Muslim outrage at citizen test

MUSLIMS are outraged that prospective citizens will have to acknowledge the Judeo-Christian tradition as the basis of Australia's values system. Australia's peak Muslim body said the proposed citizenship question - revealed in the Herald Sun - was disturbing and potentially divisive. Australian Federation of Islamic Councils president Dr Ameer Ali said the "Abrahamic tradition" or "universal values" would be less divisive ways of describing the nation's moral base. Dr Ali said use of the term Judeo-Christian was the result of "WWII guilt", and before 1945 Australia would have been called only Christian. "That question must be rephrased," he said.

Dr Ali was backed by Democrats senator Lyn Allison, who said the answer to the question was highly debatable. But Immigration Minister Kevin Andrews stood firm on the merit of the question. Mr Andrews said Australia's Judeo-Christian heritage was indisputable historical fact. "We are not asking people to subscribe to the Judeo-Christian ethic," he said. "We are simply stating a fact that this is part of the heritage of Australia in terms of its foundation. "This is not an exercise in political correctness. It is trying to state what has been the case and still is the case."

But Health Minister Tony Abbott confused the issue, saying the modern Australian values system was secular, or of no particular religion. The Herald Sun yesterday revealed 20 key questions, developed in consultation with Mr Andrews, that are likely to be asked of would-be citizens. Mr Andrews said the test, to begin by September, would help immigrants integrate into society better. "We celebrate diversity and people are free to continue their own traditions, but we are also very insistent that we have to build and maintain social cohesion," he said.

Dr Ali said he would request a meeting with Mr Andrews to discuss the question. "It is the wrong message we are sending," he said. Senator Allison said the test was pointless. "I don't see what it's going to achieve," she said. "It doesn't say anything about people's character, whether they are going to be good citizens." Opposition immigration spokesman Tony Burke said Labor agreed in principle with the test, but wanted details.

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QLD: A LEGAL SAFEGUARD AGAINST HOSPITAL NEGLIGENCE TO BE REMOVED

As part of the "solution" to public hospital capacity shortfalls

PUBLIC patients whose operations are botched will lose their right to sue the State Government under a plan to reduce hospital elective surgery waiting lists. Thousands of people who will have their operations outsourced to private hospitals will also be unable to access their case notes under the Freedom of Information Act if things go wrong. Under the plan, called Surgery Connect, a broker will be paid a one-off, $8.5 million fee to find private hospitals to treat the state's long-wait public patients.

Many of the operations will be complex, including shoulder surgery, hip and knee-replacements, prostatectomies and treatment of aortic aneurisms (swelling and weakness in the wall of the aorta). But, under the Surgery Connect model, the broker will be liable if an operation goes wrong. The tender closed on May 9.

The Queensland branch of the Australian Medical Association said it did not tender because the cost of insurance was too high. Queensland Health last night rejected claims it had washed its hands of public patients, saying they could sue the broker if problems arose. A department spokeswoman said patient notes would remain the property of private providers, but patients could access records under the Federal Privacy Act. However, legal advice obtained by The Courier-Mail said that, in regard to some matters, it could be harder to obtain information under the Federal Act.

AMAQ spokeswoman president Zelle Hodge said she was unsure who would be willing to take on the inherent risk associated with the model. "I think patients should be extremely worried not only as an individual but the bigger picture is this is just another way to run down the public hospital system," Dr Hodge said.

In a statement, Queensland Health said the rights of public patients would not be eroded: "The broker is required to indemnify Queensland Health and to maintain appropriate levels of insurance in respect of medical negligence claims," the statement said. "The broker is then responsible for ensuring the health providers it engages are appropriately credentialled and insured for such claims. "These measures are designed to provide a safety net for patients who may have suffered adverse consequences of medical treatment they have received from the private provider. "It would be remiss of Queensland Health if it did not ensure that such contractual requirements were imposed on private providers. It is also important to keep in mind that the broker and private providers are providing health services to these patients so it is expected that, legally, they would bear the risk."

The AMAQ last year held talks with the Government about outsourcing some public elective surgery but, under its plan, patients would be treated in public hospitals and, where possible, public doctors would operate in private hospitals. President-elect Dr Ross Cartmill said the arrangement included Queensland Health providing indemnity insurance.

Federal Health Minister Tony Abbott said contracts entered into by the Queensland Government and Queensland Health were issues for those bodies. "The outsourcing of elective surgery is an admission of defeat and an admission by Labor that the private health sector is an essential part of our health system."

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School geography has lost its way, say teachers

GEOGRAPHY is taught in schools as a series of issues pushing a particular opinion rather than giving students a grounding in basic facts about natural processes and human interaction with the environment. The Australian Geography Teachers Association and the Institute of Australian Geographers told a Senate inquiry into the academic standards of school education that geography, under the umbrella of Studies of Society and the Environment, had lost its disciplinary rigour.

AGTA director Grant Kleeman told the hearing in Sydney that students studied global warming but not the atmospheric processes required to understand climate change and its impact. "The traditional discipline encouraged students to look at issues from a variety of perspectives with the expectation students then formulate their own opinions rather than inculcate them with a particular perspective," Mr Kleeman said.

IAG president Jim Walmsley said the teaching of SOSE into schools resulted in geography students being "issue-led rather than being rigorous in their understanding of these issues".

Mr Kleeman said the notion of issue-based learning was introduced in the 1970s and 80s when everything taught in schools had to be immediately relevant to the lives of students. "We're advocating a return to a more systematic study of geography and history, where you look at processes as the entry point of study rather than the issue," he said.

AGTA chairman Nick Hutchinson said the perspectives pushed in school geography included radical green opinions and neo-liberal views school, when it should have a robust core as the base. "In geography, we've taken on board everything from extreme environmental perspectives through to peace perspectives," Mr Hutchinson said. "But all the time we come back to this core of the discipline, so we can deal with an issue like deep ecology, which might be as controversial as black-armband history, but we can do it within the discipline because we have tools of dissection," he said. Deep ecology is a philosophy that says animals and plants have the right to as much ethical consideration as humans. "The automatic reaction of most kids is they want to protect nature, the environment, animals and cuddly things," he said. "The job of the teacher is to show them other sides, to facilitate class discussion so they can work out their values towards issues." Understanding the processes at work in areas such as the Great Barrier Reef or cyclones destroying rainforests showed students that destruction was part of the natural growth cycle, he said.

The AGTA says geography should be compulsory for all students in years 7 to 10 as a stand-alone subject.

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Navy to protect whales: Rudd

Since I share the usual human feelings of affinity for the marine mammals, I applaud this



GUNBOATS will be sent out to protect whales in Southern Ocean sanctuaries under a Kevin Rudd federal government. The navy would be deployed to enforce laws banning whale slaughter in Australian sanctuary areas. It would be the most aggressive attempt to save the sea giants in the 200-year history of whaling in Australian waters. Under a Labor Government, whalers found operating illegally could be intercepted and boarded at sea.

Australia's whale sanctuaries were established in 1999 but since then an estimated 400 of the giant mammals have been processed by Japanese factory ships. There have been no prosecutions. The ocean monitoring would be backed up by legal action. Bids to halt whale catching would be made in the International Court of Justice or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. And direct appeals would be made to the biggest predator Japan, which would be told it was damaging a prime Australian tourism resource.

Labor will release its policy as Japanese whalers prepare to again enter southern waters for so-called "scientific" kills. Its fleet is expected to haul in 850 Antarctic minke whales, 50 fin whales, and, for the first time, 50 humpback whales.

The Labor policy also comes on the eve of the 59th International Whaling Commission meeting in Alaska from May 28 to 31. Australia's anti-whaling measures were strongly sponsored by former Environment Minister Ian Campbell, but his successor Malcolm Turnbull has been tied up with climate change and water policies.

Labor leader Kevin Rudd believes the Government has taken no real action over 11 years to oppose whaling. Since 2005, Mr Rudd and Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese have been pressing the Government to get the International Court of Justice to intervene. Monitoring of whalers in Antarctica has been left to New Zealand and non-government organisations. Mr Rudd would argue it was up to Australia to enforce its own laws, and that the option of boarding whaling ships would be available. And Labor would also expand the network of whale sanctuaries in conjunction with state governments.

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