Weekend Wrap for 23 October 2022

Lyndsay Connors – Independent Schools: Aspiration for the few, desperation for the many.
"Local councils should have no role in setting enrolment caps which force private schools to turn away prospective students (and the fees they bring in). This was the claim put forward recently to the Sydney Morning Herald (SMH) by a group of five principals of high-fee Anglican schools in Sydney, backed by the Association of Independent Schools of NSW (AISNSW). These ‘exclusive’ schools argue that it is for them to decide which students they exclude and the circumstances in which they exclude them – and not for any regulatory authority, in this case local councils." (16 Oct 2022)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations

Sean Kelly – What politicians have in common with priests, or should.
"So where does the irreducible go, in politics? Not into religion, which, when it enters political discussion, is these days almost completely reduced to a discussion of rules, specifically who can still discriminate and who can be discriminated against. The most remarkable thing about the Essendon saga, in which Andrew Thorburn was CEO for a day or two before resigning after revelations about a church he chaired, was how tinny it finally felt. There were attempts to make it about big questions of human rights, but as a friend of mine remarked: what, the human right to be a CEO?" (17 Oct 2022)
Read more at The Age

Terence Mills – So this is Democracy at work!
"In the NSW Legislative Assembly you don’t actually have to do much apart from appear on Sky after Dark periodically and give the impression of being a man of the people. But Mark’s ambition has been to get more One Nation representatives into the NSW parliament. Not the lower house as they would actually have to be elected, rather the upper house where they aren’t accountable to an electorate. So Mark has come up with a wheeze to get somebody into parliament without actually being elected." (17 Oct 2022)
Read more at the AIMN

Matthew Knott – Bungled handling of West Jerusalem makes a tough decision worse.
Changing Australia’s position on a topic as contentious as the capital of Israel was always going to arouse intense opposition and debate. But the messy, confusing way the Albanese government executed its decision to no longer recognise West Jerusalem made a challenging task significantly more inflammatory and damaging than it needed to be. (18 Oct 2022)
Read more at The Age

Tony Walker – Australia’s reversal on recognising Jerusalem as Israeli capital is simply a return to status quo.
"The Albanese Labor government’s decision to reverse its predecessor’s recognition of West Jerusalem as Israel’s capital has elicited a predictable reaction from Israel and its supporters in Australia. ... The short answer is that it is unlikely Australia’s “credibility” will be harmed by a decision that reinstates what has been, until recently, a status quo policy under successive Labor and Coalition governments. Rather, the decision announced by Foreign Minister Penny Wong will likely reinforce Canberra’s reputation as a middle power seeking to navigate its way in the shifting sands of Middle East politics." (19 Oct 2022)
Read more at The Conversation

David Crowe – How Penny Wong ended up playing Twister on a minefield with Israel.
"Penny Wong has stepped so warily around so many traps over the past five months that it was jarring to see her playing Twister in a minefield this week when she had three positions on Israel within a day. From a small start – just a quiet change to a website – the government stumbled into a mess. And while some debates are messy by necessity, like the public argument over the stage three tax cuts, this one was not. It was all avoidable." (20 Oct 2022)
Read more at The Age

Geoffrey Whitehead – We need an all-party declaration of support for the ABC.
"With the world at another of its historic tipping points, and since foreign policy essentially begins at home, its timely for Western governments to start building all-party declarations to the world that they see their traditional national public service broadcasters – like the 90-year-old ABC – as important democratic institutions having a focus on serving their people’s needs as citizens rather than their wants as consumers, and so helping us meet the new challenges we all face." (21 Oct 2022)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations

David Muir – Let's start talking about a republic.
"Nothing should stall debate on a republic in the lead-up to a possible referendum in the next term of Parliament. ... The biggest roadblock to even talking seriously about a republic has been the unwillingness of a succession of prime ministers to put the issue on the public agenda." (21 Oct 2022)
Read more at Independent Australia

Amanda Meade – ABC news staff hit back at Media Watch over coverage of trans issues.
"An episode of Media Watch which canvasses whether the ABC’s coverage of transgender issues has been influenced by the broadcaster’s corporate partnership with an LGBTQ+ community group has angered journalists in the broadcaster’s news division." (21 Oct 2022)
Read more at The Guardian