Enviro, you really seem to have way too much faith in the Howard government. Explain to me why the taxpayer should offer assistance to privately funded schools? This is supposed to be a free market, I don't get assistance from the government if I want to run a business! why on earth should they?! Private school subsidies from the government have done nothing to help the 'average' person to get their kids into private schools, this is government spin, fees have not changed and in some cases they have increased. The Howard government policy toward private schools is corporate welfare at best, specially targeted corporate welfare towards religious interest groups at worst... nothing more.
Have some faith in the public education system, we do really have a good one. If I ever have children there is no chance they are going to private school no matter how much money I have at the time. I only remember to vividly the disgraceful attitudes that the private school kids in my area had, without a doubt they were the most arrogant, rude and poorly behaved kids around. Absolutely without a doubt. Public schools do fare well against private in standardised testing too. Now if everyone who can afford to walks away from public schools then what incentive do the government have to fund them properly? We will have the American system which is an utter failure. It is feel good desire for the illusion of middle class affluence that drives people to put their kids in private schools, nothing to do with quality of education because that argument holds no water, curriculum is the same for all. Personally I do not wish to live in a society where education is for those who can afford it! Horizontal distribution of knowledge and ideas is what promotes innovation and progress, it is how we got where we are today. I can tell you for a fact that it was the break down of guild-based monopolies on information in the British empire that spurred the industrial revolution, going back to that kind of system will cause us to stagnate and fall behind the world standard. Knowledge and information are not commodities to be traded if you want progress!
Now as for accents, the Australian English accent is widely regarded to have been influenced by indigenous natives. The American English accent is hugely influenced by the Irish as well as their own indigenous natives. Its swings and roundabouts mate and the way of the modern world.
You were unaware of the Howard government taking control of IR? This is work choices mate! The states took the federal government to the high court over this issue as they claimed it was a constitutional violation and yet the court ruled in favor of the federal government. Really it's not that silly to have IR at a federal level but the work choices legislation is terrible stuff. It is so complex with such a volume of legal definitions and conditions that few lawyers can understand it properly, let alone employers and employees. There are some really stupid requirements in there too that have upset big players in the business world.
Medicare well I'm not up on the details of that but as I understand since the introduction of the medicare safety net extra red tape has been the cause of many doctors putting a stop to bulk billing. You may not notice it in the city but in the country we are facing a serious crisis. Again I don't understand the details but I do know that a lot of those began exactly when Howard introduced the medicare safety net before the last election. I don't doubt that the state government has its hand in this too but bulk billing is part of the medicare system as I understand it and that is certainly a federal issue.
Now if you got through all that thanks for putting up with my ramblings!
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