Vic How would you rate Daniel Andrews' performance as Victorian Premier? - Part 7

[Saint]

IIRC some of the best school systems globally start kids at school around age 7

Finland is ranked highest:

Quality of primary education in selected countries 2017-2018 | Statista

Finland had the highest quality of primary education in the world in 2017, with an index score of 6.7.

www.statista.com

They start formal education at 7. Maybe that's what you mean?

Here's their pre-school setup

Finland has had access to free universal daycare for children aged eight months to five years in place since 1990, and a year of "preschool/kindergarten" at age six, since 1996. "Daycare" includes both full-day childcare centers and municipal playgrounds with adult supervision where parents can accompany the child. Municipalities also pay mothers who wish to do so to remain at home and provide "home daycare" for the first three years. In some cases this includes occasional visits from a careworker to see that the environment is appropriate.[14] The ratio of adults to children in local municipal childcare centers (either private but subsidized by local municipalities or paid for by municipalities with the help of grants from the central government) is, for children three years old and under: three adults (one teacher and two nurses) for every 12 pupils (or one-to-four); and, for children age three to six: three adults (one teacher and two nurses) for every 20 children (or circa one-to-seven). Payment, where applicable, is scaled to family income and ranges from free to about 200 euros a month maximum.[15] According to Pepa Ódena in these centers, "You are not taught, you learn. The children learn through playing. This philosophy is put into practice in all the schools we visited, in what the teachers say, and in all that one sees.

So, by all means, we could follow the best. But it would probably quadruple, or more, the existing cost of Govt funded childcare.

The next two countries on the list: Switzerland has 2 free years of Kinder before school, Singapore is more like Australia.

They're remarkably similar in age before starting school (at 6/7)

 

[Chief]

What is the rationale for a fundamental change in the way education is delivered to that cohort?

Already happens in Queensland. Has for over a decade.

It's a good program. Kids don't even HAVE to go.

 

[Gralin]

IIRC some of the best school systems globally start kids at school around age 7

Yeah I'd be interested to see the data pointing to these enhanced outcomes.

I think a lesson from the Covid lockdowns, and a "build back better" type of approach might have some consideration given to a culture of more flexible working hours and less emphasis on this necessity for both parents to always be at work.

haven't you both been bitching about the damage to kids of lockdowns and the lack of social interaction?

 

[Deliverance]

haven't you both been bitching about the damage to kids of lockdowns and the lack of social interaction?

Not sure if youre aware, but there are other ways for preschoolers to get social interaction in a free society.
Teenagers during lockdowns, not so much. Hence the mental health tsunami our youth practitioners are experiencing.

 

[Gralin]

Not sure if youre aware, but there are other ways for preschoolers to get social interaction in a free society.
Teenagers during lockdowns, not so much. Hence the mental health tsunami our youth practitioners are experiencing.

not sure if you are aware but more than just teenagers had to deal with isolation during lockdown

keep shifting those goal posts to just be against whatever Andrew's does

 

[Ghost Patrol]

If I read Sttew post right, he is just wanting Dan to acknowledge that the moratorium, which had some protective intentions, has contributed (as many other factors have) to the current lack of gas supply. Not even asking for it to be removed.

And of course the other factors being larger eg exporting of gas without any actual revenue for government (i mean seriously wtf)

Yeah I'm starting to think Sttew has some kind of daddy Dan issues.

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

haven't you both been bitching about the damage to kids of lockdowns and the lack of social interaction?

Yep. Why?

 

[Gralin]

Yep. Why?

Just checking seeing as you seem doubtful about the benefits of more time for kids to interact socially now that Dan is on board with it

 

[Evolved1]

We seem to be in a better position than the other Eastern states with respect to the energy issues.

As the eastern states face an energy crisis, Victoria may fare slightly better. Here's why

Experts say the state's brown coal reserves could provide a "safety net", but ageing power plants and instability from the interconnected national energy market may still pose a threat.

www.abc.net.au

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

Just checking seeing as you seem doubtful about the benefits of more time for kids to interact socially now that Dan is on board with it

Ok. Well kids go through stages in life. Do you want me to map it out or is that enough explanation for you?

 

[William Wonka]

Blackouts were averted earlier this week when the "energy market operator" took over the grid directly

And because there is plenty of gas there was no problems.

The only problem is the greedy campaigners that will happily ship every drop of our resources overseas while we freeze to death in the dark.

 

[BruceFromBalnarring]

And because there is plenty of gas there was no problems.

The only problem is the greedy campaigners that will happily ship every drop of our resources overseas while we freeze to death in the dark.

Never Laybah.

 

[Sttew]

And because there is plenty of gas there was no problems.

The only problem is the greedy campaigners that will happily ship every drop of our resources overseas while we freeze to death in the dark.

Can we have a link for the so called adequate supplies? Why is Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) reporting 2 days ago that it identified a possible shortfall of gas supplies in Victoria?

 

[Blue1980]

not sure if you are aware but more than just teenagers had to deal with isolation during lockdown

keep shifting those goal posts to just be against whatever Andrew's does

Also against NSW Libs as well, apparently. This bipartisanship must break RWNJ's minds.

 

[Deliverance]

not sure if you are aware but more than just teenagers had to deal with isolation during lockdown

keep shifting those goal posts to just be against whatever Andrew's does

Also against NSW Libs as well, apparently. This bipartisanship must break RWNJ's minds.

I didn’t say I'm against Andrews on this policy. I didn't even come close to criticising it. You just have a closed mindset on my thoughts of him, because I criticised him for being the worst performing premier in the country during Covid.

In this case I was simply noting that school starting age is a societal/general concept we could potentially rethink in Aus. It's a related but separate talking point to preschool. Im not seriously expecting massive change. But even if my comment gets a few parents on here thinking about the best time to start their own children in Prep, rather than the typical "ooh, Jimmy's finished kinder, straight to prep for him", I'm happy.

And LOL if you think I'm RW.

 

[Crankyhawk]

For what it’s worth we deferred 2 of ours starting school for a year; partly due to child care kinder being not good so the kids weren’t ready. Meant one of them turned 7 in prep.

 

[Tyberious Funk]

Two hours, 37 hirings: Ombudsman probes ‘Red Wedding’ public service purge

Department of Justice secretary Rebecca Falkingham has, through a spokesman, defended her mass firing and hiring of senior public servants.

www.theage.com.au

IMHO, this is the sort of s**t that has been damaging the government. I'm sympathetic to their cause -- Justice is a lumbering bureaucracy, and Andrews wanted it reformed. So he puts one of his most trusted public servants in charge, with a mandate to purge all the dead wood. The problem is the end result;

Since Falkingham took over the rebranded Department of Justice and Community Safety at the end of 2018, the number of executives has ballooned from 73 to 176 and the total wages bill has grown from $792 million to $1.24 billion. Over the same period, the executive gender balance has shifted from almost parity to women holding nearly two-thirds of all positions.

So to streamline a large, bureaucratic department, the best solution is to hire more execs? Seriously?

And this...

The Age spoke to experienced public servants who lost their jobs in the cull and those who joined the department amid the mass turnover. They describe an environment in which people with extensive operational experience were replaced by bright, generalist policy advisers with little practical knowledge of working in justice.

Most of the ring-ins came from Department of Premier and Cabinet... and my experience with DPC staff fits this characterisation perfectly. Typically smart people, but completely lacking in any operational experience and completely unable to actually achieve anything practical. Great at running whiteboarding sessions though

I'm all in favour of purging some of the dead wood in the public service -- it definitely needs it. But simply swapping out DoJ execs with a bunch of ring-in execs from DPC doesn't really fix things.

 

[Pessimistic]

Two hours, 37 hirings: Ombudsman probes ‘Red Wedding’ public service purge

Department of Justice secretary Rebecca Falkingham has, through a spokesman, defended her mass firing and hiring of senior public servants.

www.theage.com.au

IMHO, this is the sort of s**t that has been damaging the government. I'm sympathetic to their cause -- Justice is a lumbering bureaucracy, and Andrews wanted it reformed. So he puts one of his most trusted public servants in charge, with a mandate to purge all the dead wood. The problem is the end result;

Since Falkingham took over the rebranded Department of Justice and Community Safety at the end of 2018, the number of executives has ballooned from 73 to 176 and the total wages bill has grown from $792 million to $1.24 billion. Over the same period, the executive gender balance has shifted from almost parity to women holding nearly two-thirds of all positions.

So to streamline a large, bureaucratic department, the best solution is to hire more execs? Seriously?

And this...

The Age spoke to experienced public servants who lost their jobs in the cull and those who joined the department amid the mass turnover. They describe an environment in which people with extensive operational experience were replaced by bright, generalist policy advisers with little practical knowledge of working in justice.

Most of the ring-ins came from Department of Premier and Cabinet... and my experience with DPC staff fits this characterisation perfectly. Typically smart people, but completely lacking in any operational experience and completely unable to actually achieve anything practical. Great at running whiteboarding sessions though

I'm all in favour of purging some of the dead wood in the public service -- it definitely needs it. But simply swapping out DoJ execs with a bunch of ring-in execs from DPC doesn't really fix things.

I think this is like all previous govts but ‘on steroids’ and rings true to what I’ve seen from my niche way down the food chain.
Happened just before covid? Explains a lot.

The kicker is these people will say diversity on cue, but this hiring process was anything but

 

[Pessimistic]

And because there is plenty of gas there was no problems.

The only problem is the greedy campaigners that will happily ship every drop of our resources overseas while we freeze to death in the dark.

Not to mention value businesses like manufacturing being made more internationally incompetitive.

 

[Johnny Bananas]

Andrews deserves to be re-elected for the Level Crossing Removal Project and Suburban Rail Loop alone. The willingness to listen to the experts, identify ambitious yet practical solutions that will help the masses, and actually follow through on construction is something that is hard to find in modern Australian politics. Victoria should appreciate what they've got, because once leadership like that is gone, it's hard to get it again.

By contrast, Matthew Guy's big ticket program at the last election (faster trains to regional cities) would have fallen down at the first hurdle, as Guy opposed skyrail, and diesel trains can't run through long tunnels due to ventilation issues, meaning the new trains would have been stuck sharing slow, winding tracks within Melbourne. If you can't make your big ticket items practical, then you don't deserve to form government.

 

[Pessimistic]

Andrews deserves to be re-elected for the Level Crossing Removal Project and Suburban Rail Loop alone. The willingness to listen to the experts, identify ambitious yet practical solutions that will help the masses, and actually follow through on construction is something that is hard to find in modern Australian politics. Victoria should appreciate what they've got, because once leadership like that is gone, it's hard to get it again.

By contrast, Matthew Guy's big ticket program at the last election (faster trains to regional cities) would have fallen down at the first hurdle, as Guy opposed skyrail, and diesel trains can't run through long tunnels due to ventilation issues, meaning the new trains would have been stuck sharing slow, winding tracks within Melbourne. If you can't make your big ticket items practical, then you don't deserve to form government.

Suburban Loop aside, all he did was bring forward plans which had been in the drawer for decades in some cases. The kicker is that previous govts (both sides) had done nect to nothing 8 years in we are now removing lx which would be in 40 years time at previous rates.

Plans contributed to by previous public service expertise. If the above stories are true, where are the plans being hatched for 2-3 decades hence, when expertise is replaced by political hacks!

 

[William Wonka]

Can we have a link for the so called adequate supplies? Why is Australian Energy Market Operator (Aemo) reporting 2 days ago that it identified a possible shortfall of gas supplies in Victoria?

 

[Deliverance]

Andrews deserves to be re-elected for the Level Crossing Removal Project and Suburban Rail Loop alone. The willingness to listen to the experts, identify ambitious yet practical solutions that will help the masses, and actually follow through on construction is something that is hard to find in modern Australian politics. Victoria should appreciate what they've got, because once leadership like that is gone, it's hard to get it again.

By contrast, Matthew Guy's big ticket program at the last election (faster trains to regional cities) would have fallen down at the first hurdle, as Guy opposed skyrail, and diesel trains can't run through long tunnels due to ventilation issues, meaning the new trains would have been stuck sharing slow, winding tracks within Melbourne. If you can't make your big ticket items practical, then you don't deserve to form government.

His free TAFE courses, for industries that are likely to be in high demand in future, was also very good.

 

[Gralin]

Rules are changing next week

Sensible Winter Settings To Keep Victorians Protected | Premier of Victoria

As part of Victoria’s ongoing management of the coronavirus pandemic, Minister for Health Martin Foley has made modest and sensible changes to pandemic orders to allow Victorians to live safely with COVID-19 while reducing transmission and hospitalisations. The Acting Chief Health Officer has...

www.premier.vic.gov.au

 

[Pessimistic]

With all but one mainland state ALP, and the liberal one (the biggest) having a premier who hates Scomo and all he stands for we may have one of those productive couple of years coming up