Sky News Live First Edition with Peter Stefanovic
PETER STEFANOVIC:
The Federal Education Minister, Alan Tudge, will push for more wide-ranging changes to the draft national curriculum in a speech to the Centre for Independent Studies today, and he joins me live from Canberra. Minister, good to see you. Thanks for your time this morning. I want to ask about the curriculum and what will the new curriculum do to reverse Australia’s plummeting test scores in basic subjects, and why has it taken so long to act?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, it’s a good question. So the national curriculum is presently being reviewed at the moment by the Independent Australian Curriculum Authority and what I want to see is standards lifted in that new revised curriculum. I want to see evidence-based practices embedded, such as phonics. I want to see a positive, optimistic view of Australian history where individual students learn to understand the origins of our liberal democracy so that they can defend it, they can protect it, they can understand it, and they can celebrate it. Because we live in one of the most wealthy, egalitarian, tolerant, free society that has ever existed in the history of humankind. And students need to understand that so that they can protect it, nourish it, and defend it.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Well, on the topic of history, you mentioned in your speech that the next generation of Australians will be unwilling to defend their country in a military crisis. Now, that seems a bit far-fetched to me. Do you really think so little of our kids and parents?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, I didn’t actually use that language. I said that they won’t necessarily defend our democracy as previous generations have done.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
[Interrupts] Why do you think that though? That seems very negative.
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, the evidence in part is already there when you look at the Lowy Institute polling which says that 40 per cent of young people don’t think that democracy is the best form of governance that we have. And yet, you know, I challenge anybody to have a look at what other form of system of governments you would like to have. I mean, there’s one giant system in China which you can take a very close look at. There’s some other authoritarian regimes around the world. I mean, as I just said, we live in the most liberal, egalitarian, tolerant, wealthy society that has ever existed in humankind and it’s not by accident. It is actually because we’ve inherited incredible institutions from our forebears. We’ve protected them, we’ve nourished them, we’ve improved them, and students need to understand where they came from so that they can equally protect them, improve them, and nourish them.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
How would you like schools to treat colonisation and what some First Nations people regard as Invasion Day? How would you like to see that treated?
ALAN TUDGE:
I think that we should have a true understanding of what occurred in 1788, both from the perspective of the first fleet arriving and what that meant for Australia as the beginning of modern Australia, but also, absolutely, analyse that day and subsequent decades from the perspective of Indigenous people. Many of which who suffered very poorly.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
But you’re getting the full picture?
ALAN TUDGE:
So you want the full picture. I think it’s quite right that there should be those dual perspectives in relation to that. I do think the Indigenous side of things has been covered very adequately. In some respects, it can be a bit repetitious in the draft curriculum that has been proposed. What hasn’t been covered adequately, though, at least in the draft which has been put out publicly, is our Western heritage and how that came about and the celebration of the great achievements of modern Australia. And there are many great things to celebrate and we should be proud of our great country. We’re not perfect, but we’re as perfect as any other nation on the planet and we need to understand that and we need to celebrate that and we should be absolutely proud of that.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
And you want any negative talk of racist statues to be rubbed out?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, this was one of the ridiculous things which was in the draft curriculum. You know, kids weren’t being taught times tables in Year 2 but they were taught to analyse statues and determine whether or not they are racist. In Year 2, seven year olds. I mean, it’s totally and utterly ridiculous. So that is thankfully gone in the new draft, which I haven’t seen the full version of yet but I’ve been verbally briefed on. How that got into the draft in the first place, I do not know Pete.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Yeah.
ALAN TUDGE:
I do not know.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
So when does all this get rubber stamped, Minister?
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, it’ll get rubber stamped when it’s a good version.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Right.
ALAN TUDGE:
So, we’ll have another version presented.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
[Interrupts] So how far along are we? I mean, I did read part of your speech this morning and you mentioned it’s come from an F to a C which is only still a pass, so you’ve still got a ways to go.
ALAN TUDGE:
Well, I would not have approved the draft version which is out publicly today. So I gave it an F. I think the new version is a C, but I want to see an A+ and students deserve that. I haven’t seen the full new version yet but I’ve been verbally briefed on it and I do understand that there have been significant improvements to it. For example, the times tables has been put back to where it is today. Christian heritage has been inserted, we’ve got rid of those ridiculous examples such as kids trying to analyse statues in Year 2 as if they’re racist. Phonics has been strengthened once again. So some of those core elements are back in the revised draft and that’s why I think it’s a really positive development. But I want to see the final details. I want standards to improve, and I certainly want kids to absolutely learn about our rich, democratic history so that they can appreciate it and defend it.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Just a final one here, Minister. Given the announcement from Qantas this morning, when it comes to international students coming back to Australia, when will it get to a level that we had seen pre-pandemic, and the door is basically open as they were for international students, when can that happen?
ALAN TUDGE:
I can’t give you the straight answer on that yet. We will see international students returning this year in smaller numbers and I expect there to be tens of thousands returning next year. But we’re still working through the precise dates. I mean, it is good news that both New South Wales and Victoria now have said that people can come in without quarantining. But let’s work through those details. We’ve got about 160,000 students who already have visas signed up for Australian courses who are offshore waiting to come in. So it’s a significant number. Obviously, we want to get those students back but we’ve just got to work carefully through that.
PETER STEFANOVIC:
Okay. Minister Alan Tudge, appreciate your time. Thanks for coming on. Talk to you soon.
ALAN TUDGE:
Thanks very much Pete.