Letter to the Governor General of the Commonwealth of Australia Mont Albert Victoria 3127 30 October 2013 Your Excellency, I would like to draw your attention to the legislation that is being passed in Victoria called “A Bill for an Act to amend the University of Ballarat Act 2010 to change the name of the University of Ballarat to Federation University Australia and for other purposes.” It was introduced in the Victorian Legislative Council on 24 June 2013 and becomes effective on 1 January 2014. The background to creating Federation University (FedUni) comes from a merger of Monash University Gippsland and the University of Ballarat. In 2012 Gippsland in Victoria had been named as a Regional Centre of Expertise (RCE) by the United Nations University-Institute of Advanced Studies in Japan. A Regional Centre of Expertise is a network of existing formal, non formal and informal education organisations, mobilised to deliver Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) to local and regional communities. A network of RCEs worldwide will constitute the Global Learning Space for Sustainable Development. RCEs aspire to achieve the goals of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005-2014 by translating its global objectives into the context of the local communities in which they operate. I raise my concerns to you about the UNESCO’s stated “global education core mandate” and specifically the UNs ESD programs which FedUni plans to launch through the Ballarat and Gippsland campuses next year. It is not very well known that the Vice Chancellor of the University of Ballarat, Professor Battersby, has embedded sustainability into all curricula for FedUni under a Higher Education Sustainability Initiative at the UN Sustainable Development Knowledge Platform. The VTAC Bulletin of October 2013 shows that 51 Monash Gippsland and Ballarat University courses have been cancelled and new courses have been added. ESD is a concept that goes far beyond environmental education. It is a process of achieving human development. It promotes sustainable consumption and production patterns in order to change attitudes and the behaviour of people as individuals, including as producers and consumers, and as citizens. The concept of sustainable development (SD) touches upon all aspects of the social and institutional fabric. Transformation for SD is the goal of ESD. It involves the transformation of current education, public awareness and training systems for regional sustainable development. The programs of ESD, and the 2013 ECOSOC 10 Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP), as well as the 2011-2013 UNEP science strategy, are being implemented to change people’s values and behaviours towards a sustainable future through lifelong learning. RCEs are used to contribute to changing curricula, pedagogy, various forms of training, corporate and media training and other forms of training. RCEs aim to modify the content of courses, at all levels, from primary schools to the universities. If Federation University Australia becomes effective on 1 January 2014 it will modify the content of the university courses to be undertaken at Monash University Gippsland for ESD and not for scholarly learning. The aim of university education at Gippsland campus has been (up to now) to provide and maintain the scholarly teaching of an excellent world class education in its region and beyond through distant education. This scholarly pursuit of learning is not reflected in ESD which aims to • change the ways of teaching and learning because it does not perceive education as a process giving understanding of a particular subject. • produce changes in individuals to act in ways that produce changes towards SD • make pedagogies participatory for each target group • incorporate sustainability elements into all learning , formal and non-formal, in a region The United Nations Organisation has also endorsed 192 EX/6 Annex to promote global citizenship. This Bill aforementioned must receive the approval of the Federal Government, the State Government and TEQSA. To date, it has been publicly announced in Victoria that Federation University Australia will become effective on 1 January 2014. There has been no public approval given by the Federal Government. I have written letters to Ministers and to Senators of the Federal Parliament and Ministers and Members of State Parliament. I have had one response to my letters from a Victorian Minister. The United Nations Organisation is not a part of the Commonwealth of Australia. The Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act states that we the people of NSW, Victoria, SA, Qld and Tasmania humbly rely on the blessing of Almighty God, and have agreed to unite in one indissoluble Federal Commonwealth under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, and under the Constitution. I do not wish to see sound, excellent, world class scholarly university education overthrown in Victoria and Australia. I wish our children and grandchildren to benefit from the world class education that has been offered at Monash University Gippsland to continue into the future. I do not want to see scholarly university education overthrown by ESD from the United Nations Organisation. It is most apparent that Federation University Australia will be using a foreign nation’s education plan to socialise Australians of all ages for the plans of that Organisation. This is quite unacceptable. It is unpatriotic and it must as such contravene the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution and our allegiance as Commonwealth citizens to the Crown. It is my hope that the Monash University Gippsland can be saved from the socialist ESD agenda of the United Nations Organisation and that it can continue to provide and maintain an excellent standard of education in the region and beyond. I am writing to ask for your help as Governor- General of the Commonwealth of Australia and I look forward to your reply. Yours faithfully, Alison Ryan
Posted on: Wed, 30 Oct 2013 14:19:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015