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surprisingly enough he does. he is also a vocal critic of the Gonski funding model, which is lucky for the gov as the attempt to step away from the increased funding.

National curriculum review: Who is Kevin Donnelly?

He is a critic of Labor's education reforms, including the Gonski review and was also chief of staff to cabinet minister Kevin Andrews in 2004.

In 2008 he established the Education Standards Institute in Melbourne and is also a senior research fellow at the Australian Catholic University.

Mr Donnelly is a former member of state and national curriculum bodies, including the Year 12 English Panel of Examiners, the Victorian Board of Studies and the federally funded Discovering Democracy program.

On the Education Standard's Institute's website, it says it "favours an education system based on standards, equity, diversity and choice and the values and institutions that promote liberty, democracy, an open and free society and a commitment to Christian beliefs and values".

His views on religion, homosexuality and gender in education have divided opinion and caused widespread criticism over his appointment as co-head of the review into the national school curriculum with Ken Wiltshire.

In an online opinion piece written by Donnelly, he states: "In recent years several education groups have sought to introduce gay, lesbian and transgender studies in the classroom and to convince schoolchildren that such practices, along with being heterosexual, are simply lifestyle choices open to all."

In another article, written for ABC's The Drum, he writes: "Multiculturalism is based on the mistaken belief that all cultures are of equal worth and that it is unfair to discriminate and argue that some practices are wrong."

Mr Donnelly argues that a focus on "political correctness" has seen the current national curriculum attempt to cover too much subject matter without any depth.

"The Americans say that a curriculum like ours is a mile wide and an inch deep. We try and do too much. We should be focussing on the basics, especially in the early years of primary school," he told the ABC last month, following the release of global education rankings by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Dr Donnelly is the author of "Australia's Education Revolution: How Kevin Rudd Won and Lost the Education Wars" (2009), "Why Our Schools are Failing" (2004) and "Dumbing Down" (2007).

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/01/10/national-curriculum-review-who-kevin-donnelly
 
Bit more about Donnelly (and the type of people the libs get to run reviews on policy)

Why no one should bother listening to Kevin Donnelly about education.

This opinion piece by long time Education writer Kevin Donnelly appeared on ABC’s The Drum today.

While I accuse this piece of being riddled with misleading arguments and logical fallacies that highlight Donnelly’s hard-right ideology with no respect for reason or evidence, a more thorough analysis of his piece will have to wait.

What I want to draw attention to is the justification for Donnelly’s piece being published in the first place. Aside from his long-standing career as a conservative education commentator, his pieces on The Drum finish with “Dr Kevin Donnelly is director of Education Standards Institute.”

Director of Education Standards Institute? And he’s a Doctor? Wow. Sounds very prestigious. But when you wander over to the Educational Standards Institute website, there are a couple of things that immediately seem out of place.

Despite being named an ‘Institute’, the website only talks about Kevin Donnelly, and in many places the website is written using the first person pronoun ‘I’, suggesting that the ‘institute’ consists of only Kevin himself.

Then on the ‘about us’ page, you find this line: “ESI is a trading name for Impetus Consultants Pty Ltd, ABN 73 737 609 643. ” So first of all, this ‘Institute’ or self described ‘think tank’ is actually a manifestation of a business, meaning that if there actually is anyone else working with Kevin, or for Kevin, they are actually an employee of Impetus Consultants. Seeing as an ABN is provided, we can easily look up that business for further information. Lets see what the ABN lookup can tell us about this company…

PIC REMOVED

It seems that Impetus Consulting, and therefore Education Standards Institute, are entirely owned by the K Donnelly Family Trust. So what does that make the Education Standards Institute?

It makes it a fraud. An obfuscation. A misdirection. It means that the Education Standards Institute is about as valid as an educational organisation as McDonald’s short-lived effort to get ‘heart tick approved’ meals on their menu was as a health campaign. If you look up Donnelly or Impetus consulting online you will find no shortage of criticisms of his hard-right views on social issues, as well as the large amounts of money he has been paid from the Liberal party and from companies like Phillip Morris, donations which seem to coincide with Donnelly publishing books that argue strongly in favour of Liberal party education policies, and his “I’ve got the power” educational packs that encouraged children to ‘make up their own minds’ on issues like smoking without providing information about the actual dangers of cigarettes. In you haven’t seen the movie ‘Thank you for Smoking’, now would be a good time.

So anyway, it seems that the ‘Education Standards Institute’ is nothing more than a prestigious sounding front, a sham, to attempt to validate the opinions that Donnelly spouts on behalf of clients of his consultation company. You’ll not on the ABN register that his company is not registered for tax-deductible donations, so any income he receives is going to be ‘for services rendered’.

He has deliberately tried to create an image of prestige to try and make the ultra-conservative opinions that he spouts seem like they’re coming from a third party. You’ll also notice that his biography always says that he was a teacher for 18 years, and also says that he is a Dr. but it never says what he is a doctor of. Surely if he held a Ph.D. in a field of research even remotely related to educational policy and school achievement he would be touting it from every conservative media platform that comes his way. While it may be an earned title, it’s use in educational matters is just another distraction used to give his opinions further air of authority. And after some time looking around online, I still don’t know what he has achieved to earn that title.

He has crafted a facade of educational credibility, one which appears to have been heavily criticised since the birth of the trading name that is the Educational Standards Institute, and he would not have seen the need to craft such a facade if his intentions were genuine. His voice is, and has been for some time, just another distraction trying to muddy the waters of important issues with the selfish interests of businesses and conservative political ideologues.

EDIT: It appears that Donnelly did complete a Ph.D in an educational field in 1993, and his thesis was a critique of English teaching in Victorian schools. His thesis can be found here.

http://capitantypo.com/2013/07/25/why-no-one-should-bother-listening-to-kevin-donnelly-about-education/
 
Seems that the high court has struck down the school chaplaincy program again. Stay tuned for further legislative acrobatics.
 
mld said:
Seems that the high court has struck down the school chaplaincy program again. Stay tuned for further legislative acrobatics.

yes. Ron Williams, legend, fighter for democracy. The feds will as you say, get around it somehow, (apparently they can just give the money to the states who then give t to the chaplains), but its still a great moral victory shining a light on the principle of separation of church and state.
 
tigersnake said:
The feds will as you say, get around it somehow, (apparently they can just give the money to the states who then give t to the chaplains).

Yes. It's hardly in the spirit of the law. I hope that some states are principled enough to tell the feds to shove it.
 
tigersnake said:
yes. Ron Williams, legend, fighter for democracy. The feds will as you say, get around it somehow, (apparently they can just give the money to the states who then give t to the chaplains), but its still a great moral victory shining a light on the principle of separation of church and state.

Spot on mate, well said.

Azza said:
Yes. It's hardly in the spirit of the law. I hope that some states are principled enough to tell the feds to shove it.

And again!
 
Brodders17 said:
surprisingly enough he does. he is also a vocal critic of the Gonski funding model, which is lucky for the gov as the attempt to step away from the increased funding.

National curriculum review: Who is Kevin Donnelly?

<snip>

Dr Donnelly is the author of "Australia's Education Revolution: How Kevin Rudd Won and Lost the Education Wars" (2009), "Why Our Schools are Failing" (2004) and "Dumbing Down" (2007).

http://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/2014/01/10/national-curriculum-review-who-kevin-donnelly

Great stuff there Brodders! But on the first line, I don't think there was any 'luck' involved. More likely a carefully selected appointment to propagate the message the Libs wanted put out into the public arena with the appearance of it coming 'from the outside'.

My brother is a 6th dan TKD instructor. Wonder if I can push him over the edge so he goes and belts the bejeebers out of the entire Liberal front bend...? ha ha
 
tigersnake said:
yes. Ron Williams, legend, fighter for democracy. The feds will as you say, get around it somehow, (apparently they can just give the money to the states who then give t to the chaplains), but its still a great moral victory shining a light on the principle of separation of church and state.

yep. what a guy. Its like he heard all my swearing at the radio and ranting to my lefty friends, and took it to court. and won.

Thanks Ron :clap
 
Crazy Clive has done it again! Presser with Al Gore!!! coming up on the Carbon Tax!

I'm guessing they will oppose the repeal of the CT and for Abbott to negotiate with the other independents. If they can't do a deal, Tony really should call a double dissolution of parliament given this was a central plank of their election campaign. Of course Tone will try to jib it.
 
antman said:
... If they can't do a deal, Tony really should call a double dissolution of parliament given this was a central plank of their election campaign...

He's threatened to often enough. Full of hot air. All talk and no action.
 
DD would be a disaster. PM Abbott would win, there is no viable alternative. If he wins his budget is passed in its entirety. No one should be advocating for a DD.
 
KnightersRevenge said:
DD would be a disaster. PM Abbott would win, there is no viable alternative. If he wins his budget is passed in its entirety. No one should be advocating for a DD.

Really? Labor still ahead on two party preferred after Abbott's budget.
 
KnightersRevenge said:
DD would be a disaster. PM Abbott would win, there is no viable alternative. If he wins his budget is passed in its entirety. No one should be advocating for a DD.

Not so sure KR. As Antman said, the polls don't suggest that. If it were true, why haven't the LNP gone down that path already?
 
Azza said:
Not so sure KR. As Antman said, the polls don't suggest that. If it were true, why haven't the LNP gone down that path already?

Polls schmolls. PM Abbott romped in and Shorten is an also-ran. No chance. A generally conservative (prefer status quo rather than of the political variety) electorate will not change government at this stage IMO. Give him a chance to bugger it up further. Push marriage equality line subversively and install Penny Wong as leader in a year or so. Promise to roll back education cuts, kill chaplaincy, roll back hecs increases give Infrastructure Australia the teeth to push public transport solutions for the States. Wipe the floor with them.
 
On local politics I'm pretty disappointed that the changes to the Victorian Building industry has been put off and possibly wont even go through. It would of made enormous changes to the current state of the building code in Vic. Looks like players like the MBAV have more say then the weebies in the current government. Shameful.
 
Tommy H said:
On local politics I'm pretty disappointed that the changes to the Victorian Building industry has been put off and possibly wont even go through. It would of made enormous changes to the current state of the building code in Vic. Looks like players like the MBAV have more say then the weebies in the current government. Shameful.

Can you go into a bit of detail on this Tommy?