johnny basar

Our kids deserve to grow up proud of Australia. Today in Senate Estimates, I asked the Department of Education about the mandatory singing of our national anthem in government schools across Australia, following the excellent announcement of the Finocchiaro Government to mandate the singing of Advance Australia Fair in Northern Territory government schools. I also asked about the imbalance in the history curriculum for primary school children, where content clearly favours our Indigenous and migrant history over our colonial history. For example, in the curriculum content for the Humanities and Social Sciences – from Foundation through to Year 6 – “First Nations” is mentioned 71 times and “Diverse” or “Diversity” is mentioned 26 times. Of course, children can’t appreciate Australian history without learning about our Indigenous heritage and migrant character. But “British” is only mentioned 12 times, “European” is only mentioned 6 times, and “colonial” is only mentioned 10 times. British settlement is not taught – or mentioned – throughout the Foundation, Year 1, Year 2, and Year 3 of a child’s education. The First Fleet is not mentioned until Year 4, and yet, in Year 1, children examine “the traditional toys used by First Nations Australian children to play and learn.” It takes until Year 6 for children to be taught about “the impact of British law on the Australian system of law, as well as the origin of values such as freedom of speech, equality before the law and social justice.” How can a curriculum nurture national pride in our children when the content is clearly intended to diminish and demean British colonisation?