Best recent education and union reads
In this news wrap, the federal budget under the microscope, what happened to the anti-vaccination movement and a new comic about workers and their unions is acclaimed by Jeff Sparrow and Christos Tsiolkas.
Know Your Country campaign calls for Labor pledge to be expanded
Know Your Country.com.au
The Know Your Country campaign supports the Federal Opposition’s announcement of plans to employ First Nations Educators across 60 schools, but it continues to lobby for such experts to be employed in every Australian school.
New ‘stripped back’ curriculum slammed as ‘just political’
Herald Sun
Children will have to do more maths without a calculator and learn about consent and respect in a new “stripped back” school curriculum available from next term.
They will also learn more about the impact the British settlers had on First Nations Australians and about Australian democracy.
Victoria and NSW refuse mandatory Australian history teaching
The Age
Victoria and NSW are refusing to be bound by a new mandatory component in the national curriculum that proposes to make it compulsory for year nine and 10 students to learn Australian history.
Urgent labour market reform needed to boost wages and aid recruitment
SMH
Low wages and workforce insecurity are major problems for Australia’s labour market that affect not only workers, but also employers.
Budget billions wasted as real wages go backwards
The New Daily
The amount workers get from the tax cuts is nothing compared to normal wage increases. This budget is about trying to distract the income-strapped with temporary solutions that do nothing to help in the long-run.
Sleight of hand: Frydenberg’s disappearing cash trick
The Age
When you read the fine print, you discover that, for most people, most of the cost of the extra help they will soon be getting will later be recouped by an increase in the income tax they pay.
Australian Unions responds to the federal budget
australianunions.org.au
With flatlining wages, the rising cost of living pressures, what does the 2022 Federal Budget mean for you?
Budget papers show Morrison government to reduce annual climate spending over next four years
The Guardian
Yearly expenditure on climate change programs expected to be 35% lower in 2025-26 than now.
Career change teachers need more support
The Age
A new report by the Melbourne Graduate School of Education warns that ensuring career-change teachers stay in the profession is being neglected.
Australia’s anti-vaccine movement is collapsing
crikey.com
Australia's anti-vaccine activists seized on COVID-19 and grew into an energetic and active movement. Now, their cause is falling apart.
Neoliberalism, the deluge and the logic of government inaction
Arena
The first priority of neoliberal governments is not the welfare and well-being of people, but the freedom of the marketplace to operate without impediment. However, neoliberal governments operate to support capital and thereby do ‘interfere’ in the market.
