Indeed, Dean.

A depressing thought. That after all the sound and fury, all we get is more of the same.

Last week I visited yet another school in NSW and heard yet another Building the Education Revolution story of a million dollars in funding which ended up with a hall that doesn't work properly . It was a dance hall, supposedly, but it's unsuitable for dancing because of a poor floor,
The money allocated was chipped away by State authorities, wasted on large greedy builders and corporations, and so on. The school principal was threatened with all kinds of problems if he dared try to take control.

Naturally, this was a needy State school. Catholic and independent schools were allowed to manage their own building, hired their own firms, harassed the builders effectively and got a far better job done.

What good has been done for education by Gillard and Rudd? Any at all?

It makes you weep.

when you blow a big surplus and end up with a big deficit with nothing to show its no wonder Gonksi is dead. Labour just never never learn despite Rudd claiming to be a fiscal conservative. They become like kids in a candy store when the GFC hit preferring the praises of the likes of Greece and Cyprus to hide their wastage. Money will never fix the broken system anyway.

Nothing could suit Labour more at this time, than a fight with the conservative states, over school funding outcomes.
It's not dead, given the federal Govt has the option of holding back some of the GST, and dealing state admins out, with a direct funding model?
And oh how we wish, they could have done that before rolling out all those school halls!
With the states eliminated, from the funding paradigm, the savings could be as much as 30%, which could then be redirected to regional autonomy, and far better on the ground outcomes!
Who amongst us, would side with a recalcitrant state admin, merely trying to turn school funding issues, into yet another anti labour mechanism, or political football?
He who pays the Piper, calls the tune!
Rhrosty.

From an email today.

Three contractors are bidding to fix a broken fence at Government House.
One is from Cabramatta, another is from Marrickville, and the third is from Lane Cove.

All three go with an official to examine the fence.
The Cabramatta contractor takes out a tape measure and does some measuring, then works some figures with a pencil.

"Well," he says, "I figure the job will run about $900, $400 for materials, $400 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Marrickville contractor also does some measuring and figuring, then says,
"I can do this job for $700. That's $300 for materials, $300 for my crew and $100 profit for me."

The Lane Cove contractor doesn't measure or figure, but leans over to the government official and whispers, "$2,700."

The official, incredulous, says, "You didn't even measure like the other guys. How did you come up with such a high figure?"

The Lane Cove contractor whispers back, "$1000 for me, $1000 for you, and we hire the guy from Marrickville to fix the fence."

"Done!" Replies the government official.


And that, my fellow tax payers, is how a Government Stimulus plan works.