Big Sister ♥ Jane

There is every chance Quadrant readers were cautioned by parents to select their friends with care because the world would judge them by the company they keep: associate with bigots or nitwits and people will think you are cut from the same cloth.

It’s sound, simple advice whose benefits extend well beyond childhood — advice eSafety Commissioner Julie Inman Grant might be well advised to consider. She is, after all, a civil servant who thrives on the public teat to the tune of almost $445,000 a year, plus taxpayer-funded jaunts to the World Economic Forum for confabs with fellow members of the global elite who know, and know absolutely, what the little people of our planet should be allowed to say, read, watch, drive, emit and eat.

Some might think that turning up at Davos, let alone buying into its agenda, indicates a very definite worldview, but as the alpine gabfest draws participants from both sides of Australian politics it would be difficult to claim eKaren is displaying a partisanship beyond the pale for a public servant.

Closer to home, though, that advice about choosing your friends with care would seem more pertinent.

Atop this page is a picture of the young Jane Caro, an illustration she posted on X above a few words attesting to the education that equipped her with such a superb mind:

Here I am age 7 at Frenchs Forest Public School in 1964. Frenchs Forest Public, Chatswood Public, Forest High & then, thanks to Gough, a free university education. I am so grateful for my wonderful education, available to all.

This drew an immediate and admiring comment from Australia’s eNanny:

Here  it is worth noting once again that Ms Caro is an ardent foe of private schools, in particular the Catholic variety:

Also worth noting, Ms Caro headed the Reason Party’s NSW Senate ticket at the last federal election. It proved a forlorn quest that saw her claim a pitiful 0.15% (7412 votes) of the electorate.

Here’s a question that would be worth raising the next time Big Sister is called to testify before Senate Estimates:

‘Ms Inman Grant, as a public servant, what on earth were you thinking when you wrote ‘hail to the public school system’ when praising and presumably endorsing the view of an extremist opponent of independent schools, especially religious ones?’

And for a follow-up:

‘You have three children. Where did you send them to school?’

The answers could be very interesting.

–rf