The chief executive of Catholic Schools NSW Dallas McInerney addressed the Sydney Institute this week underlying the importance of Catholic schools to Australian Society.

In his second speech to the Institute - the first being seven years ago in his role as GM, Government and Public Policy for the National Australia Bank - Mr McInerney argued three key propositions:

Firstly, that the most significant intervention in Australian education was made by the Catholic Church through its commitment to a national network of schools.

Secondly, this “commitment represents an enormous contribution to Australia’s social and human capital and its ongoing support from the government delivers a lasting national dividend”.

And thirdly, “the current funding model of the federal government needs revisiting as it disturbs the settled policy of parental school choice and risks undermining the breadth of Australia’s tradition of faith-based education”.

“The Catholic primary school in particular has delivered substantial public policy dividends for Australian education. For almost two centuries, it has stood alongside the local Government school providing a valuable choice for Australian parents. It has delivered a competitive tension into the primary school system - a critical component for any compulsory activity,” his address reads.

“The Government school on one side of the street is a better school for the presence of the Catholic school on the other side of the street; the benefits flow in both directions.”

Courtesy of NCEC newsletter May 17 2018

Read the full address here: Catholic-schools-the-education-option-Australia-can’t-do-without.pdf