Howard fails on trust and values

By Maree O’Halloran

Prime Minister John Howard began his campaign for political survival in Orwellian mode on the theme of trust.

Federation members can trust John Howard. They can trust him to continue undervaluing and under-funding public education and attacking trade unionism. In some public policy areas, most notably regarding asylum-seekers and refugees, there is much evidence that Howard and his Ministers have lied to the public. In education and industrial relations he does not hesitate to promulgate his policies vigorously and explicitly. While the Coalition remains in power, the system we work in and believe in will continue to be undermined and attacked. When the Prime Minister says our schools are "values-free" and "politically correct" he means that he does not trust teachers and that the values taught in public schools do not coincide with his personal values. The Howard Government must be defeated.

The union's stance in this regard is not about ignoring, condoning or exonerating the poor practices of the Carr Labor Government or indeed previous Federal ALP Governments. Rather it reflects the stark choices facing us in this Federation election.

Our capacity to provide high quality public education is being undermined. It is being replaced with private systems where capacity to pay and parental wealth determine the resources available. In Shane Maloney's words on page 17 a school like Scotch College becomes "a machine for the transmission of inherited privilege". However, it is not only the wealthy private schools that are exacerbating a class divide. The growth of "low fee" private schools is also a class issue.

Our system which is dedicated to greater equity (as well as individual excellence) is being deliberately replaced by one based on privilege and division.

It is not "divisive" or "sectarian" for teachers to promote the unique value of public education to society and call for more funding. To be criticised as such by Coalition and Labor politicians is an extraordinary abuse of the English language in the pursuit of spin. It also demonstrates political anger and fear that we won't acquiesce to what the establishment sees as the natural order of the world.

For more information on that issue, I urge you to read the leaflet "Public schools matter".

Both the Senate and the Lower House are critical in this campaign. Shifting government means shifting votes in the Lower House. The Senate on the other hand, gives us the best hope of electing candidates who will promote public education.

A bipartisan political and media attack has been launched against Bob Brown and the Greens in this election campaign. They are clearly looking to position themselves as eventual contenders for major party status. Their existence challenges the ALP in particular to justify their current values and policies.

The Greens will stress the concept of "double-value" voting as part of the election campaign. "Double-value" voting allows voters to put the Coalition last and signal to Labor that its public education platform is not strong enough.

In February, I expressed the hope that Mark Latham's alternative vision for Australia was marked "not just by the ability of one or two children to climb 'the ladder of opportunity' but by transformative politics". While we await the details of Labor's schools funding policies, Mark Latham's public statements eschew any commitment on his part to the transformative and unique value of public education.

As the election campaign progresses we must campaign to translate Federal Labor's commitment to additional funding for government schools into significant dollar amounts. A fuller analysis of the parties' policies will be provided in a special election edition of Education.

Federal Labor's industrial relations policy is markedly superior to the Coalition's. Unfortunately state Labor governments often demonstrate to the electorate poor examples of Labor in practice. The Carr Government has recently:

• made a crude political and legal intervention in our salaries case before the Industrial Relations Commission thereby lowering the final outcome
• planned further outsourcing, by way of subcontracting, of school and TAFE cleaning to the detriment of public education and the employment conditions of our fellow workers
• planned to destabilise the employment conditions and tenure of all teachers beginning with contracts for principals.

In particular the proposal by the Carr Labor Government to deny principals who do not have their contract renewed any access to unfair dismissal legislation is the antithesis of fair industrial relations policy. It makes a mockery of all that Federal Labor could or would say about industrial relations during the federal election campaign. The Labor Council has strongly condemned the Carr Government's actions and the President of the ACTU has intervened to facilitate a solution to the dispute. It is important that we find a means to ensure that a Labor-introduced and Coalition-supported system of contract employment is not institutionalised in the Teaching Services Act.

Aboriginal education

The investigation undertaken by the review teams was sound and the consultative process thorough. What remains to be seen is whether the State Government will fully fund recommended initiatives to ensure that positive changes can be made and supported by teachers, parents and the community.

Link to "Public schools matter" brochure

Federal election: our votes count

Watershed federal election on October 9

For further information

September 2004 contents