The Australian Academy of Science conducts an online survey

In May 2013 the Australian Academy of Science conducted an online survey[1] and these are some of its findings:

30% of Australians think that it takes one day for the Earth to orbit the sun.

27% of Australians think that humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs and 21% of university graduates think humans lived with dinosaurs.

6% of Australians think 81-100% of the earth’s surface is covered by water, with 7% of this group having a university education.

25% of Australians are not sure of the percentage of the Earth’s water that is fresh.

9% of Australians don’t believe in evolution and 10% don’t think it is currently occurring.

9% of Australians do not think humans are influencing the evolution of other species and 19% of university graduates do not think humans are influencing the evolution of other species.

79% of Australians say science education is absolutely essential or very important to the Australian economy.

[1] The survey was undertaken online and conducted between the 7^th and 10th of May, 2013. Respondents were drawn from a professional social and market research panel.

The overall sample size was 1515, segmented and weighted to be nationally representative of Australia’s population by gender, age and residential location.

The accuracy of the results at an overall level is +/-2.5% at the 95% confidence interval. This means, for example, that if the survey returns a result of 50% to a particular question, there is 95% probability that the actual result will be between 47.5% and 52.5%.

Full survey results here.

Tony Abbott and who should be allowed a decent education

Tony Abbott as President of the Sydney University Student's Representative Council  in 1979:

…you see the Marxists that I said are operating in the universities…they realise now that the universities play a crucial role in the education of the elite of modern society. And they understand that if they destroy the academic standards and perhaps even the moral standards of that elite well then they have perhaps fundamentally and fatally undermined liberal democratic society…

What I am saying is that there are a number of academics of Marxist leanings in the university who are actively working to destroy academic standards. I wouldn’t put a plot coordinated from the Kremlin but there is certainly a general tendency towards destroying academic standards and the impetus is coming from this sort of person….

Well I see women as having an equal opportunity in every area as men have…mind you, I must add the proviso that while I think men and women are equal they are also different and I think that it is inevitable and don’t think it’s a bad thing at all that we will always have, say, more women doing things like physiotherapy and an enormous number of women simply doing housework and probably more men doing things like digging ditches…”

Tony Abbott  as Australian Opposition Leader in 2011:

''It's all very well keeping kids at school past year 10, but they've got to be the right kids being kept at school past year 10,''

In 2012:

Tony Abbott will slash financial support for university students and gut the current funding to Australia's higher education system. Opposition spokesperson, Brett Mason, today confirmed the Coalition will cut student support payments, including the Student Start-up Scholarship, meaning only those students from wealthy backgrounds will be able to afford to go to university.

In 2013:

Coalition leader Tony Abbott says the federal government’s proposed education changes are too expensive and unnecessary because there is no fundamental problem with the way schools are funded…..

But Mr Abbott said he would maintain the changes to university funding which the government announced earlier this month…..

‘‘I don’t think anyone should expect those cuts to be reversed,’’ Mr Abbott said.

NSW first to sign up to National Education Reforms in April 2013

Australian Government

NSW first to sign up to National Education Reforms

Media Release

Tuesday 23 April 2013

The Australian and New South Wales Governments have today reached an historic agreement which will benefit over 1.1 million students across the state.

The Prime Minister and Premier of NSW today signed the National Education Reform Agreement, kicking off the biggest change to school education in Australia for 40 years.

It’s an agreement that will drive long term improvements in NSW schools and a fairer approach to funding based on the needs of every student.

Building on recent Federal and NSW reform directions, the agreement incorporates the National Plan for School Improvement. This will see the two governments work together to achieve:

• Stronger requirements for entry to teaching courses and better induction and support for     new teachers;
•  Higher teaching standards and annual teacher performance appraisals;
• The Australian Curriculum from Foundation to Year 12 in full;
• Publicly available school improvement plans and reports;
• Empowered school leadership through greater local authority in staff selection and roles;
• School readiness assessments for students on entry to school;
• A priority focus on reading instruction for students in kindergarten to Year 2; and
• Greater provision of Asian languages across all year levels.

Both Governments will adopt consistent needs-based funding arrangements, with the Federal Government moving to legislate its funding commitments over coming weeks.

This will provide NSW schools with additional investment totalling around $5 billion over six years. Of this, the Federal Government will contribute 65 per cent ($3,270 billion) and the NSW Government 35 per cent ($1,761 billion).

On top of this, the Federal Government has committed to grow its school education spending by 4.7 per cent per year from 2014 into 2015 and throughout the agreement. In return, NSW has agreed to grow its own school budget by 3 per cent per year from 2016 onwards.

Both Governments have agreed a year-by-year transition that will see funding for NSW schools reach at least 95 per cent of the new Schooling Resource Standard in 2019 in a fair and consistent way.

The NSW Government runs the largest school system in the country. Today’s announcement confirms that the National Plan for School Improvement, including new funding arrangements, can and should apply to all Australian students.

This agreement between the Federal and NSW Governments sets the benchmark for other states and will drive the reforms we need to see if Australia is to be in the top five in the world in reading, maths and science by 2025.

The Australian Government is determined to keep working closely with all remaining state and territories– and with schools, parents and communities right across the nation – to see these reforms agreed by 30 June 2013.

This will give schools the certainty they need to plan for next year.

These reforms are in the interests of all Australian children, and they are in our national interest so we can take economic advantage of the opportunities of the Asian century.

In 2013 Australian universities are still predominately the professional training ground of the middle and upper classes while government schools remain the main education providers. So which level of education is most in need of increased government funding?

Once the Gillard Government had announced funding measures to underpin its policy response to the Review of Funding for Schooling Final Report December 2011 (Gonski Report) there was an immediate and predictable outcry regarding the government’s intention to remove $2.3 billion from direct/indirect tertiary education funding commencing in 2014.

Leaving aside the obvious wealth of some of the older universities, is this outcry justified? Should Australian taxpayer dollars continue to be spent at record levels on higher education or should these be spent in a more immediately equitable manner with the eventual aim of increasing the education standard of the population?

Australian Society

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2009–10 twenty-three per cent of the Australian population lived in low income-low wealth households. With sixty-one per cent of female single parents and forty-nine per cent of single male parents living in low economic resource households.

Economic hardship often means that people experience a relatively low material standard of living. For people who live in economic hardship, access to economic resources that provide for the consumption of goods and services such as food, housing, clothing, medical care and so on are limited Low economic resources can also restrict a person's ability to be included in the society around them, and limit their opportunities to create the life they want.

The Universities

The Higher Education Base Funding Review Final Report (O c t o b e r  2 0 11) states that: In 2007, total government funding to the higher education sector was $8 billion, of which base funding was $6.4 billion. In 2011, total government funding had reached close to $12 billion, of which $8.5 billion is base funding. It is estimated that in 2013, total government funding will be $13.6 billion and total base funding will be $10 billion.

A further $500 million will come from the Education Investment Fund for the tertiary sector over the next five years, although it is not yet known what proportion of these funds will be allocated to universities.

According to the Department of Industry, Innovation, Research and Tertiary Education: From 2012 to 2015 the Gillard Government will invest $58.9 billion in higher education and that funding for university student places in 2013 was 10.1 per cent higher.

The majority of students enrolled at Australian universities still come from middle or high socio-economic status backgrounds.

While university enrolments in Australia have more than doubled in the last two decades, students from low SES backgrounds are three times less likely to enter university than those from high SES backgrounds……

An obvious barrier to a student’s entry into higher education is non-completion of secondary school and general poor academic achievement. As noted above, the literature identifies that secondary education non-completion rates are much higher for low SES, Indigenous, and regional and remote student groups than they are for others. The evidence points to a strong negative correlation between low SES and secondary school completion and thus entry to higher education.

The Australian Council for Education Research media release indicates that in 2013 an estimated 14.3 per cent to 18.5 per cent of domestic university undergraduates in Australian universities in 2013 come from a low socioeconomic background.

Primary and Secondary Schools

Government schools remained the main provider of school education in Australia, with a total of 2,342,379 students, compared with 736,595 students attending Catholic schools, and 511,012 students attending Independent schools…..

..in absolute terms Indigenous student numbers in government schools, 149,307, far exceeded the number in non-government schools, 26,750….

In 2012 the apparent retention rate for all students was 79.9%, with the female rate of 84.3% being 8.5 percentage points higher than the male rate of 75.8%.

In 2012, the rate varied considerably across affiliations: 75.8% in government schools, 82.1% in Catholic schools, and 91.8% in Independent schools, the latter down from a high of 94.9% in 2009…..

Between 2011 and 2012, the apparent retention rate for Indigenous males rose by 3.1 percentage points to 49.2%, and for Indigenous females rose by 1.6 percentage points to 52.9%. The apparent retention rates from Year 7/8 to Year 10 for these students were significantly higher at 96.9% for males and 100.0% for females.

Remembering the deeply weird side of Mr. Rabbitt - Part Two

The very monochrome Mr.Rabbitt in missionary position…….

Herald Sun 18 December 2009:

"I think everyone should have some familiarity with the great texts that are at the core of our civilisation," Mr [Tony] Abbott said. 
"That includes, most importantly, the Bible. I think it would be impossible to have a good general education without at least some serious familiarity with the Bible and with the teachings of Christianity.”

* Photograph from Google Images

A lesson taken from the behaviour of fellows and students of the College of St. John the Evangelist (University of Sydney)

 

One NSW North Coast resident’s view on the anarchic College of St. John the Evangelist:

 

I don't understand what all the fuss is about with the Untouchables at St John's College. The men abused someone, the impression was given that disciplinary action had taken place and then they were given positions of power. Looking at the history of the Catholic Church surely they are just carrying on long-held and upheld Catholic traditions and in that tradition nothing has nor apparently ever will change.

Phillip Anderson, Uki

 

 

Background:

 

Why the College of St. John the Evangelist at Sydney University needs to be dissolved now

Why the College of St John the Evangelist at Sydney University needs to be dissolved now

An Act to Incorporate Saint John’s College as a College within the University of Sydney

(Assented to December 15th 1857)

Whereas considerable funds have been subscribed for the Institution and Endowment in the Archdiocese of Sydney of a Roman Catholic College within the University of Sydney, to be called “The College of Saint John the Evangelist” wherein the students shall receive systematic religious instruction and be brought up in the doctrines and discipline of the Roman Catholic Church, and provision be made for the residence of the Students and their preparation for the University Lectures and Examinations under Collegiate control. And whereas it is expedient that the said College should be incorporated: Be it therefore enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly of New South Wales in Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same......

 

THE FICTION:

 

The College of St John the Evangelist:

 

Situated within the University of Sydney, the College has fostered the intellectual, spiritual, cultural, sporting and social pursuits of its student community since 1857. It is the oldest and most distinguished Australian University Catholic College….

 

under the direction of its Visitor, the Cardinal Archbishop of Sydney, (currently His Eminence George, Cardinal Pell) the College associates itself with the interests of the Australian Church and its mission, particularly by the fostering of appropriate academic directions in education, charity, social justice, ethics and environment.

 

Formal Dinner in the Great Hall

 

Cardinal George Pell in Our People 13 April 2008:

 

For why does St. John’s College exist if not in order to help its members to find the sweetest and most satisfying of pastures, or, as Jesus described it, “to have life to the full”?

 

The Eagle St John’s College Weekly Newsletter Semester One, Week Five, 1 April 2011:

 

older Johnsmen, many of whom have gone to a place even better than St John’s! Some you may know are current politicians, Tony Abbott, Joe Hockey and Frank Sartor;

 

Weekly Newsletter Semester One, Week One, 12 March 2012”

 

“If you accept this offer of a place [at St John’s College in 2012], you are choosing to become a part of a movement towards positive change.”

 

THE REALITY:

 

http://www.smh.com.au/national/tertiary-education/college-throws-out-30-students-20120310-1ur5h.html

 

Zoe Arnold in Mama Mia 21 March 2012:

 

“I don’t exactly remember the moment I realised life at St John’s College wasn’t for me. Maybe it was after witnessing the spectacle of flaming “man-ginas”, where brutish young Johnians would set alight their pubic hair in front of a bellowing, chanting crowd as some kind of test of their manhood. Maybe it was after watching the beautiful, heritage listed library being drowned in beer and then used as a slip ‘n’ slide as another drunken night in house got underway.

 

The Sydney Morning Herald  4 November 2012:

 

Eight months on, nothing has changed. Police have been called to investigate widespread vandalism including smashed windows and doors, furniture broken or set on fire, and graffiti. Faeces are routinely found in common areas and bedrooms. Every second Friday, the student committee has decreed that all Johnsmen not speak to any female students - who are known as ''Jets'': the term is an acronym for ''just excuse the slag''.

Freshers are still being forced into initiation rituals, including the consumption of toxic drinks. And some senior students are showing a cavalier disregard for the fallout from the poisoned girl's near-death, and have even printed T-shirts that celebrate the incident.

The college's honorary dean and a member of the college's executive have quit in disgust, with many former executives and existing students calling on Australia's highest-ranked Catholic, Sydney Archbishop George Pell, to intervene and ''rescue'' the 150-year-old institution from ''a crippling disease''.

University of Sydney honorary professor Roslyn Arnold said she quit the St John's executive this semester because she was ''ashamed to belong to such a group''.

''Anarchy has broken out and anarchy is not too strong a word,'' Professor Arnold said.

''An external review of the governance of the college needs to be conducted urgently because the fellows are responsible for what happens on campus … I've been in universities for almost 40 years and, to be quite frank, I've never seen anything like this.

''In the external world, the incidents taking place could be considered criminal. I believe Cardinal Pell is the person who is ultimately called if things spiral out of control and become really tricky. In my opinion, we are well past that stage.''

The college's honorary dean, Father Walter Fogarty, also resigned earlier this year after nine years of service as a fellow. He said: ''I lost confidence in where the council was going and am concerned about the dynamics of some of the old boys. There is a Peter Pan complex.''

The Sydney Morning Herald  4 November 2012:

 

The Sun-Herald understands the college's rector, Michael Bongers, will lose his job on Monday because of the strong stance he has taken against the ugly St John's culture.

It is the old Johnsmen who are the architects of the rector's pending downfall and responsible for the trouble at St John's.

It is these old Johnsmen who should be walking the plank - and their anachronistic ideas about the nobility of preserving obnoxious traditions. By condoning bad behaviour they have created a situation where the lunatics are running the asylum.

 

One of the alumni speakers on the night

Recent scenes at St John's College

The University of Sydney has tolerated this college for far too long. It needs to squarely face the situation and root out from its midst this culture of mindless brutality and misogyny so long condoned by the Catholic Church and Sydney Establishment.

Celebrate nature at Jeff Keyes 'award winning property on Sunday 23 September 2012

A Celebration of Nature

From 9.30 a.m. on Sunday 23^rd September

On Sunday 23rd September Jeff Keyes,

winner of Clarence Valley Council's 2012 Individual Sustainability Award,
will be hosting a celebration of nature at his property "Urimberra",

 the Sportsman Creek Conservation Area

Activities/displays include

·     a nature walk led by Jeff Keyes and John Edwards (starting at 11 a.m.)

·     nature education activities for children, organised by Sharon Lehman, Coordinator of Clarence Valley Conservation in Action - the CIA

·     a photographic exhibition of flora and fauna found on the property (around 320 of the approximate 600 species identified on the property)

·     a display of rustic furniture made on the property by Jeff Keyes

·     landscape paintings by Peter Chapman

·     up-to-date information on the coal seam gas industry plus a screening of a DVD on the Queensland CSG industry

The starting time for the celebration is 9.30 a.m.   Tea and coffee will be provided.  Bring snacks and a picnic lunch.

Everyone is welcome to this celebration.

 Directions:

The 50 ha wildlife refuge is at 2954 Summerland Way, Dilkoon, 20.6 km north of the Blue Goose Inn at Junction Hill, 750 m. north of Dilkoon Creek bridge and 1.3 km south of Sportsmans Creek.

For further information:

Contact Jeff Keyes on 0417 403606 or Stan Mussared on 66449309.

The celebration is coordinated by the Clarence Valley Conservation Coalition and the Clarence Environment Centre

North Coast Regional Environment Conference, Coffs Harbour 5-6 May 2012

North Coast Regional Environment Conference, Coffs Harbour May 5 and 6

Venue: Cavanbah Centre, 191 Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour [admission free – donation requested for lunch]

NCC and conference hosts North Coast Environment Council (NCEC) have announced an exciting regional conference agenda for 2012.The North Coast Environment Council is hosting the Nature Conservation Council of NSW annual regional environment conference in Coffs Harbour on May 5 and 6.

Saturday, May 5, the focus will be on mining. With Coal Seam Gas threatening to devour the Northern Rivers, Coal eating up the Hunter Valley and Antimony and Gold huge threats to the Dorrigo Plateau and the coastal rivers including the Macleay and Clarence... it's time to get a regional picture and plan a regional response.

There will be a range of speakers including Bev Smiles who has watched coal eat the villages of the Hunter; Sue Higginson from the Environmental Defenders Office on legal options to protect land, water and community; and Aidan Ricketts, one of the creative thinkers behind the Northern Rivers Community Strategy to Lock Out CSG.
May 6, the focus will be on creating Healthy Landscapes with a panel discussion on the Canary in the Coalmine... but in this case it's the disappearing Koala in our Forests.

The afternoon of May 6 there will be a couple of options for field trips.

Follow the link below to find out more and register.

http://www.nccnsw.org.au/events/ncc-regional-conference-2012

[By email 29 April 2012]

Join in Schools Tree Day, Friday 29th July 2011

Life is Better with Trees

Planet Ark is calling on all green thumbs to join us this Schools Tree Day, by coordinating an activity with your school, landcare group or club. You’ll be joining thousands of other schools across the country getting outdoors and getting their hands dirty, to help improve their local environment.

Why not organise a tree planting day, or contact your local landcare group to help you organise another environmental activity? You could also take a bush walk or beautify your school grounds.

Schools Tree Day is Friday July 29th, but you can arrange an activity for any day that suits you and your local environment. Every Day is Tree Day.

In 2011 site coordinators who register a school or public site with Planet Ark before Friday 27 May will go into the draw to WIN a visit to their site from celebrity landscape architect and all round great guy Costa Georgiadis of SBS’s Costa’s Garden Odyssey !

To register or for more information visit Treeday.planetark.org or call the National Tree Day hotline on 1300 88 5000

(National Landcare Directory)

 

When a Christian church decides that direct access to government funding allows it to disregard the basic tenets of public education

In this case it was the Living Waters (Uniting) Church which decided that it knew best and appears to have misunderstood and then exceeded its role in the National School Chaplaincy Program famously instigated by former Prime Minister John Howard and continued to this day by the Gillard Government.

A 2010 investigation by the Northern Territory Ombudsman revealed that:

· There was insufficient consultation with community before the chaplaincy services were implemented at specific NT rural public schools and, in at least one school all students were automatically included in what should have been an opt-in voluntary chaplaincy service

· The National School Chaplaincy Code of Conduct was breached by at least one chaplain

· One chaplain allegedly attempted to contact the parents of children on the opt-out list of students who would not be accessing these services

· Inappropriate one-on-one counselling was undertaken by unqualified chaplains, with regard to students' behavioural and emotional problems amongst other matters

· Private and unsecured records of students were kept by at least one chaplain and, in one instance these same records were initially denied to a psychologist treating the student in question

· Conflicts of interest arose and there were perceived problems with duty of care on the part of chaplains

· Proselytising religious beliefs appears to have occurred at times

· In at least one instance there was failure to disclose to a relevant government authority

· There were allegations of improper payments being made to the chaplaincy services

· Chaplains had access to intimate personal information re certain students even when schools were in receipt of ‘no contact’ letters from parents

· In one instance there was defiance of a DET Executive directive in relation to the continued provision of services to one child

· Complaints concerning chaplaincy services or the conduct of specific chaplains were often inadequately handled by both schools and DET/ DEEWR

· The Church permanently housed a convicted paedophile (at least 20 counts of offences against minors recorded) within a building complex also used as emergency accommodation for families with children and in close proximity to a school and park

This is not an exclusive list of problems encountered in the National School Chaplaincy Program and, the fact that there was such a hasty national implementation of this school program and that funding flows directly to the religious organisation (by-passing state eduction authorities) has led to a service which is apparently wide open to abuse.

NT Ombudsman’s 2010 Investigation Report On The Operation of the Chaplaincy Service Within Five Government Rural Schools of the Northern Territory [162 page PDF file]

Intelligent Design lobby motto: If at first you don't succeed - try, try again

The teaching of some scientific subjects, including, but not limited to, biological evolution, the chemical origins of life, global warming, and human cloning, can cause controversy;
{From the bill AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 49,
Chapter 6, Part 10, relative to teaching scientific
subjects in elementary schools.}

Given how swiftly the Australian far-right of both religion and politics follow each new quirk in America’s regressive march back towards the primeval ooze; if this bill (sponsored by very Catholic, pro-life, anti-gay marriage, intelligent design supporter Republican State Representative Bill Dunn) gets recommended by a Tennessee General Assembly sub-committee vote today around 3pm US Central Time, it will probably create a media opportunity for the anti-science brigade here:

*HB0368 by *Dunn, *White. (SB0893 by *Watson.)
Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, protects a teacher from discipline for teaching scientific subjects in an objective manner. - Amends TCA Title 49, Chapter 6, Part 10.
Summary for *HB0368

“Bill Summary

This bill prohibits the state board of education and any public elementary or secondary school governing authority, director of schools, school system administrator, or principal or administrator from prohibiting any teacher in a public school system of this state from helping students understand, analyze, critique, and review in an objective manner the scientific strengths and scientific weaknesses of existing scientific theories covered in the course being taught, such as evolution and global warning.”

Representative Dunn also has another bill before the House which says it part:

“Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, no public elementary or middle school shall provide any instruction or material that discusses sexual orientation other than heterosexuality.”

Biological evolution controversial, homosexuality unmentionable? Music to the tin ears of Abbott & Co in Australia and bound to turn up on the nightly news sometime soon.

Education revolution falls at the first hurdle

It has always been hard to ignore the fact that federal government funding of non–government schools comes at the expense of our public schools and the new My School financial info confirms this. Take two Lismore high schools with the same postcode – one receives a grand total of $6,917 in federal funding per student and the other receives $1,467 per student from the same source. No prize for guessing which is the public secondary school with a higher number of disadvantaged students and which is the school backed by a wealthy religious organisation.

Will

Lismore

Free EarthScan webcast "Reconnecting Nature and Culture", Wednesday, November 24, 2010 4:00 am Sydney AEDT

A hatip to Margi Prideaux over at Wild Politics for alerting the blogosphere to this event:

Earthcasts are monthly free one-hour interactive web events from Earthscan

In November the subject is:

Reconnecting Nature and Culture

>> Understand the concept of biocultural diversity
>> Learn how to integrate cultural and spiritual values into conservation, tourism and heritage management practices
>> Discover how embracing the values of local people can dramatically increase the success of conservation and sustainability efforts, for the benefit of all

Tuesday 23rd November 2010
17:00 (UK time – GMT), 12:00 (EDT), 9:00 (PDT)

Click here to register

Regional Women Wanted!

Media Release on 26 October 2010:

Page MP Janelle Saffin says there need to be more women in the boardrooms of Australia.

Ms Saffin is calling on suitably experienced local women to apply for a new scholarship program aimed at increasing the number of women on boards.

Applications opened today for the Board Diversity Scholarship Program, a $400,000 election commitment from the Australian Government which is jointly funded with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD).

The scholarships will assist women to attend the AICD’s Company Directors course or Mastering the Boardroom course and participating women will receive a one-year membership of the AICD.

Ms Saffin said the program is designed to prepare talented women to join the boards of companies, community groups and Government organisations.

An Equal Opportunity for Women in the Workplace census found that only 8.4 per cent of board directorships in the ASX 200 are held by women.

The Minister for the Status of Women, Kate Ellis, said Australian women are continuing to be shut out of our most senior corporate boardrooms.

“The board scholarship program is aimed at getting more Australian women- who already have the skills, abilities and experience to be strong contributors-onto our corporate boards.” Ms Ellis said.

Janelle Saffin said applications for the Scholarship Program are being sought from suitably qualified women from various backgrounds from around Australia, including rural and regional areas, and she encouraged women from the Page electorate to apply.

Suitable background for the course includes experience as a board member; an executive or advisor reporting to a board; a senior executive reporting to a CEO; a senior government or public official; or senior academic.

The scholarship recipients will be selected by representatives of the AICD and the Australian Government’s Office for Women.

This initiative complements the Australian Government’s commitment to increased representation of women on Government Boards.

Applications close on 12 November, 2010 and more information is available at www.companydirectors.com.au/diversityscholarship

Photograph from The Northern Star

Nationals Hartsuyker overreaches and gets a caning from one P & C

The Nationals Luke Hartsuyker (incumbent in the marginal seat of Cowper on the NSW North Coast) has been relentless in his pursuit of column inches in the local print media as he prepares to defend his seat at this year's federal election.

Recently he turned his eye to schools with this press release on 11 July 2010; Government must address broken promises at North Coast schools and apologise to students, parents and teachers.
Which The Daily Examiner published almost verbatim as Schools left out of pocket with the unverifiable teaser: The Daily Examiner knows of one such case in the Clarence Valley but has withheld publishing at the request of teachers after an 11th hour reprieve from the Department of Education.

The Nambucca Heads school community reared up in the face of all this shameless politicking and bit back via The Coffs Coast Advocate in Nambucca school takes aim at MP on 13 July 2010:

The president of the Nambucca Heads Primary School's P & C has accused Cowper MP Luke Hartsuyker of using the issue to make 'sweeping statements with very obvious political bias in order to gain political gain'.......

"We the parents, staff and P & C body of Nambucca Heads Public School are extremely happy with the acquisition of a wonderful, sturdy and well built and well finished brand new school hall. We are very grateful to the Govt for making it possible for our school to own such a valuable asset.

"Prior to having a new hall our school community gathered for assemblies, performances and significant events in an undercover area with no walls. Special assemblies and occasions were regularly disrupted by inclement weather. To have a brand new hall, so beautifully built and finished off is an invaluable asset and one which has been out of our reach for many years, that is, until the Building the Education Revolution Project.".

Clarence Ahead invites climate change adaptation expert to speak at Yamba, 6 July 2010

At 6.30pm on Tuesday 6 July 2010 Professor Garry Willgoose is giving a talk on "Climate change, its consequences, and us" at the Yamba Bowling & Recreation Club by invitation of Clarence Ahead .

Admission is $30.00 and includes two course meal, tea or coffee. Bar service will be available. Further information can be had from Des Plunkett Ph: (02) 66. 433044.

Dr. Willgoose is an ARC Australian Professorial Fellow from the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment at the School of Engineering, University of Newcastle, with expertise in the areas of hydrology; climatology; water resources; ecohydrology; erosion; climate change adaptation; mine rehabilitation; mine closure; mine environment; mining; uranium; nuclear waste disposal.

Rather amusingly I was alerted to this Clarence Ahead initiative by an obvious climate change denier writing in one of the NSW North Coast newspapers.

The letter writer appears to believe that the academic, who in September last year was reported to have said that more frequent heatwaves will present big problems in regional areas.....the biggest impact [of climate change] will be on health, water and local government works programs, will probably support the denialist position.

This should make for an interesting exchange during any question and answer segment on the night.

Photograph from University of Newcastle website

Hartsuyker the Hypocrite

This is what the Federal Nats MP Luke Hartsuyker is saying in his first 2010 e-newsletter sent this week:
"Many tertiary students have started their 2010 studies uncertain about the entitlement to Independent Youth Allowance and Commonwealth scholarships."
Of course they have Luke - you and your mates voted to block passage of the government bill which would have established the guidelines and payment schedule for these entitlements!

The right-wing disinformation campaign is alive and well on the NSW North Coast

The political disinformation campaign is alive and well on the NSW North Coast in The Daily Examiner letters to the editor and what passes for the party faithfull are gearing up for the next federal election campaign:

Teaching, nursing students targeted

NOT so long ago when John Howard was PM and the state of our economy was actually 'state of the art', there were some anti-government voices in the Valley highly critical of Howard and the Coalition's policy on university funding through the Hecs scheme.

Where are those voices today, now that Julia Gillard, idol of their favoured political party, is forcing teaching and nursing students to pay up to 25 per cent more to gain a degree after dumping the subsidy put in place by the Howard government?

Why single out these two urgently necessary areas of university education to begin the clawback of some of the billions of dollars, mostly borrowed, that this Rudd government has squandered since 2007?

Billions tossed around like confetti at a wedding to feed not only Rudd's massive ego but the many rorts of the so-called Education Revolution. The myriad of enquiries, committees and no brainer 'Watch' programs that cost millions but amounted to absolutely nothing.

And then vital funding assistance for teaching and nursing students gets shafted.

Like the whales in the Southern Ocean, nursing and teaching students in this country have been cut adrift by this self-serving government.

FRED PERRING, Grafton

This is what the Federal Government actually put in place according to its Going to Uni website:

If you have a HELP debt, you start repaying your accumulated HELP debt when your HELP repayment income is above the minimum threshold, which is $41,594 in the 2008-09 income year and $43,151 for the 2009-10 income year.....

In the 2009 Budget, the Australian Government announced that students who graduate from an eligible education or nursing course of study from second semester 2009 onwards will be able to apply for a reduction in their compulsory HELP repayment if they work as a teacher or nurse.

From 1 January 2010 the maximum annual student contribution amount (previously called HECS) for commencing students undertaking education and nursing units of study will be increased from the 'national priority' rate to the band 1 rate [Rate 1 set at $5,310 p.a. maximum in 2010]......

Eligible education and nursing graduates (who graduate from second semester 2009 onwards) who take up employment in these professions will be able to apply for a HECS-HELP benefit which will reduce their Higher Education Loan Program (HELP) repayments. The benefit will be available for the 2009-10 income year. The maximum benefit for that year will be $1,558.50.

An education or nursing graduate is a person who has graduated from a course of study that is required for initial entry to teaching or nursing professions.

Further information will soon be available when guidelines for the benefit for teachers and nurses are finalised.....

The maximum HECS-HELP benefit you will receive as an early childhood education teacher [working in regional or remote areas, Indigenous communities or areas of high socio-economic disadvantage] is $1,600 for the 2008–09 income year, and $1,662.40 for the 2009-10 income year. This amount will be indexed in later years.

Find out if you're eligible

Make your own schools league table for the NSW North Coast - everyone else is!

What with many newspapers already publishing regional school performance lists from the Rudd Government's My School website (and one coyly pretending that by creating tables containing only 6 high schools & 22 primary schools it wasn't giving a quick start to local schools league tables), we all might as well join in.
Here are links to official comparative information on many (but not all) NSW North Coast schools:

Clarence Valley Anglican School
Clarence Valley Anglican School, Clarenza campus
Grafton High School
Grafton Public School
St Mary's Primary School
Westlawn Public School
Bishop Druitt College
Casuarina Steiner School
Coffs Harbour Christian Community School - Coffs Harbour Campus
Coffs Harbour Public School
Coffs Harbour Senior College
John Paul College
Narranga Public School
Orara High School
St Augustine's Primary School
Tyalla Public School
Westlawn Public School
St Joseph's Primary School
Tweed Heads Public School
Afterlee Public School
Kyogle High School
Kyogle Public School
St Brigid's Primary School
Evans River Community School
Richmond Christian College
Biala Special School
St Joseph's Primary School
Ballina High School
Alstonville High School
Woodburn Public School
St Joseph's Primary School
Broadwater Public School
Cabbage Tree Island Public School
Wardell Public School
Coraki Public School
St Joseph's Primary School
Empire Vale Public School
Rous Public School
Wyrallah Public School
Tregeagle Public School
Emmanuel Anglican College
Ballina Public School
St Francis Xavier Primary School
Alstonville Public School
Alstonville High School
ALESCO Learning Centre - Northern Rivers, Lismore
Caniaba Public School
Lismore High School
Lismore Public School
Lismore South Public School
Modanville Public School
St Carthage's Primary School
St John's College Woodlawn
Trinity Catholic College
Wilson Park School
Wyrallah Road Public School
Vistara Primary School
Summerland Christian College
Blue Hills College
Modanville Public School
Caniaba Public School
Kadina High School
Richmond River High School
Goonellabah Public School
Wooli Public School

Update:
On 30th January The Sydney Morning Herald released PDF download files of an A-Z list of all NSW school scores and 2 league tables containing Top 50 NSW High Schools and Top 50 NSW Primary Schools.
According to these media-produced tables:
Cape Byron Rudolf Steiner School came in at an equal 49th in the reading skills section. Otherwise North Coast high schools just didn't rank highly in this particular league table.
Wilsons Creek Public School (Mullumbimby) came in an equal 9th in the reading skills section,Tweed Valley College 22nd, St Mary's Primary School (Belligen) 48th in the same section and that was the limit that our primary schools rated a mention in this league table.