submissions to the Press, Federal politicians and Federal administrative bodies since the 1960s on the Commonwealth Funding of private church schools.

We particularly wish to discuss in person with the Committee the principles that should underpin Commonwealth funding for schools and the basic principles of public accountability that should apply to public funding. In particular we wish to discuss  public funding of the private sector. 

Statement of Hope

Once again, the Australian Council for the Defence of Government Schools makes a submission to elected representativesand/or abody set up by Parliament.   

We do so in hope rather than faith. And here we refer to our belief in the basic democratic processes which demand proper accountability for public money through parliamentary responsibility, and parliamentary representation.

These are basic principles hammered out in the nineteenth century in Australia and inherited before that time from hard British experience – let alone bloodletting of kings and commoners alike.

DOGS Experience: Erosion of Fundamental Democratic Processes:

DOGS experience indicates that these principles have been severely eroded by a fundamental breakdown of separation of Church and State. This has led to an erosion of the three arms of government and democratic processes. The Churches have established, through the funding of their educational and other enterprises, a special relationship with politicians, the bureaucrats, and the public Treasury.  Powerful and wealthy churches now have special access to the public Treasury and the plain, hard, facts of the matter indicate that there is virtually no accountability for increasing billions of taxpayers money,.

Abdication and Abnegation of Parliamentary and Ministerial Responsibility in Relation to Expenditure of Public Money on Church Schools

Parliamentary Accountability and Ministerial Responsibility does not mean

1.                 lies

2.                 dissembling

3.                 manipulative use of intervention of ministerial advisers

4.                 rubbery statistics ( if and when they are produced),

5.                  spin doctoring

6.                 deflection of responsibility onto bureaucrats when exposure threatens,

7.                 blaming of victims by passing the buck down the line to teachers and parents or

8.                 payment by benchmark results

9.                 provision of flagpoles for the Australian flag

It means what it says –

1.                 parliamentary responsibility and  accountability

2.                 through ministerial responsibility for expenditure of public moneys.

This is  what it means today and what it meant  for honest men in days gone by. It meant this to politicians who realised that they could not trust churchmen with public money and withdrew State Aid to religion and their enterprises in the second half of the nineteenth century.  

The handling of  funding to private schools is far worse than “The Children Overboard”, and the “Abuse of Prisoners” Scandals

The ALP, the minor parties, the Press and the priests of various churches have trumpeted from the roof tops and moralised about the breakdown of the democratic processes through lies and deception in relation to the above scandals. In particular they have highlighted the breakdown of the basic principles that should apply to the behaviour of the Executive and various arms of government.

The history of the funding of Church Schools in the last 40 years is a history of scandalous behaviour by both commission and omission of all major participants:

1.                 The ALP

2.                 The Coalition

3.                 The Minor Parties ( with a few notable exceptional politicians)

4.                 The Press

5.                 The Priests

6.                 The Bureaucrats

7.                 The Professors

The State Aid scandal is far worse than the above, although the fact that the above scandals are possible, is linked to and is symptomatic of the erosion of our democratic processes and institutions which have been practiced in the area of private school funding.

The State Aid scandal is also worse than the above scandals because none of the above groups can plead ignorance or lack of knowledge. In fact, they are complicit.

There can be no “holier than thou” and “special pleadings” by any of above groups. They have all been active participants in the State Aid “cover up” and bad public policy.

Why the Concern Now for the Creation of the Two Nations:  the Rich and Poor ?

Current crocodile tears shed for the “poor” left in the State School systems and concern over gross disparities in funding between the private and public sector are touching. But why the surprise? The current plight of the public education sector was inevitable – once the State Aid flood gates were opened.

Forty years ago, citizens were expected to shed tears for the “poor parish schools”. They are still expected to do so, even though show piece instances of this peculiar institution are increasingly difficult to find. Church institutions by their very nature are selective – of those who can pay for the first class ticket to heaven or the good job.

The DOGS have been attempting for forty years to expose disparities,  lies and misrepresentations of the private sector in relation to expenditure of taxpayer’s money is paid into a public treasury for the common, rather than the sectarian “good”. And they will continue to do so.

The DOGS have made numerous submissions, and published many public advertisements in an attempt to expose the “State Aid” scandal and the fraud practised upon the taxpayer citizens by the so called “Needs” policy in its various guises. The Coalition’s SES version is but the latest in a series of  policies guaranteed to reward greed rather than need.

Will this Senate Committee be Any Different?  

Will this Committee be “managed”  like other bodies set up on this issue before it? 

On this issue we refer you to a statement made by Brother Canarvon

Will this Senate Committee come to terms with the fact that either

1.                 Accountability for State Aid to private Church schools is a sick joke or

2.                 Senate Select Committees set up to enquire into it are a sick joke.

DOGS have been asking for a proper accounting for the billions of dollars spent on private church schools for forty years. In more recent times they have made numerous submissions on this vital issue.

Our Submissions are a matter of public record and are reproduced on our web site at http://www. adogs.info/index.htm.

In particular we refer you to

1.     1.  Press Release 86 : On the Ten Million Dollar a Year Church Schools ( this figure is a conservative one based on rubbery figures on federal per capita funding alone)

2.      Press Release 84: Letter to Commonwealth Auditor General on Accountability ( please note we have had no acknowledgement or reply!)

3.     Press Release 76 Call to Senators to Ask Questions at Senate Estimates Committee November 5, 2003 ( We had some response from Kerry Nettle on this one)

4.     Press Release 71: The “Ethics in State Aid to Religious Schools” ( please note that the Jewish tax schemes surfaced in the NSW Supreme Court when the schemes went awry)

5.     Press Release 69: Accountability for Church Schools Worse than a Joke; It is now a Travesty! ( Please note that taxpayers cannot access hard copies of Government reports through a Government Bookshop in Melbourne)

6.     Press Release 68: Sexual Abuse in Church Schools: The Sexual Abuse cover up is not surprising given the lack of public accountability at all levels for public money in  private church institutions.

7.     Press Release 43: Non-Catholic Church Schools Working the Federal State Aid Funding: Copying Roman Catholic Bottom of the School Yard Schemes of Twenty Years Before.

8.     Press Release 42: Report of the Inquiry into the Definition of Charities and Related Organisations

9.     Press Release 41: Church Organisation Lays Down Rules fo Accountability for Federal Taxpayers’ Money

10.             Press Release 37: Priest More Powerful than the Professor and Poor Man in the Corridors of Power

11.             Press Release 30: DOGS Submission to the Enquiry into the Definition of Charity. (Please note that the categorisation of wealthy churches and their schools as “charities” is both outrageous and absurd)

12.             Press Release 27: DOGS Open Letter to Political Journalists on State Aid Funding and its Effects on the Political Process

13.             Press Release 26:DOGS Open Letter to Press and Politicians on Lack of Accountability for State Aid to Church Schools

14.             Press Release 19:         Submission to Senate Committee : State Aid to Private Schools

15.             Press Release 16: Massive Grants in State Aid to Church Schools in Australia are the Result of Private Dealings Between Clerics and members or Agents of Executive Governments.

16.             Press Release 13: State Aid Increased while State Aid Information is Cut Back: Entanglement of Church with State = Reduced Accountability.

The only response DOGS have had to the above from Parliamentary representatives,  has been a lone letter of acknowledgment from a Greens Senator and chit chat from a Democrat senator.

The silence from the Labor and Coalition parties has been deafening.

Yet DOGS receive many phone calls from listeners to our 3CR weekly radio program and emails from student and academic researchers on this issue.

There is widespread concern among supporters of public education in this country on this issue. The lid on the accountability garbage tin is starting to rise as the billions of State Aid  spin out of control.

A perusal of the above, together with other News Releases and Advertisements which  DOGS have inserted in newspapers over the years indicates that the Accountability for State Aid issue far exceeds the police corruptions and organised crime corruption in this country.

DOGS have been attempting to break through the conspiracy of silence for forty years.