Press Releases

Victorian voters have been bombarded with what appear to have been choices in the State election. But, at the last moment, Catholic school parents have been told to not vote for the Greens in inner Melbourne. Once again, the Catholic church tries to make itself important – crucial to the major parties. Smoke and mirrors, obfuscation, and sometimes downright corruption – has our democracy come to this?

Scotch College Melbourne this year lodged its 2013 financial return. It showed, among the school's revenue for the year of $70.9 million, a payment for $5.4 million as "reimbursement following a Supreme Court action". The payment helped Scotch record a net surplus of $11.5 million.

Gough Whitlam has been lauded for introducing ‘fairness’ into Australian education. And he certainly opened up free tertiary education. But he gave in to pressure groups who were against free, secular and universal public education.
‘Fairness’in primary and secondary education is code for saying that Whitlam poured public funds into private, mainly Catholic schools on the basis of ‘Need’- which swiftly became greed.

Gough Whitlam compromised himself, the Labor Party and Australia’s democracy when he courted the Catholic vote, and their political creature - the DLP. By setting up the Schools Commission he and Kim Beazley also compromised supporters of public schools like Joan Kirner. The Needs policy was compromised from the very beginning when the wealthy schools and Catholic sector re-categorised the Greedy into the ‘Needy.’ In 1973 the Catholic sector still needed wealthy Protestant school support. Forty years on they dominate both parties with no serious opposition.