"I think what he's saying is that Western schools shouldn't try to inculcate Aboriginal culture into students, that that's a role for parents and elders, and I think that's a very sensible suggestion." Federal Minister for Education. Julie Bishop. (May 30, 2006)

    The he is Gary Johns, who has written a 26 page paper, Aboriginal Education: Remote Schools and the Real Economy, commissioned by the Menzies Research Centre, and Dr Johns, a former Keating government minister, said a lot more than that.

Julian Leeser, Executive Director of the Menzies Research Centre, emphasised the following points of Dr Johns paper:

“A western education can provide the vehicle for the economic integration of Aboriginal children, just as it did for their leaders now residing in the cities and towns

Just as an aside, Stanford University for thirty-four years required all first year undergraduates to attend a one-year course in the History of Western Civilization which examined the cultures and beliefs of  the world's civilizations and how they impinged on modern western civilization. It was acclaimed by the 40,000 students and over 220 young scholars who served their apprenticeships as instructors in "Civ."    It was widely praised as Stanford's most valuable introduction to a liberal education.

 around Australia.” Dr Johns argued.
 

Education needs to prepare children for employment in the real economy:

“If Aboriginal education accepts the Indigenous Sector as an avenue of employment it cannot succeed in equipping Aboriginal children for jobs and lives that do not rely on the next government program, or the next payment of royalties from a resource company, or the next favour from family or the local ‘big man’ who controls council funds.” Dr Johns said.
 

Poor performance of children raises attitude and behavior of parents:

“Aboriginal parents are given the opportunity to engage the school in the child’s learning, but failing that, if the parent does not want to be involved, then the child will nevertheless have to be compelled to attend.” Dr Johns acknowledged.

 

Dr Johns also talks about the link between welfare and poor school attendance:

“The major problems in remote Aboriginal communities stem from the passively derived income of the parents and community and elements of their culture which are not conducive to western education.” Dr Johns observed.

 

“The Menzies Research Centre is delighted with this timely contribution by Gary Johns.”

Since when does the teaching of aboriginal cultural matters to indigenous Australians or anyone else, mutually exclude the teaching of "a western education". Dr Johns appears to have made a profound discovery, previously unknown, and to which the incisive mind of the legally trained Minister for Education, Science and Training appears to subscribe.

When taken with the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Mal Brough's simplistic, Ill-informed, Ill-considered and blatantly inadequate approach to quelling criminal activity in indigenous communities, it ought to make us seriously question just what sorts of individuals have we voted into office.