Never knew they existed.
They look like a very interesting idea with existing infrastructure.
Perhaps such "every issue" engagement and the complexity of bills and supporting information would exhaust informed participation.
But even if it degenerated a bit into "Not enough time, so i will just follow X's advice", it could still make politicians far more responsive to the direct and immediate will of the people.
I believe that it is impossible legally to bind any politician's vote on any issue, so a rogue politician who refused to follow a democratic decision would survive until the next election - just as they do now.
Showing posts with label australian politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label australian politics. Show all posts
Trigger Point
http://www.immi.gov.au/About/Documents/detention/immigration-detention-statistics-dec2014.pdf
In Defence of Freedom of Speech (Chris Berg)
The two examples of the title receive no great emphasis in the text, but serve merely to bookend the millennia in which this debate has surged back and forth. The selection of milestone examples is excellent both in terms of their illumination of key differences in underpinning philosophies and their resemblance to aspects of the current debates.
Philosophy is revealed more as an endlessly repeating conversation than a developing argument. Participants in these conversations (including oneself) are often revealed as woefully ignorant of the precedents and historical background of their views – and the opposing arguments.
I very much doubt that proponents of laws based on the United Nations Human Rights documents are aware that the speech restrictions written so broadly within them were included at the request of totalitarian regimes.
The book primary focus is to illuminate the historical sequence of ideas and political developments that echo today in the new international onslaught on freedom of speech. The arguments, even those openly supported by Berg, are put very briefly. For instance, Berg only allocates a few sentences to assert that freedom of speech should be considered a right because this is the current majority view. Those arguing for limits more commonly omit mention of this "right" and argue limitations based on the harm principle.
Contrary to Berg, I continue to agree with Bentham, that all human rights are philosophical “nonsense upon stilts” and with Mill, that all rights must have utility.
Extreme tolerance (not approval) of diverse viewpoints in a society is both an index as well as a mechanism for cultural health and robustness.
There is a natural accretion of power to any organization that grows in size. All power affects the balances between opposing interests, so a growth or creation of any power source (social or technological) affects individual power - most commonly to diminish it. The fastest growing powers in the world are no longer the much maligned multi-nationals, but governments. Governments have a natural tendency to govern rather than serve their people.
Limiting government power is the main strategy in defence of freedom.
Language is a key battleground in governing the way the people think about their freedom. Freedom of speech therefore, becomes a key underpinning of all other freedoms. Philosophers, such as Milton and Mill, as well as writers, such as Orwell, Bradbury, all knew this.
The fight for the use of the term “chairperson” over "chairman" was primarily conducted through persuasion and was one small political step in realigning our thinking about the role of women. The use of the term “asylum seeker” instead of “illegal immigrant” is also one of many small political steps seeking to realign our thinking. The difference is that it is the government that is effectively making the term illegal in the Australian public debate.
Limiting government power to control speech is the main strategy in defence of freedom of speech.
We have lurched a long way into a world where many people define freedom as merely the right to do what the government says is legal. Many people are frankly surprised that anyone should argue for a limit to government - as long as it is making more and more laws that they agree with.
Berg’s book is a timely reminder of how long it has taken for freedom of speech to gain even partial acceptance, and how quickly it can be lost.
Green subsidies: Big brother buying products for us.
In the mailbox (and in regular unsolicited phone calls) comes an offer too good to refuse !!!
Up to $400 dollars worth free - no strings attached.... (reading the detail reveals you can get up to 4 devices at the one visit, if the government deems you worthy).
Well, it has actually already come out of your pocket if you are one of the diminishing number of tax payers, or even if you pay your own electricity bills - because part of the the cost has already been added to that bill ! So .... why not get some of yours back !
If you are one of the increasing net receivers of the nanny state, why not indeed.
Either way, if you don't like it and chuck it in the cupboard or in the bin after a while, what's to lose?
Sounds like a good idea. Gee, if my power bills went up, I might even buy one out of my own money. Luckily, the government is already compensating me for most power increases so that lowers may motivation to use my own money.
Links to lossy expensive government propaganda websites as usual that give you no real facts.
(2) http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1802229
(3) http://www.switchon.vic.gov.au/why-are-power-bills-so-high/what-makes-up-my-power-bill-costs - no explanation or link to support the "fact", just the title "Baseline Energy Estimates 2008, DEWHA" which google does not know about. Even "DEWHA" seems to have morphed into DSEWPaC (perhaps not enough letters in last acronym ?)
Up to $400 dollars worth free - no strings attached.... (reading the detail reveals you can get up to 4 devices at the one visit, if the government deems you worthy).
Free ???
Well, it has actually already come out of your pocket if you are one of the diminishing number of tax payers, or even if you pay your own electricity bills - because part of the the cost has already been added to that bill ! So .... why not get some of yours back !
If you are one of the increasing net receivers of the nanny state, why not indeed.
Either way, if you don't like it and chuck it in the cupboard or in the bin after a while, what's to lose?
Sounds like a good idea. Gee, if my power bills went up, I might even buy one out of my own money. Luckily, the government is already compensating me for most power increases so that lowers may motivation to use my own money.
What's in the fine print ?
Limited to Melbourne ? Perhaps just one more left over stupidity from the previous Labor government that the Liberals find it too hard to cancel (is everything too hard for them ?).Links to lossy expensive government propaganda websites as usual that give you no real facts.
What's the product like ?
Reviews in newspapers (1) and online sites (2) show that the product has merit but many faults in conception, design and implementation.Pros
- Green Education: Increases the "awareness" of the 3% (3) of energy wastage by standby devices in homes.
- Understanding the benevolence of government: Increases the awareness that all social improvement occurs through government regulation or government support.
- Helps a nice Australian company that makes a nice product that looks green.
Cons
- Green propaganda: Our governments increasingly feel that it is their right and duty to re-educate us - dmittedly, in a less aggressive way than the Chinese. Nevertheless, this leads to dangerous presumptions:
- the people are ignorant, so we cannot base policy decisions on their "populist" wishes.
- the people require constant education to frighten them away from dangerous products and behaviours.
- the people need constant education about the role of government so that the come to see it as the solution to all problems. - Pro-government propaganda: Supports the growing belief system that all social improvement occurs through government regulation or government handout. How could this nice Australian company survive without government handout ? How can any problem get fixed without government action ? This mindset is even more dangerous to democracy:
- the people become more and more passively accepting of more and more regulation which (even though written in seasonably balanced language) is enforced selectively against the selected opponents of the current politicians and their lobby groups. "Dirty polluters" get the fine tooth comb. Nice greenies get the golden handshake even if the benefits of buying their products are significantly overblown (1) - Picking winners means we all lose: Government involvement in subsidizing products means that the company focus is redirected from pleasing the consumer to pleasing the government.
What is the incentive for a competitor ? Can't beat a price of $0 ! Little advantage to provide a slightly better prouct unless it is also funded by the government.
What is the incentive for Emerlec ? No price competition. No incentive to improve their product.
As so many people in business understand, the best way to make the most money is to deal with government rather than with markets. - The environmental benefits are exaggerated at best (1), and possibly non-existent. (did the government explore the total cost of manufacture ? materials used ? place of manufacture).
Even if the Emberlec is chucked in the bin on day 2, the government will still chalk it up as a program success and energy saved.
So many "green" schemes run on wildly exaggerated estimates of their reduction in carbon-dioxide emission with little of no end user checking.
I know it i counter intuitive to pass over a freebie, but please do here. By doing so, you may be slightly reducing the wind in the sails of these poison baits.
(2) http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1802229
(3) http://www.switchon.vic.gov.au/why-are-power-bills-so-high/what-makes-up-my-power-bill-costs - no explanation or link to support the "fact", just the title "Baseline Energy Estimates 2008, DEWHA" which google does not know about. Even "DEWHA" seems to have morphed into DSEWPaC (perhaps not enough letters in last acronym ?)
Parallelogram: A Free Communications Network
JuLiar Gillard announced yesterday that the fully owned government telecommunications corporation, TellOz, had completed its survey of essential national communications needs, and was withdrawing from a number of areas where a genuine competitive market operated.
At the end of the 20th century, the Australian government had defied the international trend of selling off essential services. The now discredited corporate culture that was encouraging this trend was later revealed to value nothing beyond executive bonuses.
Instead, the Australian government maintained an investment in a nationally owned core communications infrastructure which now provides a level playing field for a huge range of public and commercial information and communication services.
The government resisted the monopolistic temptation to restrict other companies use of the previous private investments in older technologies. It continualy reviewed the "core" so that it did not take over thewhole "apple" of communications. JuLiar stated "This government will never be in the business of restricting creative use of any communication technologies. In fact, governments should not be 'in business' at all. We seek only to ensure a baseline of high quality infrastructure is available for all Australians in a very restricted set of essential services. Whenever, a free market shows itself capable of meeting these needs. Government should withdraw."
You wish......
At the end of the 20th century, the Australian government had defied the international trend of selling off essential services. The now discredited corporate culture that was encouraging this trend was later revealed to value nothing beyond executive bonuses.
Instead, the Australian government maintained an investment in a nationally owned core communications infrastructure which now provides a level playing field for a huge range of public and commercial information and communication services.
The government resisted the monopolistic temptation to restrict other companies use of the previous private investments in older technologies. It continualy reviewed the "core" so that it did not take over thewhole "apple" of communications. JuLiar stated "This government will never be in the business of restricting creative use of any communication technologies. In fact, governments should not be 'in business' at all. We seek only to ensure a baseline of high quality infrastructure is available for all Australians in a very restricted set of essential services. Whenever, a free market shows itself capable of meeting these needs. Government should withdraw."
You wish......
Uluru sensitivies virtual
To respond to the sensitivities of the aboriginal population at Uluru, let’s seek ways to reduce the demand for the “climb the rock” experience.
Google Earth has significantly enhanced the quality of it’s 3D imagery of the rock over the last year or so. Panadia provides a fragmented virtual tour around the base, but omites the crucial climb. Why not use some of the funds already collected from tourists to further improve a virtual experience of the rock as an alternative ?
A library of high quality 3D panoramas linked together could allow tourists to explore the rock “virtually” at their own pace and by any path. Depending on how generous the custodians feel, such an experience could be shared with the world over the internet, or restricted to a theatre at the rock itself.
Let’s not make restrictive laws the first response to every issue.
Stephen Digby
Google Earth has significantly enhanced the quality of it’s 3D imagery of the rock over the last year or so. Panadia provides a fragmented virtual tour around the base, but omites the crucial climb. Why not use some of the funds already collected from tourists to further improve a virtual experience of the rock as an alternative ?
A library of high quality 3D panoramas linked together could allow tourists to explore the rock “virtually” at their own pace and by any path. Depending on how generous the custodians feel, such an experience could be shared with the world over the internet, or restricted to a theatre at the rock itself.
Let’s not make restrictive laws the first response to every issue.
Stephen Digby
Q: Insulated safely ? Ans: Only insulated from the truth.
The free insulation debacle continues for so many with no end in sight.....I accepted the freebie like so many thousands with the view that the government was splashing about my money so freely that I would be fool not to accept a bit of it back.
I foolishly assumed that “Insulation Victoria” was working under the supervision of the government, I was at work the day they installed, and my wife did not feel competent to climb a the ladder and judge their work.
I did not get around to looking in the roof until I got cold enough to want the gas central heating. I noticed the loose insulation had been sprayed all over the ceiling gas heating unit, which gets very hot, and wondered if I was looking at the next house fire to hit the news.
Phone calls to the company merely revealed that the lines were dead and that they had decided to close the business down. Phone calls to the government hotline allowed me to register 3 or 4 times for an inspection over the last 5 weeks.
The first time I rang, an inspection was going to be arranged within days. On second and subsequent calls this timeline was now “indefinite”. As the weather is getting colder and, knowing that squeaky wheels get more oil, I ring every week or so.
Last week, I got sick of waiting and merely asked for the name of an insulation installer that I could pay for myself. The poor girl on the phone had been given the bare minimum of information (probably a deliberate ploy so that the caller would be sorry for her and accept the stonewalling).
At the end of the call, I expressed my sympathy that the poor girl had to work for such a shonky operator and asked her to confirm that:
- There is no indication of how long I will need to wait for inspection i.e. how many people require more urgent inspections ahead of me and how many are being done each week.
- There is no list of deregistered insulation installers available
- There is no list of registered insulation installers available.
- There is no list of insulation installers with complaints registered against them.
- I am advised to make my own private investigations before trusting a registered installer as they may have complaints against them.
Stephen Digby
Melbourne club Athenaeum in turmoil over women ban
Can we please have some context for this story ?Good reporters would explain:
- How widespread and prestigious are single sex clubs in capital cities.
- How many are restricted to men only ? women only ?
- Do they have or need specific exemptions from Equal Opportunity Laws ?
- Does the published charter of this club state that it was "founded to provide a venue for Melbourne's civic, business, academic and political leaders" ?
- Was the decision to not consider admission of women made through normal and correct club procedures ?
Stephen Digby
Rigor may not be mortis in Labor education plans
Many of the educational change promoters that occupy positions of influence and power in state education systems may be a little worried about Kevin's focus on rigor and standards. They will be hoping that this emphasis will be limited to the election campaign. For a long time, in these cosy "progressive" cliques, "change" has been synonymous with "improvement". A whole set of "old fashioned" terms have been exchanged: "character" by "self-esteem", "fail" by "not yet at expected standard", "discipline" by "restorative justice", "rigor" by "personal best". Others have been redefined, such as the attempt by Victorian Labor to redefine the common language descriptors A, B C etc after failing to eliminate their use in schools with their previous assessment scheme. For progressives, "rigor" should only be used with "mortis' and its definition of "precise and exacting standards" and "unrelenting strictness or toughness" are anathema. Government curricula encourages the trading of rigor wherever possible for “engagement” - the powerful government subtext encouraging the fun curriculum that chases down the slippery slope trying to ape the child’s preferred recreations regardless of how intellectually barren they may be. I hope that Rudd’s rigor signals the end of the state labor belief that fun on the internet can replace hard work. We might then have a chance that our own children will filling some hard jobs rather than importing workers – from the real world.Stephen Digby
730 Report on Costello Dinner
The details of the dinner were "reluctantly" agreed to be off the record by the reporters and treated as such for a considerable time.
The breach of this agreement by one of the journalists prior to an election could be reasonable construed as a self serving ("I need a headline story, so stuff the treasurer and the other journailsts").
The decision to join the pack by the 730 report could be reasonable construed as a mix of motives:
I want to pay taxes for an objective review of the issues NOT a counter attack on some perceived hegemony.
Stephen Digby
The breach of this agreement by one of the journalists prior to an election could be reasonable construed as a self serving ("I need a headline story, so stuff the treasurer and the other journailsts").
The decision to join the pack by the 730 report could be reasonable construed as a mix of motives:
- don't want to miss out on the story regardless of ethics;
- don't want a politician to get away with denying a remark agreed to be "off the record" (short sighted if journalists want off the record remarks to continue to flow !);
- implying bias in that the politician and the topic are ones that are grossly over represented and over-emphasised in ABC publications
I want to pay taxes for an objective review of the issues NOT a counter attack on some perceived hegemony.
Stephen Digby
Swinging Rudder ?
As a swinging voter who has not voted Labour for a few elections, I am impressed by Rudds performance so far.
A few key issues will make the difference for me:
- Industrial relations (the climate of intimidation in the workplace has grown far faster than the letter of the law and is felt everyday)
- Nuclear power (I have no problem with nuclear power generation. It is the inseparable risks of waste and terror that make this tantalising industry so undesirable for our future)
- Education (as a teacher, I have voted against labor sometimes due to its slavish support for the "progressive" educational vision of teacher unions - of which I am a local branch president !! To save public education, we need real power for parents in determining most aspects of their local school policy and organisation. It is parents who are "voting with their feet". It is the perception and the reality, that the school is not organised in he best interests of their children that has o be changed.)
Stephen Digby
A few key issues will make the difference for me:
- Industrial relations (the climate of intimidation in the workplace has grown far faster than the letter of the law and is felt everyday)
- Nuclear power (I have no problem with nuclear power generation. It is the inseparable risks of waste and terror that make this tantalising industry so undesirable for our future)
- Education (as a teacher, I have voted against labor sometimes due to its slavish support for the "progressive" educational vision of teacher unions - of which I am a local branch president !! To save public education, we need real power for parents in determining most aspects of their local school policy and organisation. It is parents who are "voting with their feet". It is the perception and the reality, that the school is not organised in he best interests of their children that has o be changed.)
Stephen Digby
Jesus loves child molesters
The display of simple-minded and divisive posters saying “Jesus Loves Osama” outside the Glen Iris Uniting Church in Melbourne has caused some passerby to take direct action and remove them.Rev Peter Whitaker is shown on the front page of the Progress Leader with his “script”. Thinking for himself ? I don’t think so. The script sheet he was presumably sent by the “Outreach” group shows some more lame attempts to get publicity for a church with rapidly diminishing relevance in the community.
Instead of using a real pariah, the church decides to use name that IS loved by some Muslim extremists in our community. The poster then encourages the community to believe the The Uniting Church sympathises with this extreme view. The choice of Osama is also likely to mislead because of the Church’s widely known opposition to the war in Iraq. Saying “Jesus loves Osama” in the context of this policy also invites belief that the church is on the side of the Terrorists.
A sincere sign of compassion would have been to extend jesus’ love to one of the very few truly universal pariahs. Let’s see if the church has th guts to replace the poster with the much clearer message: “Jesus loves Child Molesters”.
Stephen Digby
http://www.progressleader.com.au/article/2007/02/13/10336_ppv_news.html
Growth addiction trumps democracy
The Beattie government of the state of Queensland in Australia wasted no time in showing its contempt for democracy after the defeat of the proposal to feed Toowoomba residents recycled sewerage water.
In response to the local community rejection, the government immediately announced that it would arange a new poll involving a larger area to overrule the community vote.
This approach is symptomatic of the widespread trend to consider that the people are merely cyphers for the plans of their elected leaders. If the community rejects one of our propsals, we will use their money and resources to bring it up again and again until the opposition is exhausted.
Usually there is a decent interval to give the appearance that the proposal need to be revisited due to changed circumstances since the last vote. In this case, there is no such pretence. There is perceptible anger that the people dared to reject the well thought out plans for their future made by their betters.
This behaviour is repeated countless times in countless countries, states and municipalities around the world. As democracy is considered to be a poor guide to the solution of complex problems, managerialism becomes paramount. Managers will do anything to keep the business on course for growth. Democratic leaders would consider that their role is to give power to the voice of the people - not thwart it.
In your local area - in your state - in our country, are you governemed by "elected representatives" with your interests at heart or "managers" who decide what is best for you ?
Indigenous rights in Melbourne Parks
Re the aborigines in particular: I think any sort of political action these days is pretty good, even if it does end in tears
Ummmmm.... What about camping in St Kilda Rd... that would bring traffic to a stand still !! What about a bombing ?? That would be good.... NOT !
If we want to keep out of the extremes of politically motivated violence we see embedded in other societies around the world, we need people to assess the social acceptability of their protest methods, whether they are peaceful or not !
Get people too excited and they will react with violence to even peaceful protests.
imagine the potentially violent reaction against someone peacefully arguing that AIDS is a good way of getting people to self reflect on their sexual morality .... or that Bird Flu is a just Gaia trying to fight the plague of humans on its surface... etc etc
Don't lawyers cite the act of yelling "fire" in a crowd as a limit to free speech.... etc etc
I would love them to have a bit of parkland, maybe in front of the casino or one of those Major Events sites, except it wouldn't be so nice for them.
Don't they have plenty of parkland elsewhere ?? I can't even light a fire when I camp in the bush let alone in an urban park ! Can we start treating aborigines as equal citizens some time this century ? - rather than perpetual victims of a past few of them even know.
Sad when what looks like a group of losers play on the collective guilt of the privileged bleeding hearts.
Perhaps their "spin advisers" believe that all publicity is good publicity. I think that the whole circus is very counterproductive in terms of dissipating sympathy with the "general public".
The longer it stays and attracts a more diverse group of hangers on, the more likely it is that "incidents" will occur that bring even more public disapproval.
Conservation & Conservatism
Both conservationists and conservatives have a problem in defining what they wish to conserve and what change, if any, they can support. Extreme conservatives act as if they believe that any cultural, social, political or economic traits that existed at some point in the past should be retained or reinstated. The historical point taken for reference is usually in the lifetime of the conservative of his/ her parents. The priorities are also wildly variable .... family structure, racial composition, social service levels, dress, speech, etc. Conservationism is a subgroup of conservatism that focuses on ecology. It is historically separate Extremist conservationists act as if they believe that any ecological systems that were in existence before the great expansion of influence of the west in modern times e.g. from about the 1500's should be protected against further change or even restored. More moderate conservationists believe that we should strive at any time to maintain remaining enclaves and restrict as much as possible further degradation. The priorities that are applied to various issue vary wildly depending on what group is speaking... global warming, overpopulation, deforestation, pollution, extinction etc. My brand of conservatism includes elements of both the above. I would ask therefore, what type and most importantly what speed of "development" can the farmers in developing nations undergo before they find that: a.. they are no longer farmers (e.g. they are workers for an international agribusiness.) b.. their community relationships are disrupted (e.g. inefficient "enclaves" of "traditional" family or village farms hold back "development") c.. their life choices are greater but do not include many of the social relationships by which they used to define themselves. (e.g. better to offer more "life choices" by aggregating the population into larger towns. No more villages - or just the geriatrics left.) d.. their lifespan is increased but they are less content, less fulfilled and less responsible (e.g. disparity of income without cultural explanation leads to increased discontent regardless of absolute level of comfort - witness the increasing dissatisfaction and irresponsibility in Aust despite the poor being extremely comfortable in international terms). What is the purpose of human life ? What do humans want ? Even the simplest interventions can produce as much harm as good. Take health (and the related outcome that you mention - increased lifespan) I do accept that change should usually be accepted where it produces a gradual improvement in health standards. But look at how many countries have had great improvements in reduction in child mortality over the last century only to have huge consequential problems in population growth, poverty, environmental degradation and political instability. If we look at the "globe" as a collection of "suburbs", then the most important planetary goal should be zero population growth in those suburbs where humans are breeding like rabbits. The secondary goal would be to rid the world of the addiction to growth as a good in its own right. It is THIS addiction that makes economics the dismal lens that through which all development and conservation must be viewed. I do consider myself a global citizen - but only after I consider my family, local community, and nation. After these have been considered, I support equally the conservation of the rice farmers in Japan, and the improvement in health of the Thais. In Australia, I want to conserve remaining elements of the "social fabric" that I believe existed in the 1950-1980's in Australia. But "fabrics" are unchanging after manufacture. Straitjackets are made from fabric. I better analogy would be to conserve the social ecology because ecologies are not static. They are defined by relationships between different living creatures and by relationships between living creatures and the physical environment. An ecology can accommodate change and still be the same ecology. The key attribute is the rate of change. There are some rates of change that alter the ecology to the extent that most observers would agree that it is not the same ecology. Some extreme "development" proponents would argue that rabbits (and cane toads for that matter) don't destroy the ecology - they just change it. I think they are disingenuous. Unfortunately, it seems that many people (particularly those of the "left") argue that change in Australia will just change our culture - not damage it. I think that they are naive at best (e.g. Natasha the Democrat and Bob the Greenie), and liars at worst (e.g. Latham the sycophant). I think that that, in general, the French government has got its priorities right ............ for the French. And isn't that what a government should do ?
ALP Policy Announcement: Wealthy Private Hospitals and clinics to face the scalpel
In response to Labors Education Policy announcement that money would be moved from wealthy non-jewish and non-catholic private schools to catholic schools.
In perfect consistency with the recently released education policy which takes public money away from the best resourced schools in Australia, the ALP has announced that all private hospitals and clinics that charge excessively, i.e. above the Medicare rebate, will lose government funding.
Mr. Latham explained today how this will allow money to be shifted back into the public health system in support of public hospitals and bulk billing clinics across the country. Indeed, he promised an immediate increase in the fee support set by Medicare to encourage what he hopes will be a huge increase in the level of bulk billing. "Why should some wealthy Australians be assisted by government dollars to enjoy medical care in five star hotel conditions when we are struggling to fund medical services for all those who need it." Mr Latham asked. A Private hospital spokesperson warned that there would definitely be a large increase in private health insurance rates to cover the lost government support. He also predicted that there could be increased strain on public health clinics and hospitals due to the increased number of people who would use them now that private health services were so much more expensive. There is great expectancy now over the imminent release of the public transport policy tipped to penalise any state government support for private transport operators and move the full costs of road maintenance to private car owners.Redfern Riots: Pillocks Pillage Police
In response to Redfern Riot Reporting
Although extreme this view does touch on the fact that the police were obviously under rules of engagement that actually exacerbated the situation. Children (and their inciters) presented with targets and no respone to their actions experienced an increasing "high" at their "power" (as reported by the girls interviewed). The police should have brought in some armoured vans and removed a number of "front line" offenders. The rest would have quickly been intimidated. Although attempting to deflect criticism of bias by at least interrogating police, the show was absurdly biased against the police (as usual for the ABC unfortunately). The interviews with aboriginals were sympathetic, credulous, extensive and involved many people with little credible information other than their own extreme predjudices (in particular the unfortunate girl who had a great night !). The interviews with police were adversarial and unsympathetic. The facts are that one youth with extensive history died an accidental death due to his fear of apprehension for his latest crimes. Even IF the police were pursuing him, they would not be to blame for his death. Unfortunately, there is a dynamic that all reporters seem to be addicted to: organisations are always wrong because they should be perfect in future and hindsight regardless of the extreme situations that their represetatives are in. Individuals (other than members or owners or organisations) on the other hand are always victims regardless of their extreme and irresponsible actions. Why ? Because it "runs" better with the "culture of complaint" that the press submits to and thus nurtures. The most extreme eaxample sof this culture of course were portrayed in your show. People, whose primary failure is their inability to maintain any coherent culture that could protect them from the predatory elements in any society. Yes, Aust history had a role in this a hundred years ago, but today.... ????
Although extreme this view does touch on the fact that the police were obviously under rules of engagement that actually exacerbated the situation. Children (and their inciters) presented with targets and no respone to their actions experienced an increasing "high" at their "power" (as reported by the girls interviewed). The police should have brought in some armoured vans and removed a number of "front line" offenders. The rest would have quickly been intimidated. Although attempting to deflect criticism of bias by at least interrogating police, the show was absurdly biased against the police (as usual for the ABC unfortunately). The interviews with aboriginals were sympathetic, credulous, extensive and involved many people with little credible information other than their own extreme predjudices (in particular the unfortunate girl who had a great night !). The interviews with police were adversarial and unsympathetic. The facts are that one youth with extensive history died an accidental death due to his fear of apprehension for his latest crimes. Even IF the police were pursuing him, they would not be to blame for his death. Unfortunately, there is a dynamic that all reporters seem to be addicted to: organisations are always wrong because they should be perfect in future and hindsight regardless of the extreme situations that their represetatives are in. Individuals (other than members or owners or organisations) on the other hand are always victims regardless of their extreme and irresponsible actions. Why ? Because it "runs" better with the "culture of complaint" that the press submits to and thus nurtures. The most extreme eaxample sof this culture of course were portrayed in your show. People, whose primary failure is their inability to maintain any coherent culture that could protect them from the predatory elements in any society. Yes, Aust history had a role in this a hundred years ago, but today.... ????
ACER could nurture a national curriculum
Stephen Digby, Dec 2003 in response to the launch of 2003-12-01 iAchieve at home - ACER
Although ACER is an "independent not-for-profit educational research and development organisation", it nevertheless charges for its products (rather than donating them to the educational public in an attempt to encourage and ficilitate best practice).
There is no costing mentioned for iAcheive at home in your letter or on the site.
Is it a free service ?
I think that there is an enormous potential for this type of service and that ACER is ideally placed to deliver it on a national basis.
I have tried to suggest the same to the Curriculum Development Corportaion and, repeatedly, to the Victorian Governemnt.
The benefits to Australia would be include :
a.. development of national curriculum by default (as more and more students, parents and schools came to use it and rely on it, ACER's influence over the national curriculum would grow). The concept of ensuring free public domain materials is crucial to realising this opportunity.
b.. development of national curriculum database.
Currently, the nation is flooded with guidelines and frameworks which are government attempts to describe the characteristics of a good classroom program in and attempt to encourage teachers to design curriculum materials to match individuals and class groups.
The fact is that teachers are often not good at curriculum design, and when they attempt it they use time that would be better spent on prep (physically preparting materials and the environment for the learning process, planning their delivery style), correction (carefully evaluating the students work to guide the next lesson prep and to be able to respond individually and appropriately to each student) and reflection (reviewing all the above to seek improvement and look for unexpected opportunities).
Teachers in Victoria are sick to death of frameworks that encapsulate all possible "parenthood" statements in the expectation that teachers will magically create a year of lessons armed with this wish list and a few exemplars. We currently face another round of this wasteful and demoralising approach as the Government has just instructed the VCAA to commence another project.
Teachers flock to coherent learning programs embodied in commercial texts and their increasingly diverse and creative support materials. Here teachers increasingly have choice within a coherent program. If the materials are designed to acheive the objectives of the framework, all the better.
If ACER developed an online database of learing and assessment materials, ACER could
a.. offer teachers a credible national reference collection of learning activities and assessment tools
b.. collect materials from thousands of teachers who would be willing to donate their materials free and without copyright IF
a.. the materials remained attributed to the (multiple) authors even after they were altered
b.. the materials were not appropriated within ACER's copyright
c.. collect materials from past authors who would be happy to see their out of print work used productively rather than be forgotten. In many subjects (especially, mathematics, this could represent a huge and easily updated opportunity)
d.. collect materials from commercial publishers where they considered that copyright free samples within the collection could boost their company or product profile in the marketplace.
e.. collect materials from state systems that have already developed huge collections, and would want to influence the direction of the project, as well as be seen to have contributed.
c.. development of an international profile for Australia in terms of foreign aid. Instead of the current fragmentation and duplication of effort that has always characterised education (Originally due to technical limitations of communication and the ability to transform information from one paper source to another. Now due to the increasing stranglehold of copyright law on any culture of sharing)
d.. development of multiple courses (in the true sense of moving in a path from point to point) through the materials. Instead of completely different course materials being printed, there would be different pathways that would use many activities in common as well as some differences.
i.e. as well as a databank of learning activities that all stand alone, there are suggestions for
a.. "unit" length sequences to serve a wide variety of curriculum objectives e.g. content focused, integated projects (within a "discipline", across various "subjects" etc)
b.. "semester" length sequences to serve certain year levels in certain states. These could be created with or witout official state accreditation. States would eventually be pressured to contribute one or more courses or have their fameworks exposed as being unable to be realised in any day to day program.
c.. Special needs (e.g different countries, special learning groups etc. etc)
As a post-script, I have included and excerpt from one of my recent unsuccesful attempts to influence the development of the Victorian BluePrint.
I hope that your project is a ground breaking beginning to a comprehensive free national clearing house dedicated to improving the quality and cohernece of world education.... rather than a corporate attempt to gain a slice of the market for online education.
One can only hope.
Victorian EduLibrary – a free gift to the world that has really paid off !
Stephen Digby, Dec 2003 from An Alternate Vision of the Future.....What might success look like ? -
The Victorian government decided early against providing only general guidelines and relying on the hope that publishers would write quality materials for the small Victorian market AND that teachers would make the best choices for their classes. Recipes are a strategy to ensure that the average chef can make an excellent meal. No recipe could smother the creativity of teachers when presented with the vibrant mix inherent in any student group. The government commissioned publishers to work in cooperation with its curriculum writers to prove that the government guidelines could be translated into day-to-day reality. Before the project had got underway, a range of groups tried to join and broaden the task to global dimensions. The government stayed firm, believing that experience of building a real bridge is better than the experience of planning a thousand theoretical bridges. In the face of insistence that all EduLibrary material would be copyright free for all non-commercial use, gifted materials began to flood in from individuals, non-profit educational publishers as well as commercial sources willing to sell materials for a once only fee.
Within 2 years, the EduLibrary has grown to enormous proportions and was beginning to influence the course of educational publishing worldwide. The problems of selecting and sequencing the activities that would be recommended for a course took another 2 years as the debate raged as to what should be learnt. In the days of vague guidelines, this debate could in reality be avoided by different re-interpretation of the guidelines in front of each audience.
Today, the site provides not just one learning pathway, but a rich set of alternate sequences. Each sequence when selected provides not only a framework or study design, but also detailed activity scripts and final teaching materials for use with students. Individual teachers publish their own materials to the Ministry Website as additional resources for the subject so students can browse the core EduLibrary material as well as the additional materials provided by any teacher in the state. Secondary teachers now emulate the long-standing practice of primary teachers in maintaining a “daily work program record” – only now it is “on-line”. Ministry curriculum writers comb the teacher’s materials regularly, obtaining much new and creative additional materials for the EduLibrary. Attribution is carefully managed and highly valued. Copyright for any future non-commercial use (including the Ministry) is surrendered as soon as the materials are submitted to EduLibrary.
From Curriculum recommendations.....
Stephen Digby
Curriculum: Government should provide guidelines to schools in the form of rich and complete curriculum programmes in cooperation with commercial publishers.
q Curriculum Guidelines and Study designs are widely held in contempt by practicing teachers as theoretical ramblings filtered through political compromises and providing little help as to how they can be translated into practice in the real world of the daily classroom.
There is a presumption in DEET that all teachers are capable or happy to be curriculum developers as well as teachers.
There is a culture in DEET that assumes that all is needed is guidelines and teachers will construct a myriad of well balanced coherent teaching programs that meet all needs of every student in their class.
Confident innovative teachers that work considerably beyond their paid hours are often happy to spend time writing curriculum materials. The main problem in schools is limited time for teacher to “prep” and “correct”.
v E.g. if I have a wonderful guideline that suggests that I use real data to explore the concept of bivariate data, there is still a lot of work to “develop” curriculum materials that will allow the lesson to be taught. The teacher will then have to “prep” the lesson (i.e. duplicate the materials, find the resources, collect them ready in a suitable place for the lesson). After many lessons, students will create products or performances that will require feedback. The teacher needs to set aside time for “correction”. Of these tasks, the most time consuming is “development”.
Currently most teachers continually develop lessons especially in VCE where some subjects have no complete commercial teaching materials available. This results in a huge reduction in the time allocated to prep and correction. Thus, curriculum materials used in schools is of very variable quality and teachers tend to develop materials, which only require a photocopier for prep and are amenable to easy correction.
The end result is a vast statewide overuse of fill-in-the-gap photocopiable masters.
q The bureaucracy will not even give state accreditation to any curriculum materials. The best that publishers can hope for is mention as acceptable resources.
v The reason for this is that even with all the resources at their disposal they could not develop a complete course of curriculum materials in any subject at any level that would satisfy the myriad of demands listed in all the relevant “guidelines”.
q What schools need is high quality complete courses providing all teaching materials. Not as a proscription, but as an exemplar showing at least one way that the guidelines can be translated into complete daily reality.
v These exist in profusion in other countries such as the USA. The quality, coherence and completeness of the materials puts Australia to shame. Publishers would be most eager to develop materials to Australian specifications provided they were given access to a large market share through state accreditation.
q Innovative curriculum approaches would be much more likely to be taken up by schools if the government provided state accredited materials in support of them rather than just a few words in theory and a few samples that required teachers to develop the rest in their everyday work.
Although ACER is an "independent not-for-profit educational research and development organisation", it nevertheless charges for its products (rather than donating them to the educational public in an attempt to encourage and ficilitate best practice).
There is no costing mentioned for iAcheive at home in your letter or on the site.
Is it a free service ?
I think that there is an enormous potential for this type of service and that ACER is ideally placed to deliver it on a national basis.
I have tried to suggest the same to the Curriculum Development Corportaion and, repeatedly, to the Victorian Governemnt.
The benefits to Australia would be include :
a.. development of national curriculum by default (as more and more students, parents and schools came to use it and rely on it, ACER's influence over the national curriculum would grow). The concept of ensuring free public domain materials is crucial to realising this opportunity.
b.. development of national curriculum database.
Currently, the nation is flooded with guidelines and frameworks which are government attempts to describe the characteristics of a good classroom program in and attempt to encourage teachers to design curriculum materials to match individuals and class groups.
The fact is that teachers are often not good at curriculum design, and when they attempt it they use time that would be better spent on prep (physically preparting materials and the environment for the learning process, planning their delivery style), correction (carefully evaluating the students work to guide the next lesson prep and to be able to respond individually and appropriately to each student) and reflection (reviewing all the above to seek improvement and look for unexpected opportunities).
Teachers in Victoria are sick to death of frameworks that encapsulate all possible "parenthood" statements in the expectation that teachers will magically create a year of lessons armed with this wish list and a few exemplars. We currently face another round of this wasteful and demoralising approach as the Government has just instructed the VCAA to commence another project.
Teachers flock to coherent learning programs embodied in commercial texts and their increasingly diverse and creative support materials. Here teachers increasingly have choice within a coherent program. If the materials are designed to acheive the objectives of the framework, all the better.
If ACER developed an online database of learing and assessment materials, ACER could
a.. offer teachers a credible national reference collection of learning activities and assessment tools
b.. collect materials from thousands of teachers who would be willing to donate their materials free and without copyright IF
a.. the materials remained attributed to the (multiple) authors even after they were altered
b.. the materials were not appropriated within ACER's copyright
c.. collect materials from past authors who would be happy to see their out of print work used productively rather than be forgotten. In many subjects (especially, mathematics, this could represent a huge and easily updated opportunity)
d.. collect materials from commercial publishers where they considered that copyright free samples within the collection could boost their company or product profile in the marketplace.
e.. collect materials from state systems that have already developed huge collections, and would want to influence the direction of the project, as well as be seen to have contributed.
c.. development of an international profile for Australia in terms of foreign aid. Instead of the current fragmentation and duplication of effort that has always characterised education (Originally due to technical limitations of communication and the ability to transform information from one paper source to another. Now due to the increasing stranglehold of copyright law on any culture of sharing)
d.. development of multiple courses (in the true sense of moving in a path from point to point) through the materials. Instead of completely different course materials being printed, there would be different pathways that would use many activities in common as well as some differences.
i.e. as well as a databank of learning activities that all stand alone, there are suggestions for
a.. "unit" length sequences to serve a wide variety of curriculum objectives e.g. content focused, integated projects (within a "discipline", across various "subjects" etc)
b.. "semester" length sequences to serve certain year levels in certain states. These could be created with or witout official state accreditation. States would eventually be pressured to contribute one or more courses or have their fameworks exposed as being unable to be realised in any day to day program.
c.. Special needs (e.g different countries, special learning groups etc. etc)
As a post-script, I have included and excerpt from one of my recent unsuccesful attempts to influence the development of the Victorian BluePrint.
I hope that your project is a ground breaking beginning to a comprehensive free national clearing house dedicated to improving the quality and cohernece of world education.... rather than a corporate attempt to gain a slice of the market for online education.
One can only hope.
Victorian EduLibrary – a free gift to the world that has really paid off !
Stephen Digby, Dec 2003 from An Alternate Vision of the Future.....What might success look like ? -
The Victorian government decided early against providing only general guidelines and relying on the hope that publishers would write quality materials for the small Victorian market AND that teachers would make the best choices for their classes. Recipes are a strategy to ensure that the average chef can make an excellent meal. No recipe could smother the creativity of teachers when presented with the vibrant mix inherent in any student group. The government commissioned publishers to work in cooperation with its curriculum writers to prove that the government guidelines could be translated into day-to-day reality. Before the project had got underway, a range of groups tried to join and broaden the task to global dimensions. The government stayed firm, believing that experience of building a real bridge is better than the experience of planning a thousand theoretical bridges. In the face of insistence that all EduLibrary material would be copyright free for all non-commercial use, gifted materials began to flood in from individuals, non-profit educational publishers as well as commercial sources willing to sell materials for a once only fee.
Within 2 years, the EduLibrary has grown to enormous proportions and was beginning to influence the course of educational publishing worldwide. The problems of selecting and sequencing the activities that would be recommended for a course took another 2 years as the debate raged as to what should be learnt. In the days of vague guidelines, this debate could in reality be avoided by different re-interpretation of the guidelines in front of each audience.
Today, the site provides not just one learning pathway, but a rich set of alternate sequences. Each sequence when selected provides not only a framework or study design, but also detailed activity scripts and final teaching materials for use with students. Individual teachers publish their own materials to the Ministry Website as additional resources for the subject so students can browse the core EduLibrary material as well as the additional materials provided by any teacher in the state. Secondary teachers now emulate the long-standing practice of primary teachers in maintaining a “daily work program record” – only now it is “on-line”. Ministry curriculum writers comb the teacher’s materials regularly, obtaining much new and creative additional materials for the EduLibrary. Attribution is carefully managed and highly valued. Copyright for any future non-commercial use (including the Ministry) is surrendered as soon as the materials are submitted to EduLibrary.
From Curriculum recommendations.....
Stephen Digby
Curriculum: Government should provide guidelines to schools in the form of rich and complete curriculum programmes in cooperation with commercial publishers.
q Curriculum Guidelines and Study designs are widely held in contempt by practicing teachers as theoretical ramblings filtered through political compromises and providing little help as to how they can be translated into practice in the real world of the daily classroom.
There is a presumption in DEET that all teachers are capable or happy to be curriculum developers as well as teachers.
There is a culture in DEET that assumes that all is needed is guidelines and teachers will construct a myriad of well balanced coherent teaching programs that meet all needs of every student in their class.
Confident innovative teachers that work considerably beyond their paid hours are often happy to spend time writing curriculum materials. The main problem in schools is limited time for teacher to “prep” and “correct”.
v E.g. if I have a wonderful guideline that suggests that I use real data to explore the concept of bivariate data, there is still a lot of work to “develop” curriculum materials that will allow the lesson to be taught. The teacher will then have to “prep” the lesson (i.e. duplicate the materials, find the resources, collect them ready in a suitable place for the lesson). After many lessons, students will create products or performances that will require feedback. The teacher needs to set aside time for “correction”. Of these tasks, the most time consuming is “development”.
Currently most teachers continually develop lessons especially in VCE where some subjects have no complete commercial teaching materials available. This results in a huge reduction in the time allocated to prep and correction. Thus, curriculum materials used in schools is of very variable quality and teachers tend to develop materials, which only require a photocopier for prep and are amenable to easy correction.
The end result is a vast statewide overuse of fill-in-the-gap photocopiable masters.
q The bureaucracy will not even give state accreditation to any curriculum materials. The best that publishers can hope for is mention as acceptable resources.
v The reason for this is that even with all the resources at their disposal they could not develop a complete course of curriculum materials in any subject at any level that would satisfy the myriad of demands listed in all the relevant “guidelines”.
q What schools need is high quality complete courses providing all teaching materials. Not as a proscription, but as an exemplar showing at least one way that the guidelines can be translated into complete daily reality.
v These exist in profusion in other countries such as the USA. The quality, coherence and completeness of the materials puts Australia to shame. Publishers would be most eager to develop materials to Australian specifications provided they were given access to a large market share through state accreditation.
q Innovative curriculum approaches would be much more likely to be taken up by schools if the government provided state accredited materials in support of them rather than just a few words in theory and a few samples that required teachers to develop the rest in their everyday work.
Valuing diversity by exclusion
In response to Lesbians Only Need Apply, The Age 12/09/2003
“Valuing diversity” is a one way street. The ordinary citizen in continually exhorted to accept increasingly diverse ethnic, religious, political, sexual and family behaviours. When an individual fails to be accepting, the organisation that they work for is often publicly criticised for its “culture” of intolerance. Organisations that say “male only please” or “no lesbians need apply” are stridently attacked. The press usually jumps on the bandwagon.
It is astonishing and disturbing that groups like the Victorian lesbian festival organisers and Muslim men in ascot Vale (Lesbians only need apply. The Age Sept 12) can gain permission to discriminate against the general community in ways that would be illegal for anyone else. The tribunal is willing to do this to give the lesbians a sense of “security and well-being” and to allow muslims to continue their “religious traditions”. Surely many groups can also now argue “tradition” and “security” to exclude muslims and/or homosexuals from their activities.
Valuing Diversity is really a new code for the further undermining of values shared across our community. Without them, we will create an increasingly fragmented and segregated society.
“Valuing diversity” is a one way street. The ordinary citizen in continually exhorted to accept increasingly diverse ethnic, religious, political, sexual and family behaviours. When an individual fails to be accepting, the organisation that they work for is often publicly criticised for its “culture” of intolerance. Organisations that say “male only please” or “no lesbians need apply” are stridently attacked. The press usually jumps on the bandwagon.
It is astonishing and disturbing that groups like the Victorian lesbian festival organisers and Muslim men in ascot Vale (Lesbians only need apply. The Age Sept 12) can gain permission to discriminate against the general community in ways that would be illegal for anyone else. The tribunal is willing to do this to give the lesbians a sense of “security and well-being” and to allow muslims to continue their “religious traditions”. Surely many groups can also now argue “tradition” and “security” to exclude muslims and/or homosexuals from their activities.
Valuing Diversity is really a new code for the further undermining of values shared across our community. Without them, we will create an increasingly fragmented and segregated society.
An "Age" of preaching to the converted
Given the virtual propaganda campaign waged by The Age against the government’s policy on illegal immigrants (i.e. people who attempt to migrate by illegal means), I wonder how many letters in support of the government’s policy (or merely in support of balanced coverage) have been omitted from your pages.
The level of bias that has permeated your “comment” articles and even your news reporting on this issue should be a worry for all your remaining readers regardless of their views.
The Age used to have a fine tradition of intelligent analysis that required an attempt to understand and communicate a range of opinions. Your editorial before the election against the government was not (as it should have been) an “on balance” judgement made after observing the election campaign. It was merely the last statement in The Age’s own campaign against the government.
Why is it that the majority of Australians, who voted in disagreement with your editorial, do not feel that they can express their views within your letters column ?
It speaks poorly of your readership if they read The Age to seek repeated confirmation of their views and vilify all who disagree. It should worry The Age staff that they increasingly speak only to the “converted”.
Whose interest is served by turning The Age into a newspaper that is used to propagate a consistent political opinion rather than be a forum for the most coherent expressions of all views. The Age staff should ask themselves what bias will they be asked to adopt next.
The level of bias that has permeated your “comment” articles and even your news reporting on this issue should be a worry for all your remaining readers regardless of their views.
The Age used to have a fine tradition of intelligent analysis that required an attempt to understand and communicate a range of opinions. Your editorial before the election against the government was not (as it should have been) an “on balance” judgement made after observing the election campaign. It was merely the last statement in The Age’s own campaign against the government.
Why is it that the majority of Australians, who voted in disagreement with your editorial, do not feel that they can express their views within your letters column ?
It speaks poorly of your readership if they read The Age to seek repeated confirmation of their views and vilify all who disagree. It should worry The Age staff that they increasingly speak only to the “converted”.
Whose interest is served by turning The Age into a newspaper that is used to propagate a consistent political opinion rather than be a forum for the most coherent expressions of all views. The Age staff should ask themselves what bias will they be asked to adopt next.
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