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Michelle Bleicher - Australian Democrat candidate

Education policy response to ICTA

I would like to make a very brief and quite personal statement, providing an overview of my own and the Australian Democrat position on education generally. As you would know, at the federal level we sadly lost Aden Ridgeway from the senate, who had taken the most active role on indigenous education. Natasha Stott Despoja continues to promote student issues and Lynn Allison (a former teacher) has taken up the education portfolio.

At this stage our sole MLC Arthur Chesterfield Evans has been most active in health, disability, environmental and transparency issues. As Democrat we will always promote social justice, and be available to take up local concerns.

My own interest in education is very personal, though lay, and long running. I dropped through the public high school net for various reasons and went back to tertiary education later in life. I did not complete school but always had close relationships with teachers and was fortunate enough to be have been very well supported by them as a student. In fact, through life a number of my closest relationships continue to be with teachers - which inevitably gives me sympathy and some intimate acquaintance with various issues faced over the years, from administrative, workload and population changes, to complex behavioural, cultural, parental or technical shifts, to OH&S issues and the impact of continuity in program development.

Having looked at some of your material and also seen parts of the Vinson and other reports, I fully accept the needs, and long-term negative impact of cost cutting in education. In relation to ESL teaching, the consequences of neglect now will most obviously spill over into costs through employment, health, public participation and other areas. Funding for education generally has dropped in relation to our GDP. We need to put it back upfront as a priority. We also need to address equity in our funding models at all levels of government. Better resources and support across program and capital development is imperative, as are transparent, accountable and consultative procedures. The Australian Democrats have long supported properly funded comprehensive public education along with other pre and post primary and secondary measures. We do not support the inevitable social and economic division of our current models and want to see all affirmative and priority schemes secured. Best wishes,

Michelle Bleicher
Australian Democrat candidate for Marrickville





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