Category Archives: Australian education

Could China replace Australian iron ore with metal from Africa?

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Analysis: Amid rising trade tensions, Chinese interests are keen to develop a high-quality deposit in Guinea. Analysts warn any restrictions on Australian sales to China would ‘send shockwaves through the market’

Across China and around the clock, furnaces fuelled by Australian iron ore pump out the steel the country needs to build its way out of the coronavirus downturn.

But as China’s trade war with Australia has become louder, working its way from unofficial stoppages to swingeing tariffs on barley and wine, so too have rumblings that the country may slow or end its use of Australian ore.

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Foreign investors and actors not bound by ‘Australians first’ arrivals policy

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Decision sees international students go to the back of the queue while others are given special approval

Greg Hunt has clarified that foreign business people and actors will not be subjected to the “Australians first” approach to international arrivals as Australia struggles to clear a backlog of people seeking to come home.

The health minister suggested that “national interest” exemptions would continue to apply, clarifying that investors will not be barred by the rule that prevents large numbers of international students coming ahead of 36,500 Australians still seeking to return.

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Sydney university meeting in ‘chaos’ after student makes personal donation of $50,000

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Arts/law student Abbey Shi made the announcement after she had been censured by the Sydney University SRC

A meeting at the University of Sydney descended into “chaos” on Tuesday night after one student made an unprecedented personal donation of $50,000 to the student council, after being criticised for not doing enough in her elected job.

Arts/law student Abbey Shi made the surprising announcement after she had been censured for not doing any work for three months in her student-funded position.

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ALP pursues government over land deal as Coalition defends childcare scheme – as it happened

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Melburnians can now travel up to 25km and spend more time out of the house; and federal parliament resumes with Senate estimates. This blog is now closed

To recap:

In the off chance you aren’t completely fed up with Covid-19 data, the federal health department has been publishing a weekly snapshot of how each state is going.

This is an interesting tool for assessing the success of contact tracing in various states, especially as the case load in Victoria continues to drop.

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Victoria reports 113 new cases, NSW nine and Queensland two – as it happened

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Labor grills the Coalition on aged care and the PM discusses the foreign relations bill. This blog is now closed

That is where we will leave the live blog for this evening. If you want to follow the latest global coronavirus news you can follow our other live blog here.

Here’s what we learned today:

#breaking Sports rorts: 70% of grants from separate fund went to Coalition seats, Greens say #auspol #sportsrorts https://t.co/iej3ex14JO

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Coalition to pursue power to block deals such as Victoria’s belt and road agreement with China

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Coalition to introduce laws to prevent Australian governments and universities making ‘detrimental’ deals with foreign powers

The Morrison government will pursue new powers to stop state, territory and local governments and universities entering agreements with foreign governments that it considers detrimental to Australia’s foreign policy objectives.

The government will introduce legislation next week empowering the foreign affairs minister to review and cancel agreements – such as Victoria’s decision to sign up to China’s belt and road initiative – if the commonwealth judges the arrangement adversely affects Australia’s foreign relations.

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Textbook used in Victorian schools repeats Chinese government propaganda

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The textbook, which has now been recalled, includes passages that critics believe endorse China’s authoritarian rule and are ‘straight out of the party playbook’

A textbook used in some Victorian schools includes portions that repeat Chinese Communist party propaganda and features a controversial map in which China claims most of the South China Sea in contradiction of Australian government policy.

The Guardian can reveal concerns about the material have prompted the publisher, Cengage Learning Asia, to recall unsold copies of the textbook, which the Melbourne-based authors said they had written to suit the course design of the Victorian senior school subject Chinese language, culture and society.

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UNSW criticised for letter in Chinese with no mention of freedom of speech

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In contrast, letter in English on same issue said university had ‘unequivocal commitment to freedom of expression’

The University of New South Wales has been criticised for issuing a letter in Chinese that differs from a letter in English explaining its deletion of a tweet that was critical of China’s human rights abuses.

On Wednesday, the vice-chancellor of the university, Prof Ian Jacobs, apologised for the university’s deletion of a tweet that quoted Elaine Pearson, the Australian director of Human Rights Watch and an adjunct academic at the university.

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Australia’s childcare centres struggle to pay up to $9,000 for Covid-19 cleaning

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One-size-fits-all approach for sector puts not-for-profits in jeopardy, union warns

The not-for-profit early childcare education sector is struggling to pay up to $9,000 for deep cleaning each time a Covid-19 case is identified, while federal government transition payments may not be enough to keep the sector afloat as parents pull their children out of the system.

The United Workers Union’s director for early childhood education, Helen Gibbons, said the one-size-fits-all approach towards the early childcare sector needed a rethink or the community risked losing not-for-profit childcare centres, which comprise just under half of the sector.

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Australian trainee doctors distressed after exam postponed by Covid-19 suddenly rescheduled

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Exclusive: some say it’s ‘unfathomable’ to only have three months to prepare for the Royal Australasian College of Physicians exam amid a heavy pandemic workload

Hundreds of trainee physicians who were told an exam they must pass to be eligible for specialist training would be deferred until 2021 due to Covid-19 are distressed after the Royal Australasian College of Physicians said on Monday the exam will in fact be held in about three months’ time.

The decision will affect around 700-800 physician trainees in Australia and around 100 in New Zealand who are eligible to sit the exam, which involves a written and clinical component.

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Melbourne hotspot lockdowns announced as Victoria battles coronavirus outbreaks

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Residents of 10 postcodes ordered to stay at home from midnight on Wednesday

Ten Victorian postcodes will be back in lockdown from midnight on Wednesday and international flights coming into Melbourne will be diverted elsewhere, as the state struggles to get on top of Covid-19 outbreaks and community transmission.

On Tuesday the premier, Daniel Andrews, said a number of Victoria’s cases through late May and early June had been linked through genomic testing to an infection control breach in the hotel quarantine program, prompting him to call for a judicial inquiry.

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Coalition’s university fee overhaul accused of being an ‘attack on women’

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Women represent about 67% students in the heavily affected fields of humanities, social sciences, media and communications

Women account for two-thirds of the students in the university courses facing the biggest increase in fees under the Australian government’s proposed overhaul, according to new analysis by the Greens.

The government has proposed to more than double the student contributions for humanities, social sciences, media and communications courses – with yearly fees increasing from $6,804 to $14,500 – although this does not apply to current students.

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Victoria to extend state of emergency for four more weeks after spike in Covid-19 cases

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Queensland declares southern state a ‘hotspot’ while South Australia reconsiders decision to reopen its border

The Victorian government has announced it will extend its state of emergency for at least four more weeks and ramp up its police enforcement of lockdown rules after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

The surge has also prompted neighbouring South Australia to reconsider its decision to reopen its border, while Queensland has declared all of greater Melbourne a Covid-19 hotspot.

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Australia considering shorter Covid-19 quarantine for students and low-transmission countries

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Government ministers outline measures being considered to reopen for international travel

Senior Morrison government ministers have flagged shorter quarantine periods for international students and business travellers as part of a suite of measures to reopen Australia to international travel.

On Sunday, the health minister, Greg Hunt, confirmed that modifications to the existing mandatory two-week hotel quarantine could be enacted in addition to travel bubbles with safe countries, such as New Zealand, which would not require quarantine.

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Coronavirus Australia live updates: NSW, Victoria, Qld and WA provide update on Covid-19 cases – latest news

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Mathias Cormann to appear before Senate committee seeking answers on the government’s botched wage subsidy projections. Follow the latest live

Mutual obligations for welfare recipients return today.

There are now about 1.6m people receiving the unemployment benefit jobseeker.

Mutual obligations return today & will be gradually phased in.

We are in Phase 1 meaning there are no financial penalties for not meeting activity requirements.

We don't have a timeline of each "phase" but I will keep following up with the Minister for more clarity.

The NSW premier, Gladys Berejiklian was giving a press conference just now. She was pressed on comments from her police minister, David Elliott, who said yesterday that police would not approve future permit protests that did not comply for the health guidelines.

Does she agree with Elliott?

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NSW education minister apologises to victims of alleged paedophile teacher Cletus O’Connor

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Sarah Mitchell tells victims of teacher who allegedly preyed on Indigenous boys, she is ‘deeply sorry’ abuse occurred

The New South Wales education minister has apologised to victims of an alleged serial paedophile teacher who preyed on Indigenous boys for decades in the state’s west, saying she was “deeply sorry that those abuses occurred”.

A Guardian investigation last week revealed that since April 2018 the NSW government had quietly settled cases with more than a dozen men who were victims of Cletus O’Connor, a teacher, principal and school inspector who worked for the state education department for more than three decades.

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‘It’s done its job’: Dan Tehan flags end of free childcare under weight of increasing demand

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Education minister claims scheme a success but says old system was effective as more parents set to return to work

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    • Dan Tehan has suggested the days of free childcare are numbered, as a return to the old subsidy model will be needed to keep centres viable as Australians return to work.

    The education minister told Radio National on Tuesday a new report on the free model showed it had “done its job” during the Covid-19 pandemic but will need to change.

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    Coronavirus Australia live update: Marise Payne not consulted before George Christensen moved to ‘summons’ Chinese ambassador – latest news

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    Treasurer says in statement in lieu of the federal budget: ‘There is no money tree. What we borrow today we must repay in the future.’ Follow the latest news live

    In what is becoming a common scene, there were long lines of international students waiting for donated meals today.

    This footage was shot in Sydney where restaurants in Chinatown are offering free meals to students who have lost jobs and aren’t eligible for jobseeker or jobkeeper.

    Quite incredible. A long line of international students in Sydney right now waiting for free food from a restaurant (line goes another 50m around the corner).

    International students have been hard hit and aren't eligible for coronavirus stimulus payments. Many rely on free meals pic.twitter.com/eTDtRFU8Lw

    Nathan Cleary, the Penrith Panther banned and fined by the NRL for being “untruthful” during the league’s investigation into his social distancing breach, has apologised.

    “I’m obviously embarrassed with myself and I’m not happy with what I’ve done,” he told the club’s website. “I just to want to apologise for my actions. My actions were irresponsible, selfish and pretty stupid, to be honest.

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    Dan Tehan tried to pressure Victoria to reopen schools, but he went from raging bull to mewling kitten | Katharine Murphy

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    While the federal education minister banked on parents’ frustration with home schooling, those same parents are also worried

    It’s been a wild old Sunday, with the federal education minister Dan Tehan going from raging bull to mewling kitten in the space of four hours, so let’s work through things step by step.

    Scott Morrison has been intensely frustrated with school closures for weeks. The prime minister wants schools to reopen as the bedrock of getting the economy moving again, and the bulk of the medical advice before the government suggests that schools are low risk.

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    Teachers hand deliver lessons to Aboriginal students lacking internet access

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    Fewer than three out of 15 families in NSW far west have broadband, making digital classrooms unviable

    Teachers in far western NSW say they have been hand-delivering lessons to Aboriginal students at home because families don’t have reliable access the internet and many don’t have computers for their children to work on.

    To allow children to keep learning, Wilcannia central school teachers have been making lesson packs for their students and delivering them in person every few days, on a 9km round trip in the school minibus.

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