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SUBJECTS: School Funding; COAG E&OE............................... Paul Murray: You would be surprised to know what is being taught to our kids in school, and this is going to be an area that will be fascinating going into the federal election – about what will kids be taught. Not just Gonski and money, but what actually happens inside the classroom, specifically on the question of history. Christopher Pyne is the Shadow Education Minister, and he joins me this morning to talk about exactly how he’s going to view this should he become education minister in September. Christopher, good morning. Hon Christopher Pyne MP: Good Morning Paul. Murray: Now you’ve been quoted as saying, and it’s been a line that’s was used by, in part, John Howard and plenty of people for a while, that we need to shift from the black armband version of history into a history that is not dismissive of terrible things that have happened in the past, but things that don’t make this and future generations guilty for the sins of the past, they just understand the overall story of Australia. Pyne: That’s exactly right. I mean Australian history is made up of things that happened – we should celebrate things that happened that we should make sure are never repeated again. Anzac Day is central to our understanding of our Australian character and our Australian history. For many historians, it is the first time since federation that the whole country came together in a battle scene, in a conflagration that was the birth of a nation. Now it’s very important that our young people today get the same understanding of Australian history that older generations – I now sadly put myself in that category – understand, and the problem with the national curriculum at the moment is that Anzac day is taught in foundation here as a part of the calendar of commemorative events, along with Easter, Ramadan, Buddha Day, the Feast of Passover and NAIDOC week, and then in year three they’re just lumped together again as days and weeks to be celebrated, along with Harmony Week, National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC week and National Sorry Day, and it’s not until year nine that it’s actually taught as part of our history and understanding the ANZAC tradition. Right, I don’t think that is putting Anzac Day centrally in the curriculum where it belongs. Murray: No, not at all. And also, it is, it’s not about disrespecting those other days, but it’s just about saying: “you know what? There are things that are unified in our history”, and it seems a lot of those things, like Harmony Day and all of those things, are about trying to fiddle with the social engineering and how people perceive other cultures and all of that business. To me, the front and centre of school is that you need to know more about Australia than just “there was a gold rush, there was a Eureka Stockade”. You need to know about Australia’s role in battle, but also that idea that hey, a huge proportion of, well by the kids now, your great grandfathers, your great grandmothers, their lives were changed forever and in fact lost, and the country would have been a very different place if the people of that generation didn’t make the sacrifices that they did. Now I’m sorry, that doesn’t equal up to Harmony Day. Pyne: The truth is that there’s nothing wrong with Reconciliation Week or Harmony Day, or NAIDOC Week or celebrating Ramadan or Buddha Day and Easter, et cetera, but none of those things are taught as importantly about the kind of country we are today more so than Anzac day. And creating a cultural relativity between Anzac Day and all of those other celebrations diminishes Anzac Day, because Australia would not be the country it is today without the ANZAC tradition forged at Gallipoli, whether the battle was a festival battle or not. The simple truth is we were six disparate colonies brought together to fight together in the First World War, for better or for worse, and that is part of our history, and downplaying it sells Australia’s history short. Murray: Now I’ve got to ask you about newspoll today. It still says that there would be a ten point advantage to your side of politics when the election is held in September. The analysis suggests that could be up to a forty seat win, but most importantly from your perspective, I suppose, is that we’ve had nothing but a conversation of funding and I give a Gonski, and I don’t give a Gonski and all the rest of it. Education funding – billions and billions and billions of dollars, many of which is irresponsibly being funded, or is completely underfunded, but it hasn’t moved the needle at all. Does this mean the Prime Minister will change her obsession with education? Pyne: Look I think Paul we are in a surreal political atmosphere at the moment. On the one hand the Treasurer, and the Prime Minister, and the Finance Minister are saying that the revenues have collapsed, that there’s no money, that we need to make savage cuts to save money in the budget, that we are having deficits as far as the eye can see, and on the other hand the next day, the Prime Minister announces $14.5 billion of new spending with borrowed money. And I think the poor old voter out there is spinning around thinking: “have we got any money or haven’t we got any money? Should we be borrowing more money or shouldn’t we be borrowing more money”. The Prime Minister doesn’t have any kind of central narrative about why she should get re-elected. I think the polls are reflective of that – that the public just want a government of adults, that tells them the truth, and they’re not getting it from the Labor Party. Murray: Agreed. Less than 150 days to go. The hard work’s still ahead though. All the best to you, Christopher Pyne, nice to talk to you. Pyne: Thank you ENDS.