ultimatum, using big words, nasty sticks and BLACKMAIL...

pyne thesaurus...

The impasse has caused great uncertainty for students who have just received university offers for 2015. While their fees are locked in for the current year, students will not know the fee scale for following years of their degrees. So far, only two universities have released fee estimates in the event the legislation passes the Senate.

But as Pyne scrambled to win more support from senators – including the Motoring Enthusiast party’s Ricky Muir, independent senator Nick Xenophon and the Palmer United senators – he was in danger of losing the Liberal Democrat party’s David Leyonhjelm and Family First senator Bob Day.

Leyonhjelm has said a 20% cut to subsidies was the very least necessary, arguing that taxpayers should not have to subsidise students for what is a “private benefit”.

“It appears to me that where we are heading is deregulation of university fees but no savings to the taxpayers, in fact quite possibly the opposite,” Leyonhjelm said. “It could end up costing taxpayers more. That is directly contrary to what I think is the outcome.”

Pyne said he had no qualms about taking the negotiated changes back to the Senate, notwithstanding the prospect of defeat.

“If the Senate votes against it, well, they will be voting for the status quo,” he said. “Nobody in the university sector wants the status quo. The crossbenchers say they don’t want the status quo. So it’s a high-stakes game.”

Pyne said if the Senate rejected the bill, the other elements of the reform package would fail, including the future funding of the national collaborative research infrastructure scheme with Australian future fellowships and the extension of the Commonwealth grants scheme to non-university higher education providers including TAFE.

By Gus Leonisky at 28 Jan 2015 - 7:04pm
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take the pyne bad idea to an election...

Key crossbench Senator Ricky Muir has issued a fresh challenge to Education Minister Christopher Pyne, urging him to seek an election mandate on the government's university reforms.

Senator Muir's position casts further doubt on whether Mr Pyne can successfully convince at least two crossbench senators who voted against the controversial reforms at the end of 2014 to change their minds and back the package in 2015.

The Australian Motoring Enthusiast Party senator's view are roughly in line with independent Senator Nick Xenophon, who has called for a review of the higher education sector and delay to any major reforms until after the next federal election.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott's office called Senator Muir on Tuesday to open talks for the new year. Senator Muir said that while he was listening and consulting on proposals to reform the higher education system he still holds concerns about the prospect of soaring fees should they remain uncapped.

Senator Muir told Fairfax Media on Wednesday reports he was open to potentially backing deregulation had led to "confusion" about his position on the issue.

"I am of the view that if deregulation is the only option the government has for university reform then it should be taken to the election," he said.

"The people of Victoria and Australia have spoken and it is my job to listen to them."

By Gus Leonisky at 28 Jan 2015 - 7:15pm
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the negativity of conservatism (neo fascism) "liberal" right...

The belief in the power of market forces to solve social problems and achieve socially desirable outcomes can be traced back to the ideas of Adam Smith and John Locke, but those ideas found unparalleled acceptance in the various proponents of laissez nous faire in 19th-century America. “Freedom” in the age of laissez faire and its reinvention “neoliberalism” is defined in negative terms, as in freedom from government intervention. A social democrat might emphasise the role that government – the state – can play in allowing as many people as possible to live as freely as possible from such limiting experiences as poverty and exploitation by those more powerful. In neoliberal thought, policies that social democrats tend to support – like public education, universal health care, progressive taxation and the minimum wage – are often seen as unnecessary brakes on the wheels of capitalism. Many on the neoliberal right have such faith in the capacity of the forces of supply and demand to produce the most efficient allocation of resources that the question of imposing constraints on those forces has acquired a moral dimension.

http://www.themonthly.com.au/blog/russell-marks/2015/25/2015/1422165498/...

the pyne police...

A group of university students protesting at a speech by Education Minister Christopher Pyne have been pepper sprayed by police in Sydney.

About 40 students tried to enter the Sydney Masonic Centre just before 11:00am when police sprayed the demonstrators and blocked their entry.

Police sprayed a number of protestors who managed to get into the foyer of the building and were then escorted out.

Mr Pyne was inside the building delivering a lecture to educator groups, after he released a report into teacher education earlier in the morning.

The group of student protestors outside the building were demonstrating against university deregulation when they were pepper sprayed by police.

Ridah Hassan from the National Union of Students said the behaviour by police is disgraceful and the students should be able to protest.

"We were pushed by police and I was pepper sprayed right in the face, my face is on fire," Ms Hassan said.

"Why can't Chris Pyne face up to the fact that students are against his higher education reforms?

By Gus Leonisky at 13 Feb 2015 - 11:46am
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pyne might not pass the test...

Prospective teachers in Australia will be required to pass a new national literacy and numeracy test before they graduate, as part of a federal government overhaul.

The government also plans changes to course accreditation to ensure graduates are ready for the classroom and that every new primary teacher has a subject specialisation.

The education minister, Christopher Pyne, said on Friday the government accepted most of the 38 recommendations of the teacher education ministerial advisory group led by Professor Greg Craven of the Australian Catholic University.

http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2015/feb/13/prospective-teachers-face-literacy-numeracy-tests

There is such a thing as "comprehension". Pyne might get by with an average score on numer'cy and spellin', but "compre'ension"?... He would fail any day on proper "comprehension" tests beyond the garbaged political biased slant he swims in the Canberranean sewers, daily.... And yes, there is a spelling mistake in the toon at top... so whot?

By Gus Leonisky at 13 Feb 2015 - 2:19pm
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