Mark Speakman
Leader of the Opposition
Justin Clancy
Acting Shadow Minister for Education
Shadow Minister for Skills, Tafe and Tertiary Education
The Minns Labor Government’s handpicked education head wants to eliminate school choice and abolish private education in New South Wales.
In extraordinary comments provided online ahead of ABC’s Australian Story last night, NSW Education Secretary Murat Dizdar openly questioned whether private schools should exist. He flagged his desire for a national debate on scrapping all non-government schools and enforcing a one-size-fits-all model of public-only education.
Mr Dizdar tried to recover the situation by some later comments published on the Education Department website, but did not walk away from his earlier questioning whether private schools should exist at all.
This is an attack on every parent in NSW who dares to make a choice about their child’s education. It is an insult to every Catholic and independent school community. And it is a betrayal of every teacher, principal and staff member working outside the public system.
The NSW Opposition believes in school choice—public, Catholic or independent.
If the Minns Labor Government truly believes in the continuation of Catholic and other private schools, it’s untenable to have as its education boss someone who wants to abolish them. His views are not merely about, say, a particular curriculum or pedagogical issue, or even as to the appropriate share of funding, but goes to the heart of the structure of the NSW education system and whether two of the three sectors should exist at all.
Leader of the Opposition Mark Speakman said parents in NSW work hard, pay taxes and make sacrifices to send their children to the school that best suits their values, beliefs and needs.
“Labor’s Education Secretary wants to take that choice away from families. That’s unacceptable and untenable,” Mr Speakman said.
Acting Shadow Minister for Education Justin Clancy said we back our public schools and the teachers and support staff who working tirelessly to lift up the next generation.
“But we also back parents. School choice is not a privilege—it’s a right. Mr Dizdar’s comments are out of step and wildly inappropriate for someone in his position. The Premier and Education Minister have handed over the education department to someone who wants to abolish private schools altogether,” Mr Clancy said.
This is not about pitting sectors against one another. It’s about demanding leadership that respects the diverse fabric of our education system.
The Minns Labor Government must decide—do they stand with parents, or with a bureaucrat ideologue who wants to abolish their rights?