News & Views item - January 2007

 

 

Julie to John: What Page of the Code Book are We Using? (January 25, 2007)

 

   

 

Things are looking a bit confused and if the Leader of the federal Labor opposition, Kevin Rudd, thinks he's set the cat among the pigeons he may have a point, but he's got some work to do before he has the public believing it really is an important matter and Australia's researchers and educators believing he's gonna put worthwhile resources where his rhetoric is.

 

Mr Rudd having promulgated his The Australian economy needs an education revolution: New Directions Paper on the critical link between long term prosperity, productivity growth and human capital investment on Tuesday the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Julie Bishop, was out of the nest like an angry hornet.

 

This past Tuesday the ABC broadcast the following exchange:

TONY EASTLEY: Julie Bishop is the Federal Education Minister, who's overseeing education policies around the country, and who's in the firing line of Labor's criticism. She joins us now, and she is speaking to Chris Uhlmann.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Julie Bishop, good morning.

JULIE BISHOP: Good morning, Chris.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Isn't it true that we have underinvested in tertiary education over the last decade?

JULIE BISHOP: By world standards Australia has an excellent education system, and this government's record on investment is strong. Over the past 10 years there's been record investment in schools, and in universities, and in vocational and technical education. Now, Labor's had to resort to misrepresenting figures on government expenditure on education.

In fact the OECD (The Organisation for Economic Co-Operation and Development) report that Labor cites, shows Australia increased expenditure, particularly on higher education by 26 per cent since 1996. So, there's not been a decrease as Labor claims.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Well, the Senator for Independent Studies has been looking at your spending record, and finds that over the last decade that as a average out over population there's been a decline of 26 per cent in higher education spending.

JULIE BISHOP: Well, my figures show that there's been an increase, and we can debate the figures, but Labor is misrepresenting the expenditure that we've made on education. And Labor talks of a slip in productivity, yet Labor is opposed to the very workplace reforms, which will increase Australia's productivity.

Labor opposes the Work Choices legislation that will bring significant market reform to this country. Now, productivity comes through a range of reforms, including workplace reforms, and one of the last bastions of resistance to reform in this country are the all powerful education unions. Labor does not have the courage to take on the education unions to deliver the necessary reforms.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Yes, but if we could stay with spending in education, hasn't most of your investment over the last decade been in mostly in private schools, 38 per cent increase over the decade.

JULIE BISHOP: The increase in expenditure in private schools relates to the increase in enrolments in private schools. The Australian government supplements the funding for non-government…supplements the funding for government schools, so the more state governments spend on public education, the more the Federal Government spends.

And because of the dramatic increase in enrolments in private schools, the funding has increased to private schools, to follow students.

CHRIS UHLMANN: But hasn't the effect of what you've been doing been driving the move away from public schools, if you continue to invest more highly in private education?

JULIE BISHOP: The funding follows the enrolments. So, if parents are making the choice and parents have a democratic right to choose the schooling that they think best suits their child, if parents choose to send their child to a non-government school, then funding will follow the child to a non-government school. But it's only a proportion of the funding that goes to public education in this country.

In fact, 67 per cent of students attend a government school and receive 75 per cent of public funding. Thirty three per cent of students attend a non-government school and receive 25 per cent of public funding.

CHRIS UHLMANN: Alright, Julie Bishop, we'll have to leave it there, thank you.

JULIE BISHOP: Thank you.

TONY EASTLEY: Julie Bishop, the Federal Education Minister, speaking there with our Chief Political Correspondent Chris Uhlmann.

The next day, January 24, The Australian's Dorothy Iling wrote in the Higher Education Section:

[Y]esterday [the president of the Australian Vice-Chancellors' Committee, Gerard Sutton] said vice-chancellors wanted a 15 per cent increase in government funding to lift the quality of graduates... [He] said the extra funding would help improve areas such as student-staff ratios, library resources and investment in laboratory facilities.
    "All of these things coming together are talking about the quality of education that university graduates receive," he said. "We acknowledge that the Government has met unmet demand [for student places] but what they now need to do is improve quality."
    But Ms Bishop said while she would consider the AVCC's budget submission she had not seen any justification so far for the increase. "I've not seen any explanation of how it would be spent; I've not seen any case put forward of where they find a deficit," she said last week. "And given their robust financial position, I'm not convinced that they've made a case that they're destitute. Far from it, they've got $7billion in reserves."
    Professor Sutton said while universities had $7 billion in reserves, they also had total liabilities of $8.5 billion. The reserves Ms Bishop referred to comprised a series of investments, many of them, such as endowments, tied to specific purposes. He said while universities were using about $700 million in interest from those reserves, the total sector surplus was only $800million, making it a close balance.

And today The Australian Financial Review's Sophie Morris with Mark Ludlow report "Universities are expecting a funding boost in the federal budget in May after Prime Minister John Howard conceded they needed more money, flagging a bid to blunt Labor's attack over education spending... Mr Howard conceded on Tuesday night that universities needed extra funding, though he argued that the most important education change would be to improve standards at primary and secondary schools.  'I think we probably do need more investment in universities as well, although the vice-chancellors are saying that the number of places, the HECS [higher education contribution scheme] funded places are now adequate,' Mr Howard said.

 

Apparently the quality of the product may be of some consequence to the Prime Minister, but enthusiasm, well if he doesn't look as though he's interested, it could be a bit of a vote loser.

 

Meanwhile, the Australian Academy of Science has released the following statement:

The education revolution — the devil’s in the detail, Mr Rudd

The commitment by the Federal Opposition to an ‘education revolution’ has been welcomed by Australian Academy of Science President Professor Kurt Lambeck — but he stresses that the vision needs to be underpinned by a structured, detailed and costed plan.

Professor Lambeck said: ‘ I am pleased that education is at the core of Labor’s long-term national integrated policy strategy for the nation, especially as a prime feature of the Academy’s work has been its ceaseless commitment to education across all disciplines and levels, not only science.’

As an example, he cited the overwhelming success of the Academy’s science and literacy educational program, Primary Connections. This national award-winning program has been highly successful in giving primary school teachers the tools to engage their students and harness their natural curiosity for exploring how the world works.

Professor Lambeck said: ‘There is an undeniable link between an educated work force and Australia’s social and environmental health and prosperity. The Academy is delighted, therefore, that Opposition Leader Kevin Rudd has recognised this by calling for a much more significant investment in education.

‘If his words can be translated into action, we will benefit from a nation that has a smarter, more flexible and productive workforce.

‘I look forward to seeing the fine print of Mr Rudd’s education revolution.’