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.

Tony Abbott's lifestyle

Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott lives at 32 Lady Davidson Circuit, Forestville, NSW.

Houses offered for sale in that street can have an asking price of $1 million plus, houses for rent sometimes cost renters close to $900 a week.

Forestville is in the Warringah local government area - which is in the "least disadvantaged" category when assessing socio-economic advantage and disadvantage.

Mr. Abbott is paid a base salary of $190,550 per annum plus allowances as a Federal Member of the House of Representatives. As Leader of the Opposition he also receives a further 85% of that base figure as additional salary. His wife works in the private sector. He has three adult daughters.

Tony and Margie Abbott would have a combined gross weekly income in excess of $7,000 dollars a week.

Despite this generous household income Mr. Abbott also expects Australian taxpayers and voters to pick up the tab for his wife and daughters and, in the first six months of 2012 they cost the nation $9,694.48:

Presumably so that the Abbott family could enjoy photo opportunities similar to this:

Again despite his comfortable income, Tony Abbott also appears quite happy to accept gifts of Max Liondos tailored suits and clothing from Les Taylor.

There seems to have been only one blip in this happy scenario. Apparently unwilling to alter his life-style after he went to the opposition benches in late 2007 as an ordinary MP, he appears to have entered into a shared equity loan arrangement - possibly in 2008 or 2009 when the Rudd Government was supporting these loans through investment by the Australian Office of Financial Management in the very financial institution listed in his mandatory declarations found in the Register of Members' Interests when he finally entered the details in mid-2010.

According to Google Earth the property snapshots below are of Mr. Abbott’s family residence, complete with pool and entertainment area.

So, the next time this privately educated son of a successful English orthodontist pulls a long face and talks about the need to reduce pensioner allowances, the advisability of forcing those under 30 off unemployment benefits, removing superannuation tax cuts for low income wage earners or that under his leadership it will be necessary for budget measures to "hurt" ordinary people – remember that he has no real idea of how ordinary people live in this country.

Australian Opposition Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey and national unemployment rates

Opposition Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey frequently refers to Australia having had a lower national unemployment rate during the Coalition’s last term in federal government. He was doing so on again on 11 March when discussing that month’s unemployment figures.

On the floor of the House of Representatives in February 2012 he erroneously stated:

Let us remind ourselves of what Labor inherited from the coalition: the lowest unemployment rate in a generation. I was the minister for employment that left Labor in February 2008 with an unemployment rate of four per cent, the lowest in at least 20 years. 

Here Hockey was shamelessly taking credit for a low national unemployment rate of 4.1 per cent (not the 4 per cent he quoted) which occurred during the term of the Rudd Labor Government.

Interestingly, his idea of a generation is somewhat limited as Baby Boomers might recall that unemployment in their childhood years was well below 4 per cent, averaging out at 2 per cent between 1945-6 and 1974-5.

So how much lower was the Howard Government’s unemployment rate during its last term when compared with the current Gillard Labor Government?

Well for the record Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals it was between zero to a provisional 1.2 per cent lower across the Howard Government’s final term, using ‘swearing in’ months, end of year month figures and general election months.

Unemployment rates during the Federal Coalition Government’s last term in office from 16 November 2004 to 24 November 2007:

5.3% Nov 2004

5.1% Dec 2004

5.1% Dec 2005

4.6% Dec 2006

4.4% Nov 2007

A change of federal government occurred on 24 November 2007. The Howard Coalition Government departs and the Rudd Labor Government is sworn in on 3 December 2007, ending the caretaker period overseen by the public service.

Global Financial Crisis (mid 2007 – late 2009) begins to significantly impact on Australia in 2008.

Unemployment rates during the Federal Labor Government’s current term in office 14 September 2010 to date:

5.1% Sept 2010

5.1% Dec 2010

5.3% Dec 2011

5.4% Dec 2012

NK   Sept 2013

Or if you prefer a graph - here is one from Grog's Gamut:

Aotearoa passes legislation establishing legal same sex marriage

The New Zealand Parliament, Pāremata Aotearoa, recognizes the importance of human dignity and civil rights for all

http://youtu.be/DW4DXOAXF8U

Abbott has not won federal government yet, but still the threats have started.....

Conversations at the Qantas Gala Dinner held on 18 April 2013, reading from bottom 51m to top 12m:

By the next day, van Onselen was tweeting:

And the mainstream media had identified the staffer in question as Abbott's policy advisor Mark Roberts and the person most likely to have been on the receiving end of his anger as Australian Indigenous Education Foundation CEO Andrew Penfold.

Making Abbott's most recent Director of Policy Mark of the Seven Hundred and Seventy-Four Days. Though what an Abbott demotion entails is anyone's guess - perhaps a bigger Christmas bonus?

Federal Labor's Craig Emmerson tweeted what many are perhaps thinking:

Menzies House humour: kill the poor

Founded in January 2010, Menzies House is the leading Australian community for conservative, centre-right and libertarian thinkers and activists.

 

Only Tony Abbott supporters appear to find this post by Toby Ralph on the Menzies House blog humourous.

Menzies House 15 April 2013:

Since Labor came to power in 2007, Commonwealth debt has accumulated at an average rate of around $150,000,000 per day, including weekends. That’s about $100,000 a minute, twenty four seven.

To maintain political undertakings it is now apparently imperative to tax earnings on the accumulated life savings of people whom Treasurer Swan deems ‘fabulously rich.’

By astonishing happenstance very few of the victims of this embezzlement are Labor voters.

These soon-to-be-mugged have, of course, already been the major donors to Federal coffers. The top 1% of earners contribute 17% of all tax, the top 10% tip in 45%, in fact after adjusting for handouts, only the top 20% of earners actually top up our $120bn tax reservoir while the other 80% drain it.

Is it fair that those who have underwritten our national prosperity should now stump up even more? I think not, and have a more equitable policy alternative that Government might consider.

Kill the poor.

In contrast to the fabulously rich, the enormously poor make little useful contribution to society. They consume more than they contribute, putting tremendous strain on the national budget.

A modest cull would strike at the root of our fiscal dilemma. If the least productive 20% of citizens were decommissioned it would directly release a recurrent $25bn, which would almost cover overspending by the Gillard…… [my red bolding]

The remainder of this tasteless attempt at satire can be found here.

Moves to include emissions from CSG activities in greenhouse gas reporting in Australia

 

 

Media Statement

 

Moves to include emissions from CSG activities in greenhouse gas reporting

 

It is good that the Australian Government has released proposals to improve measurement and reporting of greenhouse gases from coal seam gas (CSG) exploration and production.

 

A Government discussion paper released today sets out proposals to introduce CSG-specific measurement and estimation methods into Australia’s greenhouse gas reporting framework.

 

This follows expert and community lobbying about the need to measure ‘fugitive’ emissions of methane released during CSG extraction and production.

 

Methane is one of the most potent greenhouse gasses building up in the atmosphere.

 

Our local community has pushed for this as CSG activities should not be exempt from greenhouse gas reporting.

 

The Department of Industry, Innovation, Climate Change, Science, Research and Tertiary Education (DIICCSRTE) has been reviewing existing methods for measuring CSG emissions for several months.

 

In particular I commend Dr Isaac Santos and Dr Damien Maher from Southern Cross University for their study of methane emission levels at Queensland CSG fields, which they submitted to the Department’s review.

 

Their research challenged CSG industry claims that it was a clean energy source and that emissions were ‘negligible’.

 

I re-iterate my commitment to a CSG-free Northern Rivers region, and welcome today’s announcement as yet another step towards investigating the full environmental impact of these activities.

 

Today’s discussion paper, Coal Seam Gas: Enhanced Estimation and Reporting of Fugitive Greenhouse Gas Emissions under the NGER Measurement Determination, has been released for comment.

 

It proposes mandatory direct measurement of emissions from CSG well completions and workovers, and foreshadows further changes including research into methods for estimating CSG emissions beyond gas wellheads and from decommissioned CSG wells.

 

The discussion paper can be found here:  http://www.climatechange.gov.au/government/submissions/coal-seam-gas-discussion-paper.aspx

 

16 April 2013