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Key posts
- Government ‘striving to do a better job’ in aged care, Deputy PM says
- Western heritage to be elevated in revised national curriculum
- Church schools will lose right to expel gay students as PM deals with moderate Liberals
- Australians insist US wreck is Captain Cook’s ship
- This morning’s headlines at a glance
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Government ‘striving to do a better job’ in aged care, Deputy PM says
As regular readers of this blog will know, the situation in aged care homes has been a major issue this week.
Yesterday, we learned that 777 aged care residents have died with COVID-19 since July 1, 2021. The chief executive of Baptist Care, Charles Moore, said workers “can’t keep pushing through” and they need a pay rise – not just the government’s two $400 cash payments.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce was on ABC News Breakfast earlier this morning and was asked whether the aged care system is facing a crisis.
Here’s what he had to say:
Look, nobody wants anybody to die. It is a tragedy for all families.
I see that [Health] Minister Greg Hunt and the Chief Medical Officer are putting a taskforce together to try to come to a better place.
That’s what management is about. It’s not about perfection. It’s about striving to do a better job.
You’re always working out how you can do a better job and create a better outcome. And best outcome is keeping people alive.
We’ve had tragic deaths, but thank God you live in Australia and not in the UK or in so many other nations. Because we’ve done an exceptional job [at keeping peopel alive] and the government has done an exceptional job.
Western heritage to be elevated in revised national curriculum
A revised national curriculum will elevate the study of Western and Christian heritage in history, remove references to the Anzac legend as “contested”, cement the importance of phonics in teaching reading and reverse changes to maths that left experts worried the subject was being dumbed down.
Education ministers from all Australian governments meet to consider the changes this afternoon, but there are concerns changes to the history syllabus will not go far enough for the federal government, while at least one jurisdiction remains unhappy with maths, sources said.
Students will study World War I in year 9 and World War II in year 10.Credit:Getty
Federal Education Minister Alan Tudge – who has stepped aside amid an investigation into harassment allegations, which he denies – last year said the history curriculum created such a miserable impression of the nation’s past that Australians would be reluctant to defend it.
A briefing to ministers ahead of today’s meeting, obtained by this masthead, shows the reference to debates over the Anzac legend being “contested” has been removed. The new version says students will have “the opportunity to deepen their understanding of the importance of our Western and Christian heritage in the development of Australia as a prosperous and peaceful democracy, as well as learn more about our First Nations Australian histories and cultures”.
Students will study Indigenous history and an overseas ancient society in year 7, medieval Europe in year 8, World War I in year 9, and World War II and “modern campaigns for rights and freedoms” in year 10.
More on the national curriculum here.
Church schools will lose right to expel gay students as PM deals with moderate Liberals
The right of church schools to expel LGBTQ students will be scrapped as part of the government’s push to legislate religious freedom laws, as Prime Minister Scott Morrison tries to lock in the support of moderate Liberal MPs ahead of a potential vote on the bill in the next sitting fortnight.
The federal government will seek to amend a contentious section of the Sex Discrimination Act alongside its Religious Discrimination Bill, in a move that follows lengthy discussions between the Prime Minister’s office and key backbenchers over the past week.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has flagged an amendment to the government’s religious discrimination bill to protect students from discrimination.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The amendment, confirmed by Mr Morrison yesterday, represents a significant departure from the government’s public position until now.
Originally, the Coalition insisted the best avenue for addressing the potential repeal of the Sex Discrimination Act exemptions was through a 12-month review process by the Australian Law Reform Commission after the passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill.
Instead, moderate Liberal MPs Dave Sharma, Katie Allen, Fiona Martin and Angie Bell are pushing for the provision to be immediately scrapped. Mr Morrison has agreed to amend the law, but the details of how that is done are still being worked out.
Read the full story here.
Australians insist US wreck is Captain Cook’s ship
It should have been an unqualified moment of triumph: the definitive identification of the remains of HMB Endeavour, the vessel James Cook sailed to Australia in 1770.
A mystery that had bedevilled historians and maritime archaeologists for decades, it seemed, had finally been solved.
A pre-visualisational digital model of Lieutenant James Cook’s vessel the Endeavour.Credit:Deep Dive
The Morrison government and Australian Maritime Museum left little room for doubt yesterday when they announced with much fanfare that a particular wreck in Newport Harbour, off the coast of Rhode Island, was the Endeavour.
“I am satisfied that this is the final resting place of one of the most important and contentious vessels in Australia’s maritime history,” Maritime Museum chief executive and director Kevin Sumption told reporters.
But the announcement was almost immediately sullied by a furious response from the American partners in the search, who denied the wreck had been definitively identified and vowed not to be swayed by “Australian emotions or politics”.
Read more about the debate here.
This morning’s headlines at a glance
Good morning and thanks for reading our live coverage.
It’s Friday, February 4. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll bring you some of the day’s biggest stories as they unfold.
Here’s what you need to know before we get started.
- In federal politics, there is a plan to revise the national education curriculum to elevate the study of Western and Christian heritage in history. Jordan Baker reports the curriculum will remove references to the Anzac legend as “contested”. Meanwhile, church schools will lose to the right to expel LGBTQ students following a deal between the Prime Minister and moderate Liberal MPs.
- The Australian Maritime Museum insists a United States shipwreck is indeed the HMB Endeavour (the vessel James Cook sailed to Australia in 1770), despite American research partners saying the announcement is premature and positive identification shouldn’t be swayed by “Australian emotions or politics”.
- In coronavirus news, NSW recorded 12,632 cases of COVID-19 yesterday and 38 deaths. Victoria reported 12,157 additional cases and 34 deaths. And in Queensland, there were 8643 extra cases yesterday and nine COVID-related deaths.
- A second Special Air Service witness is expected to appear in court today as part of Ben Roberts-Smith’s defamation trial. The former war veteran is suing The Age, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Canberra Times.
- And in international news, about a dozen people – including the leader of the Islamic State group – have died amid a United States operation in Syria.
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