Australian Politics
My daughter’s planning an arts degree. I’m proud (and quietly terrified)
As an Arts graduate myself, I have a degree of sympathy with the lady below but I think she is out of touch with the modern world. Instead of introducing kids to great literature and ideas of the past, a modern Arts degree is more likely to be dominated by "theory" aka Marxism. Arts faculties these days are little more than Madrassas of Leftism. They close minds rather than open them.
I greatly enjoyed the introduction to the humanities that I got from my education but I am not sure where you could get anything comparable these days. Find below what a humanities education can be
https://memoirsjr.blogspot.com/2015/07/some-reflections-about-education.html
With year 12 exams now a sleep-in-filled month ago, my answer to the question of what my daughter’s plans are for next year is always given with a grimace and often followed by discussion about our society’s priorities. You see, my daughter is planning to do an arts degree.
I’m proud of her choice, despite all the jokes about highly qualified telemarketers or the core ability of an arts graduate to add the word “why” into the standard question: “Would you like fries with that?”
That’s because I deeply admire people whose motivation to study is to know more about history, language, culture and society, as well as to expand their critical thinking skills and understand our place in the world.
I’m also terrified she’s going to end up balancing on a see-saw with low career prospects at one end and a high HECS debt on the other. And yet, I read that current arts students are persevering with their course despite the soaring cost of their degree. I confess, I’m sticking my fingers in my ears and singing “la, la, la” when I think about how the 2020 Morrison government’s “job-ready graduates” scheme raised fees for arts courses by 117 per cent. (Yes, it more than doubled the cost.)
To be honest, I’d be quietly thrilled if my daughter was keen on one of the courses that had their fees lowered because they have a more direct link to a career. But the key word in that sentence is “if”.
The parents who are driving teachers out of the classroom
I’ve lived long enough to know that pursuing a course because of parental wishes or societal pressures will likely lead to drop-out or, like several people I know, to a completed degree but not a single day spent working in that field. And, let’s face it, many professions arising from courses for which HECS fees were cut by the Morrison government – to encourage participation – are not exactly inspiring at the moment. Teachers are leaving in droves, vets are experiencing high suicide rates and health workers are often overworked and underappreciated.
I’m heartened to discover that changes to HECS aren’t affecting students’ course choices nearly as much as the policy creators hoped. Research conducted in NSW (which, full disclosure, was led by my nephew Max Yong) showed that only 1.5 per cent of course choosers were influenced by price.
That’s good news because, while announcing free nursing courses makes for a great political soundbite, young people seem clever enough to know it’s a terrible idea to encourage uninterested and unsuitable people into a caring profession.
Frankly, it’s damn rude of a government to devalue those interested in bigger-picture thinking. I’d go as far as suggesting that increasing HECS fees for arts-based subjects is punishment for those not buying into neoliberal views. Especially when a HECS debt of about $45,000 (the rough figure my daughter’s facing, not including the costs of moving from a regional home to a city to study) might stretch out to a life-long burden.
Not only is it backwards logic to charge the highest prices for those courses that are less likely to set you up with a high-paying career (a point made by everyone from my nephew to the Productivity Commission), but surely we want to encourage deep and contextual thinking?
This is especially so in our era of quick-fire social media opinions and increasing mis- and disinformation. At a time when teachers are being told not to bring politics into the classroom, I reckon we need more people who understand the difference between political leanings and the complexities of history. For instance, introducing students to both the reasoning behind the creation of Israel and the impact on Palestine is not politics; it’s education.
If we cease to value thought and scholarship for scholarship’s sake, we might as well all give up and leave our world to AI businesses that are happily ripping off original thought in the name of profit.
We don’t always know what will come from study for study’s sake. When my father pursued a degree, then PhD, in the 1960s, pure maths was seen to have little real-world relevance, yet it is now appreciated for the transferable skills to fields such as computing and economics.
Who knows what jobs will be available by the time my daughter finishes her degree, which may or may not include history, English and Indonesian, subjects her amazing (public school) teachers inspired her to explore. Either way, as someone looking set to achieve a high ATAR, I think she should be celebrated for choosing arts over options that academic kids often feel pushed towards.
The truth is she has no idea what she wants to do when she grows up and, at 18, I reckon that’s OK. In fact, it aligns with the idea of studying humanities which, instead of being about concrete certainty and measurable outcomes, is about asking questions and probing possibilities.
I hope the current government reverses “job-ready graduates” as part of its review of the Australian Universities Accord, which is investigating the quality, accessibility, affordability and sustainability of higher education. Yes, that’s partly on a very selfish level as I don’t want my daughter to be burdened by study-related debt, but also because young people shouldn’t be punished for asking big questions about our world.
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South Australia: Premier attacked for removing the words 'ANZAC Day' from list of annual public holidays
ANZAC day is when Australians remember their many war dead. It is the most solemn day there is in Australia -- embraced by young and old
A former liberal MP has slammed the South Australian government for removing Anzac Day, Christmas and the King's Birthday from the state's annual holiday list.
Nicolle Flint, now a Sky News Political Commentator, called premier Peter Malinauskas' Labor government 'un-Australian' because of the changes made in its Public Holidays Bill 2023.
The new bill replaces the old Holidays Act of 1910 and has controversially removed any reference to Anzac Day, Christmas and the King's Birthday.
Dates for each will instead be marked and the old listing for Anzac Day is now referred to as '25 April' a day 'fixed as a public holiday'.
Ms Flint is fearful that the subtle change will have the same snowball effect as the Gillard government's Sex Discrimination Amendment Act of 2013 which removed the definition of a woman.
'We did not put families through the trauma of losing loved ones, and coping with the life-long injuries of those who returned home, to have the day when we remember them reduced to a mere date on the calendar,' Ms Flint wrote.
'This is the history the South Australian Labor Party is deleting.
'Labor seem determined to erase not only the one day that brings all Australians together to commemorate our brave men and women and their families who fought for our freedom, but also Christmas Day, Australia Day and the King's Birthday.'
Removing references to these three holidays will lead to a cascading effect which 'pretends Western civilisation never existed' according to Ms Flint.
Ten years on from Ms Gillard's Sex Discrimination Amendment Act legal experts have debated the effect the law has had on formerly single-sex spaces.
The state Liberal party voted against the new bill and unsuccessfully tried adding the holiday's names back into the draft bill prior to legislation.
The Gillard government's decision to remove the definition of 'woman' from its legislation has come with several legislative headaches.
Ms Flint pointed towards instances that have stemmed from men who have been able to enter female bathrooms, jails, domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centres.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12808415/Anzac-Day-South-Australia-Nicolle-Flint.html
*************************************Government rejects mandate for households to buy EVs or greener appliances
Households will be spared a national mandate to change their energy appliances or embrace electric vehicles after the federal government dismissed a call from its own climate advisor to set the new targets, amid a Labor debate on the need to cut the cost of living.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen dismissed the proposals from the Climate Change Authority to set the goals for the sale of cleaner cars and impose bans on gas connections to homes, saying the government was focused on “reliable and affordable” power.
The decision came as Labor MPs urged Treasurer Jim Chalmers to deliver new policies to put downward pressure on the cost of living, such as by making federal assistance more widely available to Australians who currently miss out on the help.
The moves are another sign of the pressure within the government for policies that deliver cost relief and avoid placing any new burden on households while Chalmers and other ministers devise new measures for the May budget.
Chalmers made no comment after meeting the Labor caucus members on Thursday, but one of the MPs in the talks, Jerome Laxale, told his constituents that he asked the treasurer to extend the eligibility for federal assistance.
“Many more of you have been telling me that you’re struggling,” said Laxale, the member for Bennelong in Sydney, in a Facebook post to voters. “Our cost-of-living relief to date has been targeted and measured. For those eligible, it has helped and has been welcome.”
“Today, I asked the treasurer to consider widening the eligibility of some of these effective policies through the budget process. As the impacts of interest rates linger, I believe more Australians will require access to targeted, measured and effective cost-of-living relief.”
Existing government assistance measures include the energy bill subsidies unveiled last December and opposed by the Coalition in parliament in a vote on whether to restrict coal and gas exports and increase local energy supply.
While the energy bill subsidies were targeted at people on the Age Pension and federal income support, Laxale’s call suggests these or other policies could be extended to more households.
The Climate Change Authority, an independent agency that provides expert advice to government, called on the Albanese government in its Annual Progress Report to do more to meet its emissions reduction targets.
It issued a total of 42 recommendations to boost climate action, 39 of which the government either agreed with, agreed in principle or merely noted.
Greens leader Adam Bandt backed the authority’s call for bans on petrol cars and gas connections.
“It’s very disappointing that Labor won’t listen to the Climate Change Authority and help homes get off gas and get into electric cars,” Bandt said.
Grattan Institute’s Getting Off Gas report, released in August, found rising gas use risked the nation’s climate goals. The 5 million houses with a gas connection account for about 17 per cent of Australia’s fossil fuel consumption.
Bowen defends ‘incremental’ climate progress but flags tougher curbs
A ban on gas connections will apply to new houses and apartments in Victoria and the ACT from next year. But other states have not indicated any plans to follow suit and the Albanese government said it would work with states to increase uptake of cleaner appliances, including through its $1.7 billion Energy Savings Package.
Bowen also dismissed the authority’s call for a binding target that drives uptake of electric vehicles to 100 per cent of new car sales by 2040.
The European Union, Canada, UK and Japan have pledged for 100 per cent of new passenger car sales to be electric by at least 2035.
Official figures released on Thursday showed Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions rose four million tonnes in the 12 months to June as the economy continued to bounce back from the COVID-19 contraction, hitting a total of 467 million tonnes.
While the rise is at odds with public claims about cutting emissions, the government insists greenhouse emissions are on track to fall 42 per cent below 2005 levels by 2030 – just shy of Labor’s 43 per cent target.
Bowen and Transport Minister Catherine King have pledged to introduce a new electric vehicle policy that encourages carmakers to sell more electric vehicles. Consultation is under way on fuel efficiency standards to limit average emissions, measured in grams of CO2 per kilometre, produced by the overall fleet of vehicles sold into the market by a manufacturer, to encourage them to sell more EVs.
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Councils fear roadworks cost increase as gravel pit permits change under Native Title Act
Western Queensland councils are scrambling to access gravel for roadworks after the state government changed its interpretation of the Native Title Act, a move which could cost ratepayers "millions".
Quilpie Shire Mayor Stuart Mackenzie called it a "governmental, legal conundrum" that could lead to a huge increase in the cost of roadworks.
"If you can't get gravel, you can't maintain your roads – it's as simple as that," he said.
The material from the quarries is used to patch up flood-damaged roads and reseal airstrips, vital to connecting isolated outback communities.
The state government, which manages the hundreds of quarries scattered across the outback, recently changed its interpretation of the federal Native Title Act 1993.
It means councils must form Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUA) with the native title holders for each individual gravel pit.
That process can take more than 12 months, but many western and north-western councils have been notified that their current permits will expire within weeks.
According to the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF), the change was made in 2020 when native title interests conflicted with the Forestry Act 1959.
"As a result, the basis on which some sales permits were issued for state-owned quarry materials was examined and DAF decided to resolve these matters by agreement specifically by Indigenous Land Use Agreements (ILUA)," a department spokesperson said.
Quarry quarrels
Barcoo Shire Council was the first council in Queensland to have its gravel pit licences revoked.
Only 14 of its 88 gravel pits were renewed in September.
The council's chief executive, Mike Lollback, said the cost of roadworks would rise by 50 to 100 per cent due to the increased distance and labour required to access the available pits.
"Gravel is the lifeblood of a lot of the work that's conducted by local governments in western Queensland," he said.
"We have to get our gravel somewhere to keep our road programs and our road repairs current."
Barcoo Shire has since managed to reopen another 26 pits after forming agreements with local Aboriginal groups.
With Barcoo Shire ringing the alarm bell, other councils in western Queensland are preparing for how the quarry closures will impact their patch.
An analysis of a nearby council to the north-west, Boulia Shire, conducted by the Remote Area Planning and Development Board (RAPAD), found it would have to pay over $5 million more a year for gravel.
The shire is one of the most remote in Queensland and is facing the closure of 96 out of its 100 gravel pits.
The RAPAD report stated the rise in cost would lead to delays in road repairs, increased freight costs, and damage to existing roads as the gravel would need to be carted in from hundreds of kilometres away.
Boulia Shire Council was approached for comment.
Unclaimed and unresolved
An issue the councils raise is that much of the country where gravel pits lie are areas where no native title claimant has been established.
According to the National Native Title Tribunal, only a third of land in Queensland has a native title holder.
Quilpie Mayor Stuart Mackenzie said it was causing a "major headache" for councils trying to broker agreements.
He said 12 of the 110 gravel pits the council accessed were on land where there was no native title holder.
"So we've got an area there that has no native title claimant, which is actually the worst scenario," he said.
"If we can't access the pits that we would normally access, it makes the job really expensive and hard to tender on as well."
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Also see my other blogs. Main ones below:
http://dissectleft.blogspot.com (DISSECTING LEFTISM -- daily)
http://antigreen.blogspot.com (GREENIE WATCH)
http://pcwatch.blogspot.com (POLITICAL CORRECTNESS WATCH)
http://edwatch.blogspot.com (EDUCATION WATCH)
http://snorphty.blogspot.com/ (TONGUE-TIED)
http://jonjayray.com/blogall.html More blogs
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Evelyn Rae, a conservative Australian political commentator
Margo Robbie -- a beautiful australian
My son Joe at ANU
One of the happiest pictures ever -- Cleo Smith, aged 4
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