Barr says "demographic changes" make closures necessary

Sure AD, Schools need to close to work within the budget set. As to which schools close is a major issue. It seems the gubmint has just axed schools with little thought about why.

Close your eyes and point at the map is a good a reason as any.

Are you a boong Nyssa?

Noice.

and many parents with opinions should be discredited as they have too much emotional attachment to the issue and therefore are unable to contribute unbiased logic.

Nyssa your comment “might” suggests that you only have a tan. But don’t let me stop you from associating with the black fella cause.

the schools need to close. period. anyone with a quarter of a brain can work that out.

Barr is just a labor hack thrown to the wolves by nohope in the education portfolio as the messenger to deliver the funding cuts disguised as planning

And he’s a poof

Except that for anyone who’s gay it is a lot harder to have children, so the outcome of what you’re saying is that no one who’s gay (or infertile) can be the education minister. And that position is fucked, I don’t care how you came to it.

Pandy, I wouldn’t post a pic, you might recognise my Aboriginality and become a red neck again.

Simto, the decisions being made will affect the ACT for the next 10+yrs and shouldn’t be thrown out as a policy with little thought.

I’ve already explained that they haven’t followed the policy plan as asserted by the Govt in regards to education.

If you mess with it now, there will be negative consequences. It’s all about saving money and not about education. There has been NO strategic management whatsoever. The policy is a farce.

Nothing can move on in Education without this. Staffing can’t be done for secondary. Primary staffing has been advertised but with the schools being closed down this year and next in it.

He has no real impact on how this decision will affect the families of the ACT nor it’s teachers nor the students learning.

School closures will disrupt the system, the new ACT Curriculum will disrupt the system next year as well as will the mandated requirements through DEST.

If Mr. Barr had children he would understand the frustration and uncertainty facing parents in those areas where schools are allocated to close.

Just because you’ve been to school doesn’t mean you know all about school. As minister for Education he should be ashamed of himself.

And yes I am passionate about school closures and education.

Do I give a rats if he was straight/sterile/gay/alien etc? No. Can he effectively do his job with logic and compassion? No.

BAM

Pandy just saved me from triple-posting…

Your opinion that education ministers must have children because their decisions affect children invites the following questions:

Must ministers for the arts be artists?
Must ministers for unemployment be unemployed (yes, I know it’s a contradiction in terms)?
Must a minister for defence be invaded?
Must a minister for emergency services have their house burn down?
Must a minister for health have a disease?

Or is education just so incredibly special that the minister responsible has to have a personal interest as well as a general societal involvement?

I’m interested, Nyssa. Have you thought this through at all? Or is it that you don’t like the policy (for damn good reasons) and are therefore associating it with the life choices of the bloke promoting it (for no good reason at all)?

Nyssa, post a picture of yourself and then I’ll decide if I want to kiss your homophobic arse: with a capital “A”.

And I’ll add – just because he hasn’t put it in the media that he’s not interested in adopting doesn’t mean he’s not interested in doing it. Strangely enough, even in this modern age, people do all kinds of wild and crazy things without alerting the media to it.

Well, if we’re only allowing people to comment on stuff where they’re actively involved in it, then that’ll shut this site down immediately. None of us are politicians, so we can’t discuss politics. Few of us are police, so we can’t discuss policing (that’ll make VG very happy…)

And you’re not my type, Nyss. So I’m kissing nothing.

Or to add some other examples, can only people with disabilities make decisions about disabled care? Can people who drive everywhere make decisions about public transport, or can home owners make decisions about public housing?

So only people with children can have an opinion on education? What if he were straight and sterile rather than gay? What if he just didn’t have a partner? What if he had kids in the private system? It’s a slippery slippery slope once you start making those kinds of aspersions.

The counter argument that he’s not likely to have any kids so there fore he’s above the public vs. private education battle could just as easily be made.

You can read it all you like Pandy and simto, and then kiss my arse.

His decisions affect people with children. He’s not having any soon – not in the media that he’s adopting/IVF with surrogate and the like.

So how in the hell would he know?

nice one Ari

Is a “less than salubrious” nightclub just another term for a seedy Barr?

To correct myself (and to increase knowledge amongst my fellow rioters), my reference to “salubrious” nightclubs should be “less than salubrious” nightclubs. According to Dictionary.com, “Salubrious” actually means “healthful”.

Well, the category is “education”, and this post is educational – I think I’m on topic, anyway…

A few people I know with kids had said to me (also smugly) – Oh, I wish we all had the luxary to do/buy (insert various things here)…
My reaction was – stiff shit, you chose to have kids and I didn’t – therefore I can spend my hard earned money on whatever the hell I want.
I also understand what JB is saying about resentment.

ooh, i’ve touched a nerve AM?

You only comment when you’re worried.

Or when you’re full of shit.

What evidence have you got, incidentally, that Barr leads a “flashy lifestyle”? I haven’t seen his car – is it particularly snazzy? Is he constantly seen to be half-drunkenly lolling around outside salubrious nightclubs, Paris Hilton style?

Please, tell me more about this so-called “flashy lifestyle”. Or is this just – “well, he’s gay, we all know they’re doing drugs and raving all the time”?

or maybe nature is just preventing my genes from spreading. Who can know?

my conciouness is far beyond the basic instinct to procreate. I am sorry for being advanced 😛

Kids and homosexuality, JB. You ought to know those two issue are bound to upset someone.

There’s a lot of smugness around people with kids. I’ve seen quite a few articles written by parents saying that couples without kids lead a selfish life. Well – they may mean that that such people have the luxury of an existence that can be centered on themselves, but it comes out more like “You’re nasty, brutish folk for not procreating”.

I always love the word “choose” there, it implies so much about how people live their lives.

Again, I re-iterate, I don’t know what Mr Barr’s opinion on child raising one way or the other is. He may very well view it with complete abhorrence. Or he might really, desperately want to be a parent, but know that there’s no way he can do it under the present system.

Have you touched a nerve? Damn right you have. I don’t have kids, and, goddamnit, I really would like to have ’em. And, due to a combination of biology and circumstance, it’s unlikely to ever happen. And that’s going to hurt me, probably forever.

guilty? not having children is seriously not a bad thing…

ooh, i’ve touched a nerve AM?

You only comment when you’re worried.

as a childless 30 something i’m as guilty as anyone

JB – I haven’t seen any growing tide of resentment (beyond peoples’ disgust with consumerism) about people without kid having flash lifestyles.

Anyone whining can stick it. If someone choses not to have kids, that’s their perogative.

Simto, i think there’s a growing tide of resentment against people, either straight or not, who choose a flashy lifestyle over the grind and responsibility of child raising.

Frankly i don’t blame them.

WTF are you talking about JB, what tide of resentment? I can’t say I’ve noticed one, and how is his lifestyle flashy, or is that just dog whistle homophobia?

Plus the guy’s bloody well gay so it’d be a hell of a lot more work to have children to raise than it would be for a straight person.

allowed or expected?

Its probably why he was put in the position as he isn’t affected by anything to do with schools.

Its the internet – Cheap shots are allowed.

you don’t blame the people with resentment or the people not bringing up children?

Simto, i think there’s a growing tide of resentment against people, either straight or not, who choose a flashy lifestyle over the grind and responsibility of child raising.

Frankly i don’t blame them.

Good one Nyssa. You live in a glasshouse?

Nyssa, your cheap shot about Barr and the birth rate is just that – cheap.

I don’t know whether Barr and his long term partner intend to have children (through adoption or surrogacy)- but I suspect you don’t either.

So please make your points using relevant arguments – not insinuating “he’s a poof so he doesn’t know anything about having kids”.

Noted in our school newsletter uesterday was the Goverment’s official line on the the 20/20 plan and knowing the Principal’s vehement opposition to it it’s a shame no right of reply was allowed in the Newsletter in the week our submission against closure was sent in.

Noted in our school newsletter uesterday was the Goverment’s official line on the the 20/20 plan and knowing the Principal’s vehement opposition to it it’s a shame no right of reply was allowed in the Newsletter in the week our submission against closure was sent in.

I agree che… they probably are doing the right thing… they just haven’t taken a transparent approach to it.

yes but the ACT govt are taking the gamble that those couples in the inner north having kids will move out of their 2 bedroom appt and move to Gungahlin to get a McMansion to raise the kids in

they could be right, but it would be nice if they tried to be honest about the approach they were taking rather than asking everyone to just “trust us, we’re the govt”

He’s only using the stats that he “needs” as opposed to the truth.

But surely demographic changes show that Chifley has a huge growth in births yet they are closing the school.Also the inner north is having a huge baby boom.

We enrolled our little girl at Cook primary yesterday. She is the first enrolment for 2012. Hopefully the school will still be there by then.

its always fun to quote from a confidential report that no one has read

It’s not like he’s going to assist the birth rate any time soon.

Bring on the next election…then we’ll see how many parents “see the light”.