Family First National Director Lyle Shelton says a Year 11 geography textbook that tells students mainstream media outlets are "promoting climate change denialism" is the latest instalment in the politicisation of NSW classrooms, and is calling for a curriculum stripped back to reading, writing, arithmetic and the history of this country.
The Daily Telegraph today reported that Global Interactions 11, fourth edition, the Year 11 geography textbook used for the NSW Stage 6 Geography syllabus, tells students that Murdoch-owned outlets and 2GB are "promoting climate change denialism", and that 2GB is "well known for promoting far-right political causes in the search for advertising revenue". A Barker College spokesperson told the paper the book is "the only available textbook" for the syllabus and is "widely used throughout NSW schools".
"A geography class is meant to teach a sixteen-year-old how the world works, not hand them a list of broadcasters to distrust," said Mr Shelton. "That is not geography. It is somebody else's politics with a textbook cover on it."
Deputy Premier and Education Minister Prue Car claims that teachers choose resources aligned to a curriculum she called "evidence-based and apolitical". Opposition Leader Kellie Sloane said someone had to be accountable for what children are required to read, and called on the Minister to look into the text rather than "pass the buck to schools".
"This is the third time this month I have had to point at a NSW classroom," Mr Shelton said. "Activists handed socialist recruitment manuals to Year 10 boys outside Newtown station. Writing results went backwards while classrooms filled up with screens. Now the only geography textbook available in the state arrives with political commentary baked into it. Every time, parents are told it is somebody else's decision. The Minister cannot call the curriculum apolitical and then take no responsibility for the book it is taught from."
Mr Shelton said the answer is not a fight over one textbook but a curriculum that gets back to basics. Family First's education policy commits to:
- Reviewing the national curriculum to put reading, writing, arithmetic, history, thinking skills and logic first
- Restoring the focus on Western civilisation, Australian achievements and democratic principles
- Removing critical race theory framing from the curriculum, and gender ideology from schools and early childhood programs
- Recognising parents as the primary educators of their children, and limiting education department "in loco parentis" authority
- Giving schools greater local autonomy over age-appropriate curriculum decisions
"Teach them to read, write and add up, teach them the history of their own country, and leave the commentary at the school gate," Mr Shelton said. "Parents have been asking for that for years. Family First will actually do it."
