Country kids deserve better
As the two big federal political parties - Liberal and Labor contest ownership of the latest ideas to make schools more accountable and to “revolutionize” education in Australia, yet again the education needs of country kids are not being considered.
My experience tells me that politicians constantly raise and use the issue of accountability of teachers and schools as a political football. Here we go again! Our political leaders need to stop the political humbug and get on with working with communities to improve educational opportunities and outcomes for all Australians.
My experience is that rural, remote, and regional schools have always had to fight governments of either political persuasion when rules and regulations, programmes, and funding just don’t cater for the needs of children and their families living beyond the city limits. These observations are made as a former teacher and principal in regional and remote areas of our country, as a current relief teacher in country SA, and as a parent of children in country SA.
The role of our politicians and governments is to support communities and schools rather than control them. Governments need to support communities to address staff shortages in country areas, to provide quality well focussed ongoing professional development, deliver flexible and appropriate curriculum alternatives, proper reward and incentives for teachers working in country and more remote locations, address staffing continuity and retention, and the ever present issue of distance all need our focus. Our politicians and State and Federal Departments of Education need to work alongside our school communities and tackle these issues together.
Families and communities in rural, regional and remote SA are an integral part of our State’s ongoing economic and social development. However many country kids and their families don’t have choices in regard to education due to their isolation.
It is also fact that education outcomes for non city dwellers fall below national averages. These are the people who keep the wheels of our industry and communities turning and they deserve better.
Achieving quality education is a combined effort between families, community, educators and government. We need to get this balance right. The answers are not all in the halls of parliament but are found in our schools, in our homes, in our universities, and in our unwavering commitment to support the provision of equitable education for country and remote children.
Talk is not cheap if you are listening and prepared to take action. I wouldn’t mind if the Federal Education Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard called into a local school community in SA and listened to country people, rather than taking motivation from some overseas “expert”. Country people are more than happy to share ideas and information with any politician of whatever persuasion. It is about time our politicians had an honest ‘crack’ at making a real difference for our kids and their families in country communities.

WILBUR KLEIN PRESIDENT, SA NATIONALS

Father’s Day
No one would argue that without the father and the mother, the family does not exist in the first instance.
Fathers are fundamental to the family unit. Therefore Fatherhood is one of the cornerstones of a civilized society Father’s Day is a positive acknowledgment of the contribution that fathers do deliver in the development of their children Father’s Day also shows and positively reinforces the love fathers have for their children. This can be seen in the following forms.

•Security.
•Coaching.
•Objectivity.
•Giving views and attitudes to life.
•Providing a fallback in times of hardship.
•Giving a quality of life from a different perspective.
•Offering children a sense of identity.
•Providing a chance for children to develop mentally and physically to fulfil their potential to live in a diverse society.
•Above all, being someone who can listen.
To allow all of this to happen, there has to be freedom for both parents to be treated equally both in marriage and after marriage.
Can there be true freedom unless • Children are not used as weapons? • Children have certainty about their future? •Having equality allows the sanctity of fatherhood to flourish within the lives of children and for the betterment of society.
JOHN FLANAGAN NON-CUSTODIAL PARENTS PARTY (EQUAL PARENTING) NCPP@XISLE.INFO

GM today delivers choice
Opponents of genetically modified (GM) crops, including Multinational Green Peace, are busily circulating petitions seeking ‘full’ GM labelling. However, several facts need to be made. Australia already has a GM labelling system, implemented in 2001.
Health ministers were clear at the time that this was to facilitate choice.
It is not about safety as foods sold in Australia, including GM foods and ingredients, undergo thorough scientific safety assessment. Claims to suggest otherwise are misleading.
Oils are not required to be labelled `GM’ simply because the genetic material is removed during the refining process.
This means that oils from conventional and GM crops cannot be differentiated.
Changes to GM labelling laws would not enhance choice but could serve to reduce it, through all products carrying a `may contain GM’ label.
Alternatively, new costs could be added with the forced introduction of a traceability system spanning the entire supply chain. This cost would be passed onto all consumers.
Farmers in New South Wales and Victoria have chosen to grow GM canola this year because these new varieties enable better weed control, higher yields, improved oil quality and less herbicide.
The introduction of these varieties has actually facilitated choice, with a number of restaurants, retailers and food manufacturers now voluntarily making GM claims to suit their own purposes.
Ironically, in States where GM canola is not permitted, farmers have been forced to persist with conventional varieties which require greater inputs. Such decisions have denied access to cleaner, greener alternatives.
Many consumers may not be aware that Australia has been growing, canola, including herbicide tolerant varieties, since the 1980’s.
Perhaps it is time to poll consumers on a real question — Do you support Australian farmers utilising all the tools and proven technologies available to produce safe, affordable, nutritious food as effi ciently and sustainably as possible?
Gene technology is one tool that will help to deliver this outcome.

PAULA FITZGERALD AGRIFOOD AWARENESS AUSTRALIA, CANBERRA