Q & Anarchy

Panellists: Christopher Pyne, Education Minister; Anna Burke, Former Speaker of the House; Mark Trevorrow, Actor and comedian aka ‘Bob Downe’; and Pallavi Sinha, Human Rights & Immigration Lawyer. -- 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. -- Anna Burke Anna Burke has served as the elected representative for the suburban Melbourne seat of Chisholm since the 1998 federal election and served as Speaker of the House of Representatives during the Gillard-Rudd government. Regarded as a strong but fair Speaker who often used her sense of humour to keep the House in order, she took on the role in controversial circumstances when her predecessor, Peter Slipper, was forced to resign. Anna was born in 1966 in Melbourne. She and her four siblings were raised in Ashwood, part of the electorate Anna now represents. She has a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) degree from Monash University and a Master of Commerce (Honours) from the University of Melbourne. Prior to entering Federal Parliament, Anna worked as a national industrial officer for the Finance Sector Union, where she represented the workers in the banking, finance and insurance industries. Anna has also worked in human relations for VicRoads, and for the Victorian Institute of Technology (now Victoria University). Anna lives in Box Hill South with her husband Steve and their two children. -- Mark Trevorrow Bob Downe is one of Australia's most loved and enduring comedy characters - the creation of journalist, comedian, actor and broadcaster Mark Trevorrow, who was born in Melbourne in 1959. He trained as a journalist at The Herald-Sun, and moved to Sydney in 1982 with the huge success of cabaret group The Globos, which he co-founded with Wendy de Waal. He created Bob Downe with Cathy Armstrong at the Glebe Food Fair in 1984 and has toured the world as the Prince of Polyester ever since - including five sell-out Sydney Opera House seasons and 17 Edinburgh Fringe festivals. Bob's latest production stage show, Bob Sweat & Tears, premiered in February at the Sydney Theatre before touring to the Adelaide Fringe and the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and will play the Astor Theatre in Perth on May 10 before seasons in London and yet another Edinburgh Fringe. Bob has hosted nine Sydney Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade broadcasts for the ABC, Ten and Foxtel/Arena. Since 2002, Mark has established a parallel career singing, acting and broadcasting as himself rather than as Bob Downe. He's been heard regularly on ABC Local Radio and his 2004 nostalgic talkumentary series The Way We Were was a ratings winner on the national broadcaster. He has also appeared regularly on Kath & Kim as 'Darryl' the menswear salesman - most recently in their 2012 feature film Kath & Kimderella. Mark received a Special Award for Lifetime Contribution to Cabaret at the 2013 Melbourne Green Room Awards, having won two previous Green Room Awards as Best Cabaret Artist in 1999 and 2000. -- Pallavi Sinha Pallavi Sinha has been actively involved with the Australian and Subcontinent community for over 20 years. A solicitor for over 13 years, she completed Economics and Law degrees with honours from the University of Sydney. She is currently the Principal of Lawyers with Solutions, a multidisciplinary practice providing legal advice and dispute resolution services. She also teaches at the Australian National University College of Law and is an accredited mediator and counsellor. She previously worked for organisations such as King & Wood Mallesons and as a Legal Mediator at CatholicCare. She is also trained in Indian classical dance and has participated in numerous fashion parades and modelled saris. In 2014 she was the only individual shortlisted as a finalist at the Australian Migration and Settlement Awards held at Parliament House in Canberra. In that year she was also nominated for a Woman of the Year Award and recognised as a Local Community Hero for NSW. In 2013 she was the only person of Indian origin appointed as a People of Australia Ambassador and she was nominated for an ANU Excellence in Education Award. In 2012 she was presented an Achievement Award for Community Services by the Global Organisation of People of Indian Origin. -- Audience: Coalition 47%, ALP 38%, Greens 9%, Not Specified 6% Discuss the Questions YOUTH TRAINING Riley Griffen asked: I go to Youth Connections - an alternative Year 11 Trade Start class on the Central Coast. This class is for kids like me who are unable to attend any other school but have to go to school, because we are not yet 17. We are told that in the May budget, the Youth Connections and Partnership Broker schemes will not be refunded and there is NOTHING to take the place of these programs. Kids like me and my mates are not ready for work. We have lots of issues, homelessness, drug and alcohol abuse, some of us can’t read and write, depression, anxiety and we don’t have much money. My question Minister Pyne, is what will you and your government do with kids like me and my mates when the Youth Connections and Partnership Broker programs are gone in January next year? UNIS – US MODEL & AUDIT Tom Harman asked: You have favourably spoken of the deregulation of universities along US-lines in terms of setting the sector free. As a student this proposal worries me. Student debt in the USA totals over $1 Trillion and the President has described this as an “economic crisis”. On top of deregulation, the recent Commission of Audit recommended fee increases and suggested that students should start to repay their debt once they start earning minimum wage. What is your position on this, and wouldn’t you agree that emulating the American model, far from freeing students, would limit access to education for the poor and disadvantaged? QUESTION FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: Mr Pyne, should we be looking to the United States for our education system considering the basket case of a country it seems to be? TOP UNIS & INEQUALITY Ridah Hassan asked: As Education Officer of Sydney University Students’ Representative Council and a member of Socialist Alternative I have noticed that it is already the case that an overwhelming number of students at Sydney Uni and the rest of the Group of Eight – the top 8 universities - come from wealthy private school backgrounds. There’s become a two tier system where the ivy leagues like Yale and Harvard are populated by rich students and everyone else is funnelled into under-resource under-funded junior colleges/community colleges that offer lesser qualifications... how can you defend the deregulation of fees. Education should be for all, not just for the rich. REGIONAL STUDENTS Lachlan Hunter asked via video: Minister Pyne you are trying to deregulate the university and TAFE system. This will mean for students like myself that I will have to pay a higher level of tuition fees. For me coming from a regional town and moving to a city for university it carries a financial burden with the high cost of living. Does this really mean a brighter future for every young Australian? Or do you only allow the rich kids to get a university education? WHAT SCOPE GOVERNMENT? Luke Broadhurst asked: Mr Pyne, considering the cuts being discussed prior to the upcoming budget, the aging population, the debt level and the difficult economic times, do Australian’s need to question what they want governments to provide in the future? Can government really continue to be the provider it has been in the past? FROM THE FLOOR An audience member asked: I have a question about the supposed debt crisis. According to the International Monetary Fund the Government’s net debt per capita is one of the three lowest in the 22 OECD countries. In other words our government’s gross debt as a percentage of our GDP is less than a third of that of the UK, the USA or Japan. So I want to know Minister Pyne, if your government’s talk of a budget crisis is just a way to convince people that there is a crisis that doesn’t really exist so you can redistribute wealth away from the most vulnerable in society and leave them to fend for themselves? SCIENCE RESEARCH Patrick Scott asked: I am an astroparticle physicist working at Imperial College in London. I lead a collaboration of 23 physicists from all over the world, including 6 working here in Australia. The Australian members have been unable to plan their long-term contributions to our collaboration for the last 2 years, due to uncertainty in the research and university funding landscapes in Australia. When will Australian governments, Liberal or Labor, provide budgetary certainty and longevity for scientific research, so that Australian researchers can actually get on with their jobs, and compete effectively with their international peers? FOLLOW UP FROM THE FLOOR Patrick Scott also asked: Its really a question of policy settings, its not even a matter of prioritising, it’s a matter of providing rolling grants instead of a new idea every few years. MADAME SPEAKER John Molloy asked: On Jan 2013, Christopher Pyne, in a speech to the IPA, said "the Speaker should be independent, they should abstain from their respective Party Rooms and when the Speaker is taken from one Party, the Deputy should be taken from the other. A Coalition government will ensure that the office of Speaker is treated with respect, not as a shiny bauble to be used as a bartering tool." The present speaker has been the subject of a no confidence motion. Do you think it's time to adopt the UK model of a truly independent speaker whose seat is uncontested?