An inspiring night for public education

Lyndsay Connors, Ainsley Kerr (with father Owen) and Gemma Lyon stood up for public education.

By Gary Zadkovich

Nearly 400 public school parents, students, teachers and principals gathered at the Illawarra Public Education Dinner on July 25 to celebrate the achievements of public education and urge governments to lift investment in public schools.

Local state and federal Members of Parliament attended the function at WIN Entertainment Centre in Wollongong, together with directors from the Department of Education and Training.

Supported by the region's principal and parent organisations, the event was organised by Federation to push the message that public school communities reject the trend for governments to spend proportionately more on private schools and less on their public counterparts.

Illawarra, North Illawarra and South Illawarra Teachers Associations were greatly heartened by the sell-out crowd at the dinner, especially on learning that half the participants were parents.

It was a great night. Fifty schools from Helensburgh to Kiama were represented. The evening opened with some fine music from the Keira High School band. Students presented their ideas on what's great about their own public schools. Ainsley Kerr of Tarrawanna Public, Kylan Low of Mount Ousley Public, Millie Tanner of Keiraville Public and the rock band from Fairy Meadow Public delighted the crowd with their presentations.

They were followed by outstanding speeches from Stacey Da Gama of Warrawong High and Paul Gilchrist of Illawarra Senior College. One of the highlights was the performance by Gemma Lyon from Woonona High, who sang Somewhere Over The Rainbow.

Keynote speaker, former Chair of the NSW Public Education Council Lyndsay Connors, shared her analysis of federal and state government funding policies and gave an account of the personal and social effects of the current rundown in government funding for public schools. People were inspired and moved by her address.

Those in attendance were disappointed and angered, however, by the absence of the Liberal Party Senator based in Wollongong, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells. Two written invitations and five phone calls to the Senator's office still did not elicit a response. It's clear that the Liberal Senator is dodging the responsibility of defending the Federal Government's unfair policy of spending only one-third of its Budget on the 68 per cent of students in public schools.

As follow up to the dinner, all Illawarra public schools will be contacted and urged to use the Federation Public Education Campaign Kits within their communities. They will also be encouraged to invite their local state and federal MPs to visit and learn first hand why additional funding is needed in public education.

Gary Zadkovich is a Country Organiser.

Lyndsay Connors' speech

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Last Modified: 16 Aug 2006