Businessmen’s union urges command economy

Australia’s flagship businessmen’s union, the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, wants Australian children to compulsorily learn a foreign language from the age of seven.

In a new report — or ‘blueprint’, as they prefer to call it (wink, wink) — ACCI has floated some 153 recommendations that flag increased education expenditure of $8-billion by federal and state governments over the next 3 years.

Like any union would when spending other people’s money, ACCI couches its wish list in flowery terms, its purported aim being to socially engineer

A comprehensive education and training system which: enables all Australians to contribute to a cohesive, democratic and prosperous society, in which the attributes and skills of individuals are fully developed.

But, buried in the detail, one finds the central plank of ACCI’s log of claims, the objective being to

improve education and training as a demand driven system that is specifically aligned to industry needs.

Sadly, it seems the old adage still holds true: Scratch a unionist, and a Stalinist commissar is revealed just beneath the surface.