Independent Thinkers & Independent Schools

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/qanda/txt/s3863944.htm Panellists: Christopher Pyne, Education Minister; Joel Fitzgibbon, Shadow Minister for Agriculture; Ray Martin, Journalist and author; Wendy Harmer, Editor in Chief, The Hoopla; and Janet Albrechtsen, Opinion columnist for The Australian. -- Christopher Pyne Christopher Pyne was 25 when he entered Parliament as the Liberal member for Sturt, in the eastern suburbs of Adelaide, in 1993. He was born and raised in Adelaide and graduated in law from Adelaide University. He became active in politics as a teenager and played a prominent role in the South Australian Liberal Party, as president of the Young Liberals and as a member of the State Executive. In Opposition he made a name for himself as a tenacious parliamentary performer and a key member of the Opposition team, especially as Manager of Opposition Business. He is now Minister for Education and Leader of the House. Christopher is married to Carolyn and they have four children, Eleanor, Barnaby, Felix and Aurelia. -- Joel Fitzgibbon Joel Fitzgibbon has been the member for Hunter, a rural electorate in NSW’s Hunter Valley, since 1996, having succeeded his father who held the seat for 12 years. He has lived in Cessnock, a town within the Hunter electorate, all his life. In 1978, after leaving school, Joel completed an apprenticeship as an automotive electrician. He then ran his own small business for the next ten years. He also served eight years as a Councillor on Cessnock City Council, including a term as Deputy Mayor. Joel has continued his studies as a mature age student, and in 2004 completed a Graduate Certificate in Business Administration at the University of Newcastle. Since his election to parliament Joel has held a variety of different positions in government and opposition. He was a senior front-bencher in the Rudd government until 2009, when he was forced to resign as Minister for Defence for a breach of the ministerial code of conduct. He then became Chief Government Whip and briefly returned to the ministry in the Agriculture portfolio before Labor lost the election. He is now shadow minister for agriculture. -- Ray Martin Ray Martin is one of Australia’s best known and most recognisable journalists. His career began as a cadet with the ABC in Sydney in 1965. He worked in Perth and Canberra and spent ten years as North America correspondent before joining Channel 9 in 1978 to be part of the original 60 Minutes line-up. Subsequently he hosted Midday and A Current Affair and became the face of the Nine Network through his work on network specials, federal elections and Carols by Candlelight. He has won five gold Logies, twenty silver Logies and was awarded the Order of Australia in 2011 for journalism, his work with Indigenous Australians and his involvement with charities. His autobiography Ray: Stories of my Life was published in 2009. -- Wendy Harmer Wendy Harmer is one of Australia’s most versatile entertainers – broadcaster, author, journalist and stage performer – and is the Editor in Chief of The Hoopla, a daily online news and magazine website. As a stand-up comedian she performed her one-woman shows at the Melbourne, Edinburgh, Montreal and Glasgow Mayfest Comedy Festivals, in London’s West End and the Sydney Theatre Company. Wendy enjoyed huge popularity leading Sydney radio station 2Day FM’s top-rating Breakfast Show for 11 years and winning 84 of the 88 ratings surveys for that period. She has hosted, written and appeared in a variety of TV shows including ABC’s The Big Gig. A former political journalist, Wendy is the author of eight books for adults including her best selling novel Farewell My Ovaries, Love And Punishment and Nagging For Beginners, a how-to guide for women. Her most recent novel Friends Like These was published in April 2011. Her first teen novel I Lost My Mobile At The Mall was published in November 2009 with a sequel, I Made Lattes For A Love God published in October 2012. Stuff, a four-part television documentary series which Wendy produced, wrote and presented, premiered on ABC TV in March 2008. In late 2008 Wendy and Angela Catterns recorded a 16 part podcasting series for ABC Radio Local called Is It Just Me? which returned for a second season in 2009. Together they debated and discussed their observations and conclusions on everyday life. Wendy teamed up again with Angela Catterns on ABC News Radio with a new show called It’s News To Me, which recapped the week’s events. Wendy still works as a radio broadcaster for the ABC. She has been a columnist for the Good Weekend, The Sunday Telegraph and many magazines. Wendy is a member of the National People With a Disability and Carer’s Council and a patron of Interplast. Wendy and her husband Brendan have two children and live on Sydney’s Northern Beaches. -- Janet Albrechtsen Janet Albrechtsen is one of Australia’s most prominent conservative commentators. She is a columnist for The Australian and has also written for The Wall Street Journal Asia, The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age. Janet was a member of the board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation from 2005 to 2010. She has also been a member of the Foreign Affairs Council since 2003. Janet was born in Adelaide and has a doctorate in law from the University of Sydney Law School. She has also worked as a solicitor, practising in the areas of banking and finance, corporate and securities law. ---- Audience: ALP 33%, Coalition 44%, Greens 10% LEFT-WING SCHOOL AGENDA Jakov Miljak asked: Christopher Pyne, now that you are in power, what steps will the Coalition take to reduce the influence of a progressive left wing agenda in our education system, which continues to emphasise a black armband view of history and whose teaching methods are leaving today's generation of students deficient in material facts and concrete literary skills? BLACK ARMBAND/WHITE BLINDFOLD Tess Mimms & Ben Wong from Canberra, ACT asked via video: Mr Pyne, how do you justify your claims that the history curriculum, which according to you was written by an ex-communist, is taught in such a way that exposes us to the "black arm-band" approach of Australian History. Shouldn't we, the students of Australia be taught about Aboriginal history on the same level as Australia's colonial history? How will you ensure that we are not subjected to the "white blind-fold" approach? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Mr Pyne you haven’t spoken to me and I’ve been a teacher for fifty years. Naplan is one of the worst things that has happened to our education system. Why spend millions on a statistic we already know rather than on increasing resources? CUTS V SERVICES Arjun Sachdev asked: In NSW Barry O'Farrell's Liberal government cut $20m from the regional fire services that have been battling the bushfires. With the benefit of hindsight, that seems like a short-sighted and clearly wrong decision. Joe Hockey is appointing the head of the Business Council of Australia to oversee an audit for federal government spending "savings". The Australian newspaper says: "the terms of reference explicitly support the idea of "user-charging" and "co-payments" for government programs." How does Christopher Pyne reconcile the conservative ideology of reducing public expenditure against the clear need for appropriate expenditure on public services? MEDIBANK SALE Kay Matthews asked: Could you please tell us how people will be better off if Medibank Private is sold off? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: The Liberal party seem to be addicted to privatisation. There are rumours that you will be selling off the HECS debt. Do we really want to end up like America and leave our students with huge debts by selling off all our assets? $500 BILLION DEBT INCREASE Emre Mehmet from Birrong, NSW asked via video: Last month, one of Joe Hockey's election promises was to bring the budget back to surplus. However, last week Hockey said he would lift the government's debt ceiling to $500 billion as a result increasing the deficit. Is this not a sign that the coalition has lied to us about this election promise? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Minister, you mentioned you’re worried about a repeat of the US congress episode here in Australia but are you actually terrified of Clive Palmer blocking your debt ceiling increase? FOREIGN LAND SALES Wendy Wilson asked: Joel Fitzgibbon, when your government was in power it allowed the Cubby Station to be sold to the Chinese. This means that we can never get it back and they now own a large part of Australia. Why did your government not put a law into place to prevent this? Why not lease it instead? Does the panel agree that we should never sell our land to an overseas country, particularly our valuable arable land, and that leasing for, say, 25 years would be a preferable option? FOLLOW UP FROM THE FLOOR Wendy Wilson also asked: Investment does not mean that you actually have to purchase a place, and Joel said that you still have control over it.... in what way do you have control over property that is now owned by an overseas country? PUBLIC SCHOOLS Peter Edwick asked: Henry Parkes the father of federation and public education legislated for free and secular schools. Now our federal legislators are proposing to copy the independent schools model in W.A. where parent bodies control school boards. These independent schools are a euphemism for privatisation and there is no evidence to show improvements in student outcomes. How can our new conservative government justify their intention to change 25% of public schools into independent schools, where educational excellence is secondary to parent business and religious lobby groups pursuing their own agendas? LOU REED’S PERFECT SONG Christine Burton asked: Lou Reed, co-founder of the Velvet Underground and leading musician of his time has sadly passed away at aged 71. My favourite song was ‘Perfect Day’. What was your favourite Lou Reed song?