=== Todays Toon ===
Robert Anthony Eden, 1st Earl of Avon, KG, MC, PC (12 June 1897 – 14 January 1977) was a British Conservative politician, who was Prime Minister from 1955 to 1957. He was also Foreign Secretary for three periods between 1935 and 1955, including during World War II.=== Bible Quote ===
“For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”- John 3:17=== Headlines ===
Impoverished Chinese father tries to sell his terrified eight-year-old son to the highest bidder because he can no longer afford to keep him. Picture: Central European News'Weak' Maroons too slippery for Blues
A SUPPOSEDLY understrength Queensland is on track for a fifth straight Origin series win.
Dad sues after being sent death photos
CROWN Office sent a grieving Cairns father chilling pictures of his dead son and stepson.
Apple pips Microsoft as world's biggest
APPLE has surpassed Microsoft as the largest technology company in the world by market capitalisation.
Milkshake like drinking 68 strips of bacon
WORST drink in the US with 2010 calories, 68 grams of fat and 153 grams of sugar is "delicious".
AFL players sweat on paternity issue
SCHOOLGIRL at centre of sex scandal yet to decide if she will ask players to take test.
Stolen generation claim lodged
AN Aboriginal family split up by WA's past policy of forcibly removing indigenous children has launched legal action seeking compensation. - an ambit claim. Were they stolen or saved? Rudd opened this with his false apology- ed.
Louis Vuitton bagged for false ad claims
AS CELEBRITIES come out for London store's grand opening, watchdog raps designer for misleading customers.
Arrest warrant for Thaksin Shinawatra is 'political'
EXILED former Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra believes Interpol will view a warrant for his arrest on terrorism charges will be seen as politically motivated. Thailand's Criminal Court yesterday approved the warrant, claiming he had masterminded and funded the violent anti-government Red Shirt protests in Bangkok. The Foreign Ministry has reportedly asked Interpol to deport him back to the Thai capital. But Mr Thaksin does not believe the arrest warrant has any foundation. - what is the bet Amnesty International won't support him? Or that Rudd won't expel a Thai diplomat over the apparent Thai security forces killing protesters last week. - ed.
Bristol Palin's pregnancy 'humiliating'
BRISTOL Palin called experiencing pregnancy in the spotlight of the 2008 presidential campaign “humiliating” and described the father of her child, Levi Johnston, as “a stranger". "Great, I’m 17 years old, I’m 40 pounds overweight with a big belly on me, all my friends are at school watching this on the news. This kind of sucks,” Ms Palin, now 19, said of her feelings when the McCain-Palin campaign revealed the high school student was pregnant.”= - this appears like an emoticon from the article, and I will leave it at protest for news.com.au's foolhardy use of it - ed.Ms Palin, an ambassador for the Candie’s Foundation, a non-profit foundation that aims to fight teenage pregnancy, told Harper’s Bazaar that she didn’t agree with critics who consider her work for the organisation hypocritical. “Like, if you get lung cancer from smoking, why wouldn’t you want to tell people, ‘Hey, look, don’t smoke'. Why wouldn’t you want to be productive and share your story and do something positive with it?”
Army veteran in Wisconsin can display American flag until Memorial Day, but the symbol honoring his service in Iraq and Kosovo must come down next week.'Top Kill' Starts in Gulf
BP begins latest plan to plug oil disaster after it was approved by Coast Guard — but will it work?
Terror Alert at the Border
Texas on the lookout for suspected member of terror group who may attempt to travel to U.S. through Mexico
Flashback: Dow Back Under 10,000
Another plunge for the crumbling euro wipes out an early rally fueled by the best new home sales report since 2008
=== Comments ===
Obama Ruins EconomyBy Bill O'Reilly
Well, the stock market is getting pounded, down another 23 points Tuesday. After a nice run-up last year, the Dow is down almost 900 points over the last three weeks. And along with the market's fall comes a drop in President Obama's job approval rating.
On Tuesday, the Rasmussen daily tracking poll has just 42 percent of Americans approving. Fifty-six percent do not like the way President Obama is doing his job.
So even with problems like the oil spill and illegal immigration, it is still the economy that drives public opinion.
The Obama administration believes the U.S. economy is getting better and that the chaos in Europe is behind the stock market tumble.
But Americans are worried. The president has been in office for 16 months. When he arrived, unemployment was at 7.7 percent. Now it's 9.9 percent.
Also, Mr. Obama has spent billions bailing out failing companies and imposing social justice through things like universal health care. Meantime, the USA now owes almost $13 trillion.
The reason Greece, Spain and other European countries are in trouble is that they are bankrupt. The reason America is not bankrupt is that the Chinese and others continue to invest here, giving the feds the money to pay the interest on our enormous debt, but that could stop. Also, we are not paying down what we owe, so there are obviously serious economic problems in America.
If the economy does not drastically improve over the next few months, the Democrats will lose control of Congress, and Mr. Obama will be on the defensive.
Remember, the presidential campaign of 2012 will start in January 2011, just seven months from now.
The compelling question is whether Barack Obama will stop governing from the left because it is clear the country cannot afford to expand the government and entitlements anymore. Just like California, Mr. Obama will have to start cutting — and cutting big — very soon.
If the president raises taxes, the economy could get much worse. So the president is, indeed, caught between Barack and a hard place.
===
FOLDING MATILDA
Tim Blair
December:
In a huge year for new media, [New Matilda] continued to grow fast by focusing on the issues that matter.May:
It’s with heavy hearts that we announce the end of newmatilda.com ... we’ve run out of money.Someone lend them an economics textbook! Still, it lasted six years longer than I predicted.
UPDATE. Contributor Ben Pobjie laments:
No one would know my name if it wasn’t for New Matilda.
===
FLIP FLOP FLAN
Tim Blair
Change from a changer:
The environmentalist Tim Flannery has withdrawn his support for carbon capture and storage as an answer to combating climate change, saying he now believes it would be economically unachievable.If Flannery stopped flying, and therefore encountering new ideas, he might also stop changing his mind. He’s previously been accused – by rival publicity-hungry warmenist Clive Hamilton – of changing his mind on carbon taxes, nuclear power and coal. Poor Flannery is continually eating his own future. Speaking of futures, Flannery recently attacked ABC chairman Maurice Newman, who had called for greater balance in climate reporting. Flannery’s response:
The former Australian of the Year, who has championed CCS and projects such as Santos’ $700 million Moomba storage project in South Australia, said he had changed his view on the idea of capturing carbon and storing it underground during a trip to Germany last week.
The one group that’s most sceptical of climate change is men over 65. And Maurice Newman is in that group.Al Gore turned 62 in March. Just three more years until Flannery doesn’t have to believe him.
===
A DESPICABLE THING TO DO
Tim Blair
The story so far: Joe McGinniss – an author and reporter with a history of opposition to Sarah Palin – has rented the house next door to Palin’s place while he writes a book about the former Alaskan governor. He’ll be there for five months or so, bankrolled by international publisher Random House (2009 revenue: $2.7 billion). McGinniss previously bid more than $60,000 in a failed attempt to win a charity auction dinner with Palin. As the 68-year-old wrote at the time: “I think such a dinner would be the perfect way to kick off the reporting for my new book: Sarah Palin’s Year of Living Dangerously. (To be published by Broadway/Random House in fall of 2011.)”
In response, Palin has published an item on Facebook.
The Washington Post‘s David Weigel considers this scenario – cashed-up global publisher and stalky author versus someone with a Facebook account – and asks:
Can somebody explain to me how this isn’t a despicable thing for Palin to do?So, according to Weigel, little Joe McGinniss is the innocent victim here. How dare Palin use the might of Facebook against this gentle fellow? Carry on, Weigel:
Has McGinniss gone to an extreme to get a story? Well, we don’t have his side yet …Maybe he tried to find alternative accommodation in Wasilla, but the only available shack turned out to be … right next to the Palin residence! Possibly all the town’s hotels were booked out for five solid months, and he was forced to move in … right next to the Palin residence!
Assuming he’s rented the house near the Palins for some period of time, assuming the Palins know he’s there and that he’s writing a book, then what, exactly, is wrong with this?If all of that is OK with Weigel, what is so “despicable” about Palin posting her Facebook item?
Politicians don’t have veto power over who gets to write about them, or how they research their stories, as long as they’re within the bounds of the law. It’s incredibly irresponsible for them to sic their fans on journalists they don’t like.
Why? It’s not as though these fans are renting properties next to McGinniss and spying on him. Although, come to think of it, that isn’t a bad idea. Incidentally, Palin is currently a former politician.
This is really the ultimate example of the way Palin manipulates the press and inverts the relationship between reporters and politicians, turning the former into “stalkers” …This is how Palin turns reporters into stalkers: she lives somewhere, and a reporter moves in next door to stalk her. Bad Sarah.
No one in the media should reward Palin for this irresponsible and pathetic bullying.Hey, she isn’t the one with the Random House contract. Enjoy your reward, McGinniss. Further from Ben Smith and Hot Air.
UPDATE. The Washington Post‘s Greg Sargent rails against Palin’s “attacks and smears”. Apparently she’s just meant to endure McGinniss’s prowling in silence.
UPDATE II. Weigel rejects a reader’s notion to “rent the apartment next to yours for 6 months”:
I am not a public figure.UPDATE III. Jim Treacher: “If your Facebook page has more readers than most newspapers, people who work for newspapers don’t like being bypassed.”
UPDATE IV. Behold, the Great Wall of Sarah!
===
If Abbott is cruel, what of the policies killing people right now?
Andrew Bolt
Oh, the outrage at Tony Abbott’s new plan to stop the trade in boat people:
Immigration Minister Chris Evans has described the Coalition’s asylum seeker policy as a ”grab bag of prejudices” that will punish those seeking refuge and not stop people smuggling…But, oh, the silence at the deaths of those lured here by Kevin Rudd’s more “humane” policies:
The return to a policy similar to the Howard government’s so-called Pacific solution has also been attacked by refugee advocates as well as Australian of the Year Patrick McGorry…
Senator Evans has accused the Coalition of wanting to punish people seeking asylum and of “whipping up public fear”. He also described the promise to return to temporary protection visas as “a cruel hoax"…
Amnesty International’s Australian director, Claire Mallinson, says the Opposition’s policy shows political self-interest is being put above human rights.
SENIOR government officials have privately conceded that a refugee boat that disappeared late last year en route to Australia probably sank, resulting in the loss of more than 100 men, women and children.Add those deaths to the 59 I’ve counted already, with refugee activists saying next to nothing about the great lure that had these people taking again to the boats.
Speaking to a Senate estimates committee, Customs and Border Protection chief Michael Carmody said authorities had “credible information” the boat set out for Australia from Indonesia about October 2 last year.
The boat, if it existed, has not been seen since. Mr Carmody said it was possible the boat had returned to Indonesia.
But privately officials have told The Australian it is far more likely the boat sank, resulting in the loss of all aboard.
Relatives of those on board the vessel have so far heard nothing, suggesting those on board are dead.
In fact, the argument for temporary protection visas has never been stronger. The Rudd Government itself has made the case for them by freezing asylum seeker applications from Sri Lankans as it became clear that they are fleeing from not much any more, now that the civil war ended a year ago. Circumstances have changed, and many of the Sri Lankans now in custody find their chances of staying here - even under Rudd - are now much less. That’s the argument for TPVs, right there.
===
The capital in Canada is Rio’s
Andrew Bolt
The timing suggests this was long in the works, and yet…
Rio Tinto has announced the beginning of the expansion program in its Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) operations. The new investment is worth $401 million which was approved by the Board of IOC.And:
Rio Tinto has announced its intention to expand its iron ore operations in Canada.Get used to it, if Kevin Rudd’s tax gets up.
The investment of over US$400 million follows the miner yesterday stating it has put its Australian iron ore expansion on hold after the announcement of a resources super tax.
With the 40% Federal Government tax on all mining profits seeing fierce opposition from the mining community, Rio said it looked to expand in Canada as there is greater attractiveness for investing in the country than Australia.
And John Roskam asks:
Kevin Rudd reckons the fall in the Australian dollar has nothing to do with his new resources tax. So how does he explain this?
===Public servants trained to fight scepticism
Andrew Bolt –
Victoria’s Department of Sustainability and the Environment admits that the more you question a global warming scientist, the less likely you are to believe him:Popular opinion on climate change often waivers, particularly when the media focus on denialist views and encourage “debates” with climate change scientists.And so the department is offering all Victorian public servants this workshop - which of course presumes there’s not a sceptic in the joint:
DSE invites members of the Victorian Public Service to a presentation on:Ah, that slur-word “denialism”. But why a “question time” when debate is so dangerous to the cause?
Dealing with climate change denialism
with Paul Holper, CSIRO…
Friday 18 June 2010
12:00 pm – 1:30 pm
(includes question time)
Treasury Theatre, Lower Plaza
1 Macarthur Street, East Melbourne
(No link to the DSE email. Thanks to readers Michael, Peter, Pat and Andy.)
===
Your donations at work: Red Cross trains the terrorists
Andrew Bolt
Red Cross gives aid to terrorists:
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says it has given first aid training to Taliban members in Afghanistan. An ICRC statement said the organisation had provided basic training and first aid kits to about 70 members of the “armed opposition” last month.Meanwhile, this Red Cross-trained force sends more business Red Cross’s way:
A British soldier has been killed in a battle with militants in southern Afghanistan, amid a surge in Taliban attacks against the foreign forces ...And:
Residents of the southeastern Ghazni province in Afghanistan closed their businesses May 23 to protest and mourn the deaths of 11 students killed by the Taliban.First Amnesty, now Red Cross.
Local residents said the Taliban, many of them foreign militants, kidnapped about 20 people, including university and high school students, on charges of spying early last week.
Eleven of the students were later found murdered in the Andar district. The district police chief for Rehmat Siraji was also killed by the Taliban. The act angered the local population, sources told Central Asia Online. Nine of the kidnapped students remain Taliban hostages.
(Thanks to reader Paul.)
===
Offered safety, bringing danger
Andrew Bolt
Being a refugee from a traumatised country is one of the excuses you can successfully use to get a light sentence for punching a young man to death.
So shouldn’t the Federal Government factor in more carefully the risks to the community in taking in refugees from such countries?
The background of the killer of 24-year-old Matthew McEvoy:
(The judge) then turned to (Andriyas) Tello’s difficult childhood as the seventh of eight children, born into an Assyrian family in Iraq, which they fled after the Gulf War in 1992, and after one of Tello’s uncles had been tortured to death by Saddam Hussein’s regime.UPDATE
The family lived in Jordan, Turkey and Greece for the next five years, with young Andriyas selling tissues on the streets of Athens to help his family survive.
They were finally accepted for asylum by Australia in 1998…
Evidence was heard from experienced forensic psychologist Patrick Newton who said ...: “Notwithstanding these positive values, my assessment did identify some issues in Mr Tello’s conflict-management skills. These have their roots in his traumatic and displaced childhood. Even though the trauma has now passed, Mr Tello continues to have some difficulty engaging with his emotions…Mr Tello is likely to be unaware of his anger until it has reached significant proportions. He is likely to experience his anger as coming upon him suddenly and this makes it more difficult to exercise appropriate control over it.”
A similar excuse is offered to an Adelaide court this month:
A taxi driver who raped a teenager after she passed out on his back seat has asked for mercy in Adelaide’s District Court.
Hajy Baba Rahmanian, 60, was found guilty of rape by a jury and is awaiting sentence after losing an appeal against his conviction…
In sentencing submissions, Rahmanian’s lawyer Grant Algie urged mercy, saying the crime was odd and at the lower end of the scale. He said the Iranian immigrant did not fully appreciate the severity of the crime under Australian law.
“There is a very reasonable possibility that given his cultural background and limited insight into laws and sexual behaviour, he didn’t realise that having intercourse with somebody who is unconscious and therefore not consenting is a very serious crime,” Mr Algie told the court.
===
Families destroyed, and our net can’t catch the children
Andrew Bolt
What a disgraceful failure of Brumby Government - but what troubling evidence of the social decay that has so overwhelmed it:
VICTORIA’S most vulnerable children are being physically and sexually abused, raped by other children and sexually exploited by carers while in the state child protection system.
A damning Ombudsman’s report has uncovered a number of instances where children in foster care, residential homes and the care of relatives have had their limbs broken, seen their guardians selling drugs to other children and been kept with families despite evidence of abuse.
In what the opposition has described as a “sickening” report, Ombudsman George Brouwer has identified a number of failures by the Department of Human Services, including not screening carers properly, especially when the person is an extended relative of the child, failing to adhere to procedures and not taking appropriate action against carers after cases of abuse…
Mr Brouwer drew on statistics from the Child Safety Commissioner, who found 593 children were subject to alleged physical or sexual abuse while in care from 2008 to 2009. There were also 73 incidents of prostitution involving 21 children.
===
It’s Mugabe vs Howard
Andrew Bolt
John Howard’s nomination as president-designate of the International Cricket Council is in trouble - but even Howard haters of the Left might stifle their cheers when they figure why:
The cricket boards of South Africa and Zimbabwe are leading an initiative to block Howard’s nomination… Zimbabwe Cricket has made no secret of its opposition to a man who was so critical of it when he was prime minister and is certain to vote against him if the matter reaches that point.And, of course, South Africa would rather be friends with Robert Mugabe than John Howard.
===
Rudd wobbles
Andrew Bolt
Too little and too late:
THE Rudd government is moving towards a major backdown on its $12 billion tax on resources, redefining its proposed super-profits levy, but the big mining companies have declared the changes do not stop the risk to investment in Australia.Why can’t Kevin Rudd offer more to end this dangerously destructive brawl - and minimise the risk of driving investment off-shore? Because he’s finished if he performs one more big backflip - or loses the one big boast he’d planned for the election:
Only three weeks after unveiling the new resource super-profits tax, the government is preparing to lift the threshold definition of a super profit from 6 per cent to 11 or 12 per cent following a ferocious campaign by the mining companies.
To offset the lost revenue in raising the threshold to the same level as the existing petroleum resources rent tax, which applies to offshore gasfields, the government intends to withdraw the 40 per cent taxpayer-funded compensation originally offered for mining projects that fail.
But all the major mining companies have rejected the new proposals as “tinkering at the edges” and not addressing the main risk to mining investment in Australia. The mining companies are demanding more negotiation with the government on the issues of the retrospective application of the new tax, different rates for different minerals and the 40 per cent tax rate.
...the lost revenue would be covered by the withdrawal of the 40 per cent compensation for failed projects to enable the government to keep its budget projections, including a $1bn surplus in 2012-13, intact.But the fact that Rudd’s mooted concession won’t lose him that $1 billion suggests precisely why miners in this election year won’t agree to it, either. Clearly, Rudd still plans to slug them that (eventual) extra $9 billion a year that they say is too, too much.
Rudd can’t afford to give in, but the miners know there’s no reason this side of the election to settle for what little he’s offering. Rudd is trapped, and the country’s future with him.
UPDATE
Lenore Taylor on figure-fiddling:
THE government was struggling to defend charts backing its central claim the mining industry pays half as much of its profits in taxes and royalties as it did a decade ago, with the Coalition insisting the figures contained fundamental errors.UPDATE 2
The claim the mining industry is no longer paying a ‘’fair share’’ to the Australian people for the resources it exploits is at the heart of the pitched battle between the Rudd government and the mining sector.
Citigroup’s Citi Investment Research & Analysis warns Rudd’s tax could cost Australia billions, slash Rudd’s predicted surplus, cut production and send projects overseas:
The ill conceived RSPT is likely to have savage impact on iron ore wiping ~1/3rd of the incremental value of new Pilbara projects in Australia. At the very least the uncertainty over implementation could delay projects ~12 months. At worst some prospective projects may remain just that…(No link. Thanks to reader A.)
Delaying Australian unapproved projects by 12 months would dramatically reduce the surplus in 2013-14. Steel production growth of only 5% pa in 2011-14 would keep the market in deficit until at least 2014…
Resources may not be mobile but capital is and project rankings would change… BHPB also has an iron ore project in Liberia that could slot in ahead of capital intensive Port Hedland outer harbour.
... Biggest winners of the RSPT uncertainty will likely be Brazilian iron ore producers, Kumba, Anglo and Indian/Chinese producers who could benefit from potentially higher prices but have no impact from RSPT.
===
Flannery flips on Rudd flop
Andrew Bolt
Frequent flyer warmist Tim Flannery changes his mind again during one more gassy flight: yes, the carbon capture dream on which the Rudd Government has bet billions is indeed a dud.
===
Of course our spies use false passports, too
Andrew Bolt
As if anyone doubted the bleeding obvious:
AUSTRALIAN security agencies use false passports issued by the Department of Foreign Affairs to allow covert operatives to function overseas, intelligence sources have admitted.The question is, if we supply fake passports to the spies of friendly countries, why not supply some to Israel?
Following the admission by the Deputy Opposition Leader, Julie Bishop, about Australian use of fake passports, sources confirmed Australia has a long-standing tradition of providing passports to overseas intelligence agencies. These countries are within the ‘’Western intelligence club’’ - specifically Britain, the United States, New Zealand and Canada, sources confirm.
While the government has leapt upon Ms Bishop’s comments, accusing her of a grievous breach of national security, sources within the intelligence community have confirmed she merely made public an inconvenient truth.
But what a fake outrage we’ve seen from Labor and its friends over Biship’s “gaffe”. Now back to the real point: why the Rudd Government’s massive overreaction to the use by Israel of fake Australian passports? How much has this to do with wooing Muslim nations for votes for Kevin Rudd’s bid for a UN Security Council seat?
===
If Tolstoy were Thai, there’d be more sense in an Asian language
Andrew Bolt
One more flopped scheme, but this time it doesn’t matter:
Soon after coming to office, the Prime Minister set a target of doubling the percentage of year 12 school-leavers fluent in Indonesian, Korean, Japanese and Chinese to 12 per cent by 2020, devoting $62.4 million to a four-year program.Why must tens of thousands of students learn Indonesian? Or Korean?
But the study by the Asia Education Foundation at the University of Melbourne finds the existing floor was falling away as the program was launched.
Mr Rudd’s aspiration ‘’faces huge challenges unless there is attitudinal change across the Australian community’’, it says.
Indonesian is at crisis point. Year 12 enrolments have halved since 2000 to just 1100 students nationally.
‘’On current trends, Indonesian could be virtually extinct in language studies at year 12 level by 2020,’’ the foundation said
I don’t understand the reasoning often given - that, for instance, these are neighbours or big trading partners. Or take this reasoning from Professor Tim Lindsey, a University of Melbourne specialist on law in Asia,:
(Bahasa Indonesia) is the language of our largest neighbour, the world’s largest Muslim community, an emerging democracy and a country vitally important to our security. It is the key to ASEAN, which as a bloc is now one of our major trading partners.Rudd also put the case for more “Asian literacy” as an essentially economic one:
The 21st century will be the Asia Pacific century ... so we need to make sure that in decades ahead we are fully engaged with the region… It will be the global powerhouse and there are great opportunities if we engage properly and engage now. Engaging with, cooperating with, active collaboration with the rich economies and societies of greater Asia is critical to Australia’s economic future.But for most children, the real value in learning a specific language is not to become a better businessman, spy, diplomat or interfaith negotiator. It is to gain access to a rich and personally relevant culture, and especially to those parts of that culture you can “consume” at home in Australia. That overwhelmingly means the literature, films, music and even cooking.
But where are the great novels in Bahasa to match what you might read in French or Russian? The great Korean films to match those of Italy? Which Asian language will give access to culture as salient to children of our essentially European civilisation as would, say, Spanish?
You may argue that we will need more children with Asian languages to be able to do business with future trading partners, but this overlooks three things. Most business deals are done in English, few businessman would rely on their schoolboy (or girl) Chinese to do a deal, and of a classroom of students laboriously learning Japanese, how many will really go on to use it commercially? Whose to say that the one child in 100 who indeed goes on to a line of work that requires a foreign language will need the Mandarin she has learned at school, rather than Thai, Korean, Hindi or the Portugese of booming Brazil? And in an increasingly interconnected world, the fact that we closest to Asia becomes less relevant.
Yes, we have more Asian students, many of whom will have cultural reasons to learn the language of their parents. Fine, cater to them and to other students fascinated with Asian cultures. I’d love myself to read the wonderful Tang poets in Mandarin.
But it may be better for us all if many if Asian Australian children, too, got a grounding in the languages other than English that are most central to the dominant and (hopefully) shared culture of this country. But I guess that’s assimilation, and we know what a bad word that still is.
UPDATE
Reader Stevie:
Here are the top 4 languages used by people in the World.Chinese (937,132,000) Spanish (332,000,000) English (322,000,000) Bengali (189,000,000) How many schools are teaching Bengali the language spoken in Bangladesh and Western India? Not too many I think - and yet Bangladesh is a trading partner, has close links still through CHOGM and has enormous potential with its enormous, and growing population.UPDATE 2
Greg Sheridan, however, thinks more students should indeed learn Asian languages (without quite explaining why), but offers these statistics to show Australians just aren’t interested, no matter how much they’re nagged by their superiors:
At Year 12, more than 95 per cent of those students studying Chinese are of Chinese ethnic background. Good on them for doing that of course, but what this means is that the most you can say for this program is that we help kids retain their parents’ language, nothing more. Certainly it is no part of mainstream Australian experience to learn Chinese. The four priority Asian languages are Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian and Korean. There is not a single student studying Korean in Year 12 who is not of Korean background, yet South Korea is our third largest trading partner.Spot on. How many words of Indonesian can my eldest son remember from his four years of lessons? Fewer than five.
In Year 12, fewer than five per cent of Australian students are studying an Asian language and across the whole continent of Australia, among all of our 22 plus million population, about 1100 Year 12 students are studying Indonesian. In fact, on almost every measure, the reality is worse even than the statistics suggest, and steadily getting even worse. The most taught languages in our schools are Japanese, Italian, Indonesian, French, German and Chinese in that order.
But don’t be fooled for a second into thinking that represents a serious effort at language. Most of those numbers come from primary school enrolments where language exposure is compulsory but not remotely serious.
No comments:
Post a Comment