The Government's Building the Education Revolution (BER) program continues to be dogged by controversy. This is inevitable in such an ambitious and complex program and is probably the result of confusion and misunderstanding. In order the increase public understanding of the program, I have put together the following simple guide.
The BER Program Explained
- Your Aunt Julia gives you a huge amount of lunch money but tells you only to spend it at the BER tuckshop;
- You choose something fantastic from the menu like a works burger with chips and a cola;
- You are informed that there has been an inexplicable price rise since the menu was printed (that morning) and that now all you can get for your money is a sausage roll. As you are hungry, you reluctantly accept;
- When you receive your lunch you look inside the bag to discover that you have been given a mini sausage role. You question this and Ms Firth, the tuckshop coordinator, explains that there was a cost over-run and your lunch order has been 'de-scoped';
- While you stand there a little stunned, she quickly removes the tomato sauce bottle just in case you were planning to squeeze some onto your 'lunch' to make it more palatable;
- When you complain, she replies that the tuckshop is serving thousands of lunches, there are bound to be some problems, most of the other students are grateful, and in any case, a mini sausage roll without sauce meets the tuckshop's benchmark for a 'lunch';
- At this point you are encouraged to walk gratefully away, reassured to have been served by the most 'audited and transparent' tuckshop in history.
- Across the road you notice your cousin, who goes to the local Catholic school, happily tucking in to a works burger with chips and a COLA.
If you're not happy with my explanation, you can hear the Minister Verity Firth give her own explanation in this interview with Katya Quigley of ABC MidNorthCoast
Oh, and did you know that "Verity" is a synonym for "truth"?
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