Press Releases

Elites, 'Povos' and the VCE Facebook Page

Press Release 625

The night before this year’s VCE English exam, one Xavier College student called state school students "povo f---s" on a popular VCE discussion page on Facebook. The 18-year-old said he was "eternally grateful" that his parents had sent him to a good, private school instead of a "poverty stricken s---hole in Pakenham". and
"Remember to say hi to me when I'm your boss one day."

Simon Birmingham, School Vouchers and the Public Reaction

Press Release 624

In his 2007 maiden speech SImon Birmingham trotted out the voucher privatisation rhetoric, weeping crocodile tears for ‘needy’ parents as follows:

It is time that at least one state, in at least one region, trialled the implementation of school vouchers – affording all families the opportunity of choice, the opportunity to allocate the government funding for their child to pay the fees to the school of their choice…The neediest should not be the ones to miss out on choice.

In 2012 he also expressed support for US-style charter schools (privately managed public schools).

Fees in Public Schools undermine Free Public Education

Press Release 623

Australian parents and taxpayers are entitled to, indeed they are owed, a genuinely free, secular and universal public school system!

But Principals of underfunded public schools are now desperate enough to undermine the very concept of a free public education. As governments press forward with the privatization of public education, isolated principals imitate their more fortunate private school counterparts and charge fees for essentials.

Islamic Radicalisation and Religious Proselitizing in Public Schools

Press Release 622

It is highly questionable whether public schools can be blamed for the actions of radicalised teenagers. Blame for violence lies with the perpetrators and those who corrupt them.

However, as DOGS have argued, religious radicalisation of teenagers in a public school coud be one of the unintended consequences of ANY religious group, however genuine and well-meaning, obtaining the right to enter public schools for the purpose of promoting ANY religious beliefs This is why our public schools must be free, universal and SECULAR.

Bill Shorten, Penalty Rates and Private Education

Press Release 621

Public School supporters have found Bill Shorten falls short as a Labor leader when it comes to promoting public education. He claims that penalty rates are the difference for some people being able to afford to send their children to a private school or not.

"For people on 40 and 50 and 60,000 dollars a year, penalty rates are the difference as to whether they can afford to send their kids to a private school, whether or not they can afford to pay the mortgage," he said on Monday.