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valid reasons for living and hoping in an ever changing and challenging world.
(PANDF, n.d., p. 4)
Former NSW Premier, Bob Carr, consistently vocal in his criticism of the integrated
curriculum model that has developed within the SOSE KLA, maintains that schools should
teach students subjects of the social sciences as separate subjects, for example Geography and
History, rather than combined with a range of other subject areas and disciplines. At a
keynote address at a History Teachers’ Conference while still Premier of NSW, Carropened
with a very clear statement of his preference for how History should be taught, dismissing the
range of studies that SOSE encompasses by asserting “History is not social studies. It’s not
cultural studies. It’s not civics. It’s not anything else. It’s history...It’s the science of knowing
where we’ve been” (B. Carr, 2001, p. 8). The separation, rather than integration, of
humanities subjects has been at the centre of much controversy and was reignited in 2006 by
then-Federal Education Minister, Julie Bishop, who touted the introduction of a mandatory
Australian history subject for all Australian schools within the national curriculum (Bishop,
2006).
Another significant issue related to school education during the time period of the
history/culture wars, can be seen by the increasing direct control of the Federal government
in state-based education. Although this continued with the Labor government, it is not (at this
point in time, but antagonism is increasing, particularly with the controversial publication of
school data on a website, which has led to the construction of league tables) at the
antagonistic level it reached between Labor state Department of Education ministers and thethen
Liberal Federal government in the early-mid 2000s. During this period, the relationship
between the Federal and State Departments of Education disintegrated to such a degree,
newspapers were reporting on it. For example, The Australian ran a headline “Nelson ‘feral’,
claim ministers” (McNamara, 2005, n.p.), reporting on the relationship breakdown between
then-Education Minister Dr Brendan Nelson and the various state Ministers of Education.
Queensland Education Minister, Rod Welford described the actions of Nelson as “It’s
becoming a matter of increasing concern that Nelson’s antics are not consistent with what is
needed to improve the system” (as cited in McNamara, 2005, para. 8). The discontent
between the federal and state governments can be seen in light of the rise in profile of school
curriculum, standards, reporting and one-off topical issues through media reporting during
this time period. The reporting of disagreements points to the continuation in the public
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