AUSTRALIAN COUNCIL FOR THE DEFENCE OF
GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
Press Release 1001
VICTORIA - A FAILED EDUCATION STATE
BUT
WHAT IS THE EDUCATION BACKGROUND OF THE NEW PREMIER AND EDUCATION MINISTER?
Save Our Schools has made a substantial submission to an inquiry on the Victorian education system being held by the Legal and Social Issues Committee, Legislative Council, Parliament of Victoria. The submission can be downloaded at https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/sos-submission-to-inquiry-into-the-state-education-system-in-victoria/
The Victorian Labor Government claims that Victoria is the education state. This is a complete misnomer. Victoria is a failed education state. It has failed disadvantaged students and public schools.
- Many disadvantaged students do not achieve minimum literacy and numeracy standards;
- There was virtually no learning improvement by disadvantaged students between 2010 and 2022 and several declines.
- There are large achievement gaps between advantaged and disadvantaged students.
There were a few successes, most notably in some Indigenous outcomes, but they are few and far between. In addition, there have been a significant increase in the proportion of students completing Year 12, although too many still do not achieve this.
School funding failures by the Commonwealth and Victorian governments are a major factor behind these education failures. Public schools in Victoria face a funding crisis. They are massively under-funded while private schools are over-funded. Funding increases over the past decade have heavily favoured private schools. Public schools are defrauded by the current Commonwealth-Victoria bilateral funding agreement. The result is that public schools have far fewer resources than private schools and large learning gaps persist between advantage and disadvantaged students.
There is a very big catch up job for the new Premier Jacinta Allan and her Minister for Education, Ben Carroll.
Which begs the question: What is their educational background?
Both are graduates of the Catholic Education system and, although Carroll has worked for Insurance Company AAMI and the Victorian Government Solicitor both have spent most of their working life as career political staffers and politicians.
According to Wikipedia, Jacinta Marie Allan (born 19 September 1973) is an Australian politician serving as the 49th and current premier of Victoria since 2023. She has been the leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2023 and has been a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the district of Bendigo East since 1999. She previously served as the 29th deputy premier of Victoria from 2022 to 2023. Allan is the longest-serving female minister in Victorian state history and currently the most senior sitting member of the Assembly.
Allan was born on 19 September 1973 in Bendigo, Victoria. A member of a prominent Bendigo political family, she is the granddaughter of William Allan who was the president of the Bendigo Trades Hall Council.
Allan was educated at St Joseph's Primary School in Quarry Hill and at Catholic College Bendigo. She completed the degree of Bachelor of Arts (Hons) at La Trobe University.
She is married with two children, and although the children are said to attend the ‘local school’ DOGS do not know which local school this might be.
According to Wikipedia, Benjamin Alan Carroll (born 12 July 1975) has been the current deputy premier of Victoria since October 2023. He has been the deputy leader of the Victorian branch of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) since 2023 and has been a member of the Victorian Legislative Assembly (MLA) for the division of Niddrie since 2012.
Carroll also currently holds the positions of Minister For Education and Deputy Premier of Victoria in the state government since the 2023 cabinet reshuffle which resulted in the First Allan Ministry. He has previously held various ministerial portfolios since 2020 in Industry, employment, road safety and support, and Public Transport.
Ben was born in Airport West, Victoria. He attended primary school at St Christopher's Primary, and high school at St Bernard's College in Essendon. He then studied law at La Trobe University, graduating with honours in 2000. He was admitted as a legal solicitor in 2010. He holds a masters in law from La Trobe, having commenced the degree subsequent to his 2012 election.
Prior to entering politics Ben worked as a sales assistant for Kmart in Airport West, and for the insurance company AAMI in its motor vehicles division. He also worked for the Victorian Government Solicitor between 2009 and 2010.
Carroll has a partner and one child but there is no public statement of where the child goes to school.
There is no evidence that either Jacinta Allan or Ben Carroll have any experience with or dedication to the cause of public education. There is no evidence that they have either the desire or the political will to remedy the current defects in the education funding system.
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