Proactive federal strategy for a positive future
By Angelo Gavrielatos
A key debate at Annual Conference was that which related to the Howard agenda and the necessary response of Federation in the lead up and during a Federal election.
Annual Conference resolved that Federation work together with allies in the Public Education Alliance, the Tertiary Education Alliance, the broader union movement and appropriate community and church organisations to defeat the Howard agenda.
This campaign will be further augmented by a nationally coordinated campaign constructed by the Australian Education Union (AEU) and its branches and associated bodies. The AEU has committed more than $1million in an unprecedented campaign to achieve the defeat of the State Grants Act and the Howard agenda. (See Annual Conference decision "Defeating the Howard agenda")
The Howard agenda, and those who embrace it, represent the antithesis to what we stand for as public school teachers and as teacher unionists -- the antithesis to the traditions and history of our union which has actively engaged in social justice unionism for the common good, for the maintenance of that sense of collectivism and communitarianism.
As we witnessed yet again with the most recent Federal Budget those who embrace the Howard agenda have a pathological pre-disposition to attack anything with the world "public" in it.
By starving institutions built out of a sense of communitarianism, individualism is elevated above all else, achieving the Thatcher doctrine.
The Howard agenda is more deceptive that that of Margaret Thatcher, who proclaimed that there is no society, only individuals. However, the aim is the same.
When John Howard was first elected he campaigned under the slogan of "For All of Us". His regressive social policy is certainly harming most of us from the cradle to the grave.
So regressive is the Howard agenda that even multiculturalism has become a contestable concept.
We have in the Howard agenda the most reactionary social and political agenda seen in this nation certainly in the last 40 years if not longer. This agenda has grown out of a deepening conservatism in Australian politics. This was acknowledged in the Sydney Morning Herald in its editorial on June 5, which states: "Each Federal government since Gough Whitlam's has been more conservative than the one before. These governments have all stressed the importance of economic growth, contributing to the rise in wealth. But they have also stressed the importance of self-reliance. The private sector, notably in health and education, has been encouraged, while the public sector has been trimmed towards a fallback position. Governments have reduced taxes on the rich disproportionately."
Anything built out of that sense of communitarianism, which so defined us as a nation, is under attack.
Two glaring examples in the recent Federal Budget are the attack on Medicare and public education. Public education is being run down and tertiary education is being priced out of reach of many if not most Australians.
Not only is this regressive social policy the cause of national disgrace, when coupled with a conservative reactionary political agenda it is cause for international embarrassment.
There is no doubt the policies of this government have diminished us as a nation in the eyes of the international community.
Some of the areas adversely affected by this agenda include the following:
Early childhood
The Howard Government refuses to accept responsibility for funding and supporting quality early childhood learning. Research shows that by the time children begin the compulsory years of schooling many of the factors contributing to future inequality are evident. Disparities in access to early childhood learning are further exacerbating those inequalities.
School education
The Howard Government spends 70 per cent of its education budget on the 30 per cent of students in private schools. The obscene level of funding currently being given to private schools as a result of the State Grants Act leads one to assume that the Government has turned its back on the 70 per cent of students still in our great public schools and the values of public education -- the values so critical for a democratic, tolerant and accepting multicultural Australian society. This area has been well documented. It is estimated that in 2004 the Catholic education system, which cries poor, will have an estimated income that is 15.2 per cent higher than the average cost of educating students whilst other private schools will have an income that is 52.2 per cent higher.
It is quite understandable how angry teachers get everyday as they walk into inadequately resourced classrooms having driven past private schools reaping a windfall in Federal Government funding such as the $5.48 million going to Trinity Grammar or the $2.23 million going to The Kings School next year, representing a 144 per cent and 124 per cent increase respectively on the amounts they received in 2001 from the Federal Government.
TAFE
The Howard Government's refusal to honour previous commitments to growth funding are contrary to its "market" driven ideology. The consequence is huge unmet demand, particularly in the area of skill acquisition. At least an additional $1 billion is required in the next Australian National Training Authority agreement to fund growth. Whilst obsessed with the competitive training market it refuses to fund the world quality TAFE system, funding at increasing levels low quality private trainers. In the globally competitive era in which we live, Australia needs high quality TAFE education and training to ensure high quality skills.
Higher education
The Howard Government has cut $2.5 billion from universities since 1996. Its latest Budget returns $1.46 billion over the next five years, but in so doing, it proposes to deregulate student fees, allowing universities to increase them by around 30 per cent, and to make 50 per cent of courses available to those who can pay full fees. It also proposes to remove the right of university staff to take industrial action, which constitutes a breach of Australia's obligations under the International Labor Organisation conventions.
Industrial relations
The Howard Government's attack on the Maritime Union of Australia in 1998 remains indicative of its attitude to the union movement. It continues to seek to undermine the right of workers to organise. Its determination to undermine the right of workers to organise and its persistence with "unfair dismissal" legislation, which would make it easier for employers to sack people, reinforces the view that this government works for the unfettered rights of employers over employees.
Media policy
La Trobe University Politics Professor Robert Manne has lamented how ruthless this government has become in imposing its agenda: "The right in Australia are growing greedy. It is not enough for them that we have the most conservative government in Australia for more than 40 years. Nor is it enough that views of which they approve are disseminated daily in the popular press, on talkback radio and on commercial television. It appears they will not be satisfied until one of the most important sources of independent opinion in this country, the current affairs arm of the ABC, has finally been brought to heel." Censorship, the destruction of the ABC and concentration of media ownership to further strengthen the hegemonic relationship between conservative government and the media are all on the agenda.
The description of this as the Howard agenda is quite intentional. That is because in the political sphere this agenda has been embraced by many more than those members of the Howard Government.
Notwithstanding some very recent statements by the ALP regarding higher education and TAFE places, rather than fighting back and offering a genuine alternative based on what some describe as the ALP's historically expressed commitment to social democracy, there has been an almost absolute convergence of platform between the ALP and the Liberal party.
Confounded by a mix of mimicry, media genuflection and leadership contestation the ALP is becoming increasingly irrelevant.
This is being recognised by members of the ALP.
On July 1, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union National Secretary Doug Cameron said: "Many in the ALP have surrendered to conservative economics and in some cases, social orthodoxy; abandoned the intellectual debate and leadership to individuals of the right and become isolated carping critics who scramble, squabble and fight over the crumbs of leadership positions."
What's even more striking about his comments is that he was talking about the ALP left.
Federation, because of our history and traditions, because of our size, because of our membership density, because of the sorry decline of the big unions of the past, has a huge responsibility not only to the broader union movement and unionism but to pursue principles of social justice and equity. In the interest of a vibrant multicultural, democratic, accepting future Australia, we have work to do.
We know that public education is the key for a positive future for Australia.
We must challenge those who embrace the Howard agenda and ask them what kind of Australia they want in the future. What kind of society will be created as a result of their policies?
We are increasingly segregating kids, educating them on the basis of religion, ethnicity and class. What will Australian society look like in 30 or 50 years time given the segregation and sectarianism being promoted by their policies?
This highlights the importance of the role we must play as teachers in our schools through which we have the potential to build a movement described as proactive solidarity, a movement that can take on the Howard agenda.
Professor Stephen Kemmis has developed a thesis describing what he calls reactive solidarity and proactive solidarity. He describes reactive solidarity is the kind which sees people coming together around a platform of oppositionism. They are united by what they oppose. He uses the rise of Hansonism to describe this phenomenon. A group of people opposing certain things inevitably turn on each other in opposition to another set of things.
In contrast, proactive solidarity is a force that brings us together to overcome injustices. Our public schools, classrooms and playgrounds provide the objective conditions for the emergence of proactive solidarity. By creating inclusive, engaging, enabling relationships in the classroom, in schools and in our communities we can build a campaign of proactive solidarity to ensure the maintenance and strengthening or those values inherent in our public education system. The values necessary for a democratic multicultural accepting Australia.
In the interest of a just future Australia we must, we will defeat the Howard agenda.
Angelo Gavrielatos is the Senior Vice President.
More to be said
For more detail about the Howard agenda on subjects such as privatisation, infringement of civil liberties, foreign and trade policies, militarism, environmental policy, work and family, health care, reconciliation and human rights see the Annual Conference decision.
For further information
August 2003 contents
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