Nelson rates poorly, blames states

Warialda High teacher Martin Bower (right) seeks funding for a local youth project from Dr Nelson.

by Kerri Carr

Delegates held up score cards to measure Federal Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson's performance when he addressed Annual Conference.

"I got a 0.5 over here a few minutes ago so thanks very much for that is better than zeros," he said at one point.

He described addressing the conference: "I think this is the modern biblical equivalent of a public stoning," acknowledging that he expected questions on the Howard Government's funding of public education.

Delegate Judy King asked: "Are you really telling this Conference that public schools are in crisis? If you are saying this, could you please provide us with evidence and data and specific examples. If you don't believe they are in crisis then why are your policies and announcements, and those of the Prime Minister, constructing a crisis model and undermining public confidence in public schools? By claiming that we do not teach values, that by claiming we are only the safety net provision. That we are un-Australian and unpatriotic because we are too politically correct and we dare to criticise government policies. As a principal of a secondary public school I plead guilty to political correctness; I cannot support a government that puts children behind the razor wire."

Dr Nelson said he hadn't used the term "crisis" in relation to public education.

"I invite any of you to scale the public record to find any criticism that I have made of public education."

"The Australian government supplements the states and territories and in that regard in this state we have increased. Whilst we are a minority funder of public schools at 12 per cent we have increased our funding by 65 per cent in the last eight and a half years when enrolments in NSW schools have increased some 1.3 per cent. The problem is, in part, that year after year, state and territory governments are under resourcing the public education sector."

Delegate Anna Brown asked: "If the Coalition Government prides itself, as I think it does, on being economically rational, why has it made the economically irrational decision to dissipate the education dollars on vouchers for reading tuition for private providers when we all know it would be better spent on further resourcing and supporting the excellent literacy programs we have in our public schools."

In reply, Dr Nelson recounted a conversation with a woman at the Exodus Foundation.

"She said rich people can go and get tutoring for their children, why can't we? What we are trying to do is in addition to all the money we put in to support children with special learning needs, which as you know will be $2 billion over the next four years, in addition to that what I thought we would try was to provide a voucher to the parents to the children who didn't pass ... so that the parents are then empowered to, not only if they want to take it to the school, and in most cases that's exactly what they will do, but just occasionally, please understand the parents think that sometimes the teacher is the problem and they actually want to take the voucher to a tutor, or somewhere other than the school they are attending -- whether that is in a government or a non-government school."

Delegate Debbie Westacott asked about a voucher system as a way of dismantling the public education system and funding the private system above all else.

Dr Nelson said he had only been in his job about two months when he was presented with a report which said that parents should be given a voucher of equal value which they could take to whichever school they liked.

"I said, and I say it to you again today, so long as I have the privilege to be Australia's Minister for Education, Science and Training that will be over my dead body."

At the conclusion of Dr Nelson's address and question time, Federation Senior Vice President Angelo Gavrielatos said: "Please do not interpret the relative politeness of Conference because can I assure you it's seasonally adjusted. For the record please, do not interpret the relative politeness of Conference as endorsing the Coalition -- we vehemently oppose your funding regime and will continue to do so and with respect to your references to the State Government, the NSW Teachers Federation has proven itself more than capable of taking on Labor governments, Coalition governments and their chronic under-funding of public education."

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Last Modified: 15 Nov 2005