Category: World Author : Steven Hodson Posted: February 25, 2010
Tags : australia, ID number, My School, students
What is going on in Australia? I mean really what the hell is going on?
Earlier today Duncan wrote about the Australian government looking to crack down on offensive material on the web. By the web they mean places like Facebook
This morning, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said he will consider the introduction of an “online ombudsman” that would be tasked with “cracking down on offensive material on the internet.” The emphasis is mine, but it’s the key: not material that is already illegal, but material that may be legal but which the Government deems “offensive.”
Last week, Minister for Censorship Stephen Conroy attacked Facebook, saying that “I think there is a situation where people take Facebook with an enormous amount of trust and they’ve got to clearly explain what went wrong with their security systems, how this was able to happen (and) importantly, how they’re going to ensure that this doesn’t happen again.” In a later report, Conroy was quoted to have demanded that Facebook overhaul security.
As bad – and stupid – as that whole idea is it pales in comparison to what the Australian government – specifically the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations – has up its sleeve. It is a new program which will end up falling under the My School program that will see each student being given a unique identifying number that will follow them through their entire school life.
A program in which every school child in Australia would be given an identity number so their academic progress could be tracked through their school life is expected to be announced by the federal government as early as today.
The Herald understands the number, to be known as a ”unique student identifier”, will be annexed to the My School program, which publishes the performance of individual schools on the internet.
The number would allow the performance of individual students in each of the core subjects to be monitored for the duration of their school life so their progress could be measured.
The Education Minister, Julia Gillard, is expected to announce the proposal in a speech today at the National Press Club where she will also canvass a draft of the new national curriculum to be released next Monday.
The curriculum, a plank in the government’s so-called ”education revolution”, will apply to maths, English, history and the sciences and be taught at all schools, starting next year.
The ”unique student identifier” is expected to cause controversy and raise privacy concerns.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
For country that prides itself on the reputation of fierce independence it seems to be turning into more of a country of government intervention and control over its citizens. I honestly can’t believe the amount of blatant attacks on individual rights that is going on in Australia, and here I thought England was leading the charge on this.
Come on you Aussies, don’t you think the time has arrived where you stand up and tell your government exactly what it can do with all these plans to control your lives?
Feb 25, 2010
As if the Australian Govt. would listen to us lowly plebs. Censorship on games & web with the puritan approach a la Salem witching hunting is sad and stupid. For all the good this country has done, they felt that we needed to be controlled, walled, and unplugged from the world. China has nothing on Australia.
Feb 25, 2010
My goodness – Yep it is 2010 …. I thought I was in Germany circa 1935 ,,, the third reich numbered children – and adults ……
Feb 25, 2010
Why are you all so paranoid for? As a soldier I have my own personal identificatioa number which is used in the same way they wish to use it. Names actually can mean less personal freedom because anyone looking through your files can associate you with whatever they see in the file.
Feb 25, 2010
Check out how high Australia is on the “Quality of life” list compared to other countries.
Feb 26, 2010
I dont think they mean tattoo the childern. theyre just saying education should have its own number just as you have a social insurance number
Feb 26, 2010
its not that radical
Feb 26, 2010
Well unfortunately when the campaigns against these sorts of issues are run by a bunch of nerds who have no idea how to market how dangerous some of these government “interventions” are, as well as groups like Anon essentially proving to average people that the government is right in protecting people from “hackers” who are crashing government websites, then the majority is never going to care.
Essentially the groups against these sets of government interventions need to hire some decent PR people rather then running it essentially targeting other nerds rather than the average Australian. Maybe more people would care then..
Feb 26, 2010
For what it is worth, I’ve heard the US Secretary of Education say basically the same thing.
Mar 8, 2010
Australia has no bill of rights and we’ve been rapidly losing all freedom of expression for years. They’ve been trying to number us for years too. It’s a case of see what the maniacal fanatics of the world have done to repress their people, then see how they can imitate it in Australia using a softly, softly approach to selling it.
Jun 17, 2010
This shouldn’t be happening. I’m in school and no one there wants to have to get branded like an animal. There’s so many rules here. I’m going to America as soon as I’m old enough, there’s more freedom there.