Mary Merkenich
At a July 29 state council meeting, the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union (AEU) gave the green light to the first stage of the privatisation of state schools. The council was presented with a motion about "public-private partnerships" (PPPs) without any notice.
On July 7, Mary Bluett, Victorian AEU president was quoted in the Age supporting PPPs, even though the AEU had not taken a position on this contentious issue. Referring to the terrible state of many state-school buildings, Bluett was quoted as saying, "The need is so significant and so urgent we believe that we must be prepared to look at an appropriate form of PPPs as part of the solution".
Victoria's state schools have some of the worst infrastructure in the country because for 30 years successive state governments have failed to finance their maintenance and refurbishment. Some schools use portable classrooms as permanent buildings. Over the last 20 years, Bluett and Victorian AEU secretary Brian Henderson have not been willing to fight this creeping privatisation.
The day after Bluett's comments in the Age, she and Henderson opposed a motion to debate PPPs at the annual AEU conference, even though the union hadn't determined a position. At the July 29 council meeting, Henderson moved to support PPPs, describing opponents as "hysterically" opposed to them. He did admit, however, that "the AEU has concerns about the increased cost to government associated with public-private partnerships".
The motion stands in sharp contrast to all other state teacher unions and the federal body of the AEU, which oppose PPPs. All the major white-collar unions oppose PPPs, as does the Victorian Trades Hall Council.
A clear example of the rip-off nature of PPPs is the Spencer Street Station Southern Cross project, which cost approximately $300 million to build. The final cost to the government and taxpayers will be closer to $1.84 billion because it was funded using the PPP model, which rewards the PPP consortium.
The Henderson-Bluett motion makes it clear that the Victorian AEU leadership will not campaign for the state government to fully fund state-school infrastructure. Bluett and Henderson have argued that the Labor state government will not use any of its approximately $1.5 billion surplus on education, nor will it go into debt, which is why PPPs are needed.
The so-called safeguards in the Bluett-Henderson motion are simply the PPP model that Victorian Premier Steve Bracks wants dressed up to convince AEU members that it is OK. It ignores the cost to taxpayers, and the possibility that education budgets are likely to be eroded and schools run by business consortiums.
There are similar pushes for PPP schools in WA, and NSW already has them. Trade unionists, journalists and supporters of public sector services are forming networks around the country to defeat the privatisation of our schools.
[Mary Merkenich is a delegate at Mills Park Secondary College and an AEU state councillor.]