How woke can Australia get? Schools are now being given Indigenous rather than geographical names.

The stated reason is it will help the reconciliation process.

Really? Will it do anything to close the gap in educational outcomes between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians?

Will it magically erase decades of marginalisation?

Will it open doors to higher education and white-collar jobs?

Of course not, but the socialists running the show in Victoria – the Labor government under Jacinta Allan, a protégé of Dan “dictator” Andrews – reckon it’s an A-plus idea.

I give it an F.

We cannot allow Victoria’s peculiar and tokenistic concepts to be foisted upon Queensland, or anywhere else.

We already have enough to deal with as minority agendas hijack the curriculum and Queensland’s academic performance tanks.

Victoria is the national capital of woke – this is the state teaching kids as young as five that their body parts may not match their gender, and biologically male students who identify as female are entitled to play on girls’ sport teams.

So while its mandate that all new government schools have a First Nations name may not be a total surprise, it must be called out for what it is: a dim-witted distraction from real and serious issues.

Announcing the policy, the government said it was designed to ensure “the history, culture and languages of Victoria’s First Peoples are strongly embedded in our education system”.

“Embracing First Nations languages in more school names will contribute to the ongoing process of reconciliation,” it said.

The six schools to open this year all have been given Indigenous names, replacing interim titles with their suburb.

They include Kuyim Primary School (formerly Pakenham North West Primary School) and Wulerrp Secondary College (Clyde North Secondary School). You get the idea.

The 19 new schools pegged for 2026 already have had their First Nations names decided.

But that’s not all. The policy provides for retro-fitting.

Existing schools can change to an Indigenous name and “align with current standards” if their councils – comprising parents and staff – pay for it.

Costly things like signs, stationary and uniforms must be replaced – and maps provided so families know where to go in the absence of practical place names.

Aboriginal titles must also be used on new school buildings and government-funded educational services, with the minister for education “the naming authority”.

I am not against recognition.

Queensland’s Humpybong State School was established in Margate in 1876.

Humpybong is said to derive from Aboriginal words denoting empty shelters, a reference to the buildings left by European settlers on the Redcliffe Peninsula when they moved to the second settlement site on the Brisbane River.

But has the name of that school impacted outcomes for kids, Indigenous or Non-Indigenous, or advanced reconciliation in those 149 years?

Would it matter if it was called Margate State School?

What about the new schools in the Stockland-developed Sunshine Coast suburb of the same Aboriginal name of Baringa – are they smashing stereotypes?

The Voice Referendum, another effort from Labor in which Prime Minister Anthony Albanese misread the room, was defeated not because of racism or an unwillingness to improve the lives of Indigenous Australians.

As its supporters have reflected, it was that voters were not convinced a Voice to Parliament was the right way to combat entrenched disadvantage.

Ditto this school naming nonsense.

Catherine Liddle, the CEO of SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, says only genuine partnerships with Aboriginal community-controlled organisations will deliver better outcomes.

Liddle says the achievement gap starts young, with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander kids nearly twice as likely as their non-Indigenous peers to fall behind in developmental milestones before they even begin school.

This makes it harder for them to catch up.

Witness their NAPLAN results, as one example. They are woeful, particularly in remote areas where up to 90 percent of Indigenous students fail to meet literacy and numeracy benchmarks.

Since the federal government under Tony Abbott launched the Indigenous Advancement Strategy in 2014, billions have been allocated to schooling.

States have weighed in with their own initiatives.

But the gap remains.

Just like Queensland’s previous Labor government’s brain explosion of free lunches, Victoria’s school naming directive is a fail.

https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/queensland/kylie-lang-we-have-gone-too-wo...

greggerypeccary wrote on Aug 23^rd, 2025 at 1:24pm:


Sorry, copied and pasted the article.