This is typical right wing philosophy, from the right wing of the ALP, could come straight out of a Liberal Party handbook. It seems to me that the right wing of the ALP, have been refused entry into the Liberal Party, and have sought refuge in the Labor Party.

Public institutions are worthy institutions, and as such should be funded by the public {governments} revenue. If the wealthy want to send their toffy nose children to private schools, that's ok, provided they pay for it themselves, and not recieve 70% of the federal education budget to do it.

Great to see a change from the usual "let's move to the voucher system" argument so frequently espoused on OLO. John, the DOGS organisation have been arguing this point for years (www.adogs.info), and I've explored it on my blog as well (petaldavid.blogspot.com). The argument is settled, as far as I'm concerned - to blur the lines between public and private schools is a recipe for disaster, and to argue in favour of school vouchers and PPP is to support the corporate line.

Hey, you two - go back and read the article again. John says absolutly nothing about private education.

I believe the governments underlying issue here is a morbid fear of taking on debt. The same fear that drives the privatization of the toll roads.

This is a misplaced worry for surely the government, even if it is only State as surrogate for Commonwealth is well aware of te implications..
Education surely is now providing technical facilities for the few the many producing the working nerds required by industry. Oh they are no longer nerds we need? Oh well we can import these under free trade.I do seem to remeber around 1996 or so industry were writing their own curricula and if not training their wants training the trainers to there needs. And now we find ouselves short of skilled labour, I must be having memory fault.
So if the many are to produce only the slaves of commerce not human beings large enough to enjoy life and contribute to its future, why should industry not fund the buildings rather than the tax payer,seems they will have first call on the outcome.
Mind you not very large buildings though the flag and flag pole will be large and dominant, together with its associated hall for the flag ceremony. true the library section on war and the darin do of the Ausis will take some space. A section for the failed states we are going, with magnificant generosity, to ensure the correct path will not involve much space, we can after all borrow American intelligence The section indicating those which are weak like Iraq or might give trouble like Korea can be small a coupleof computer links and security door.

I went to a private school with high fees in the 1960s, its teaching of maths was abysmal. It offered me more choice that the local high school but as the standards at the local high school could have been bad the private school didn't have to be very good to be attractive,

Essentially the government schools are the bottom line, if they are poor then private schools can have poor educational standards with fees attached and still attract students. If you want to have a good education system you must have a strong government education system. Most parents view private schools as an alternative to the state system.

Hey Bruce go back and read again what _I_ wrote. I said that the lines are being blurred between public and private and that this is a recipe for disaster.