Thursday, November 16, 2006

NSW politics has become unspeakable

In several earlier posts I have suggested that we needed to cut our politicians some slack. Recent events in NSW have made me doubt my own comments. For the latest development see Neil's story.

This is the last comment I will make on NSW political sleaze. It began with Labor. Then the Liberals joined in. Now of the major parties only the Nationals appear outside the sleaze loop.

Peter Debnam should resign. Alternatively, he should provide solid evidence. I see no choice beyond this. All he had to do was shut up and let Labour sink itself. Instead, he joined in with what, on the surface, appears an unsubstantiated allegation.

I am both bored and disgusted.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am beginning to wonder if we might end up with a 19th-century style parliament of independents after the next election.

Jim Belshaw said...

Neil, I have just left a comment on your post on this issue.

Your blog has a bigger readership than my collective lot,although my readership is climbing. But between us, we are getting some reach.

In suggesting as I did on your post that we turn the blowtorch on them, I am not suggesting that we take collective sides. Instead, I suggest that we subject their collective anouncements to serious policy srutiny. That way we can draw on our collective knowledge and that of our our commentators to present the issues from individual perspectives.

I really am so tired of the crap.

Anonymous said...

You are much better at policy analyis than I am, Jim, so I will refer people to you. What I have seen on education policy from both "sides", however, fails to impress me, I'm afraid. Labor says: "We will:

* By 2008, reduce the number of lowest-performing students in literacy and numeracy in Years three, five, seven by 10 per cent in 2008, with further 20 per cent reduction by 2016.
* By 2012, increase the number of students in Years three, five, and seven meeting or exceeding national proficiency benchmarks for literacy and numeracy by 10 per cent with a further 5 per cent increase by 2016."

That seems too much like pious nonsense to me, I'm afraid; almost like Chinese rice production targets in the 1960s...

Am I too cynical?

On the other hand, there are aspects of Labor's "10 Year Plan" that impress me -- commitment to some long-term thinking is at least an advance on our usual practice.

Finally (sorry this has grown so long), did you see the 7.30 Report's account of the Victorian elections? It was a touch tongue-in-cheek, but the comparison with our state was not to our advantage. See Victorian leaders avoid scandal as election looms, if you missed it.

Travel Italy said...

I see our politician's are not the only ones thinking they can influence learning by deciding that the numbers will be xx% by 2nnn.

Education is a question of culture. Kill the culture results in reduced education.

I know you are not following me since Education furthers culture so,

During the Renaissance the known world had an uptick, across the board, of artistic genius.

During the Roman Empire the known world had an uptick in engineering feats.

Today we have an uptick of Athletes and Actors/Actresses.

Jim Belshaw said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jim Belshaw said...

I removed the previous comment because it had a massive typo. Now repeating it hopefully correctly.

Neil, thanks for the Victorian link. It is an interesting contrast with NSW. I think that you have captured both the strengths and weaknesses of the plan.

Do join in any policy discussion, though.

David, I wasn't quite sure who you were talking about your opening sentence. It could be read as implying that Neil or I supported the numbers only approach. We do not, of course.

You point re the link between education and culture is well taken and goes back to some of the things we have discussed previously. Education does reflect the prevailing culture but also feeds back into it.