Malcolm Turnbull has this morning handed Bill Shorten a ridiculously easy election campaign win. What was he thinking when he told ABC radio that his government wanted to stop funding public (but not private) schools? Was it a slip-up? A thought bubble? Or does he genuinely think it’s a good idea?
Because he just made the Coalition’s re-election push just that little bit harder.
Turnbull’s reasoning for continuing to fund private schools, but handing back responsibility for the funding of public education to the states, goes like this:
“I suspect no federal government would retreat from funding and continuing to support the non-government school sector because there would be a concern that they would not get a fair go from state governments who obviously would have a competing interest with their schools.”
The taxpayer-subsidised private school sector doesn’t get a fair go? Now that’s a hard sell.
Labor will have a field day with this proposal — the Liberal PM from Point Piper, whose party is funded and supported by some of Australia’s richest individuals, wants to withdraw funding from the system that educates some its poorest.
Even Bill Shorten can win votes on that.
And to think think that a year ago so many were saying what a pity it was that Turnbull had not taken up the challenge against Abbott in February. Malcolm would save everything seemed to be the cry.
Now we have had 28 weeks of Malcolm as PM and he is no better. Fewer flags and (too) many more-than-three-word statements. But a leader with ideas that the electorate would think about? Indeed not.
Why is the education debate so circumscribed? The Scandinavian countries have among the highest educational standards in the world and they have no private schools. Why can we not have an intelligent debate about that? Or are we so beholden to the special interests that that too is off the table.
[“Here’s your income tax cuts – to vote for me, Santabull. Pay your state government!”?]
‘Decreased income taxes, from the great unwashed, to the Commonwealth (off-loading the cost of public education to the states) – part of which goes to the continued subsidising of the costs of private education : while state income taxes will pay all public education costs’?
[Wouldn’t you love to see just what goes on in Malware World?]
And here was me thinking that Turnbull’s idea was to allow State governments to levy income tax directly. How did I miss this is merely a smoke screen to gouge funding from schools.
Only be reading Crikey.
Hilariously, one of the best performing schools in Malcolm’s electorate is the local public school, Rose Bay Secondary.
Of course it is arguable about what makes for the ‘best school’, but given they take in half locals/ half selective, include special needs kids in the school community, beat the local and very wealthy private schools in music, debating etc and have very high academic standards, it’s easy to make the claim that dollar for dollar they are far better performers.
But I think the local private schools are way better in rugby.
But value and performance are only for the public dollar.
The more Malcolm opens his mouth, the more he removes any doubt.