Webdiary - Founded and Inspired by Margo Kingston

Every child that enters kindergarten embarks on a process that is meant to prepare them for active participation in our culture. Education is an embodied vision of the future. Thinking about the future really could lead to an “Education Revolution”.

Sydney: According to the media 28,000.  A surprisingly good turn out because it seemed to be poorly publicised this year.  I heard about it through Facebook.

To be fair to our pollies (not my natural inclination) health policy is an incredibly difficult area.  Health has the potential to absorb as much money as we can devote to it.  Even one area (say cancer research) could absorb our entire government spending.  This seems ridiculous (and it is of course), but consider: if it was your child dying of cancer ...

Housing affordability is at a record low in Australia for purchasers and renters. Webdiarist Evan Hadkins has some suggestions to make from the perspective of renters. This has the potential to be a hot-button issue for the looming Federal election.

Evan Hadkins reviews On Holidays: A History of Getting Away in Australia by Richard White. Evan suggests that not only is it a well-written work, "academic in the best sense", but also, "in its own sneaky way ... very political ... giv[ing] a bit of ballast to our perceptions of the current debates around IR."

Now that the election has been called I suspect we are about to hear a lot of talk about vision and the future.  Most of it, of course, will be tosh.  So I want a way to get past the rhetoric to what our politicians really think the future will look like.  This is education policy.

In the Future of Schooling in Australia Report, launched by Victorian Premier John Brumby today, the states have for the first time agreed to uniform reporting of school results. It also commits the states to a national curriculum - initially for the core subjects of English, maths and science.

Mr Rudd: "Today I commit to the establishment of a new national institution, Skills Australia, to deal with the nation's critical skills needs." It will be an independent statutory body of seven members who will include: economists, business leaders, academics and training providers. It will be "advising government on the future skills needs of the nation" and also act as "a funnel for research on skills for it to be handed to government."