Shocking new data: Australia is the MOST EXPENSIVE country in the developed world to send a kid to high school!
Families pay an average of $4,967 per year per child – almost 4× the OECD average of ~$1,262.
Why? Over 40% of high schoolers go private (2nd highest in OECD, only behind Chile), and fees average >$11k/year, reaching up to $55k at elite schools.
Public schools are cheap (or free), but the massive private sector drags the national average sky-high.
This didn't happen by accident. The privatisation push started under the Howard government: scrapping the New Schools Policy (allowing easy new private schools in existing areas) + generous funding changes that boosted private enrolments and let fees soar.
Result? A two-tier system where wealthy schools get huge public subsidies + high fees, while public schools face funding shortfalls and many families get squeezed.
We need radical reform – not more taxpayer cash to schools that don't need it.

#Australia #Education #PrivateSchools #PublicEducation #CostOfLiving #HowardGovernment #SchoolFunding #Inequality #OECD #Sydney #NSW

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQPQnphllgM

The hypocrisy is breathtaking. Peter Costello, now a "respected commentator," laments that Australia hasn't balanced a budget for 15 years.
But who laid the foundation for that structural deficit? Costello and John Howard. They squandered a once-in-a-generation mining boom and the proceeds from selling our public assets.
Instead of a sovereign wealth fund like Norway's to secure our future, they gave it away in permanent tax cuts and middle-class welfare. They sold gold at the bottom of the market. They left us vulnerable to the next crisis.
Now he lectures us on fiscal responsibility? The architect is blaming the builders.

#AusPol #PeterCostello #HowardGovernment #MiningTax #NorwayGotItRight #AustralianEconomy #Hypocrite

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSB3mhkz2eo

Amanda Vanstone reveals she's from another planet, saying in response to 9/11:

"You'd have to be from another planet, not to say to yourself, 'gee, if I were a terrorist, and I wanted to get a terrorist to Australia, well, I'd pile them up on a boat full of genuine asylum seekers."

Exactly none of the 9/11 terrorists were asylum seekers. They all arrived on visas.

https://www.9-11commission.gov/staff_statements/911_TerrTrav_Monograph.pdf

But Vanstone and the Liberal-National government substitute stereotypes and racism for rational policy. Terrorists are Islamic; Islamists are brown Middle Eastern types; brown people are asylum seekers; asylum seekers are terrorists. Therefore, the right response is to imprison all asylum seekers, leading to the LNP response.

The sickness and stupidity of rightwing LNP thinking is there for all to see. Always was. #auspol #HumanRights #Vanstone #HowardGovernment #LNP

https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/cost-blowouts-and-human-rights-concerns-inside-the-howard-governments-decision-to-pursue-offshore-detention/m5yf8ot63