Friday's spill and how unis work

Today's posts will offer some eclectic insights prompted by events and conversations in the last week. I meant to write the first segment the other day, when it happened, but things got busy. And to avoid things being so text-heavy at the outset, here's a photo from my new office, looking south toward UTS (the brown building to the right with the white writing on top), my neighbourhood (right behind the tower to the left of UTS), and Redfern beyond (the tall white towers in the background).

Looking from the CBD south across Haymarket, Ultimo, and Chippendale, toward Redfern.

Now, onto the meat of things that happened in the last few days.

A new Prime Minister, for now

As promised in my last post, things didn't quiet down on the Australian political front, with Tuesday's attempted Liberal party coup devolving into complete parliamentary chaos, with the revolving door of Australian politics ushering in its sixth Prime Minister in a decade. I'll endeavour to keep this concise, as if you really want to know more, there's plenty about what happened on the internet.

The basics are:

1. Malcolm Turnbull, the former Prime Minister, said he wouldn't entertain the idea of another party vote just days after the failed vote on Tuesday, unless he was assured that he no longer had support of the party. If he saw evidence, in the form of a letter with more than 43 signatures, he would call a meeting for Friday and immediately resign, paving the way for a new Prime Minister (assumed to be Peter Dutton,the right-wing challenger who was unsuccessful in the Tuesday bid).
2. By Thursday things had really devolved; the Liberal Party was in a complete uproar, with a newcomer, Scott Morrison, throwing his hat in the ring as a challenger should a spill (vote) be called. With the House of Representatives completely consumed by the issue, they voted to adjourn, effectively shutting down the government over an internal power struggle. Australians weren't too impressed. Meanwhile, there was still no letter.
3. While the House was closed, the Senate voted to refer Peter Dutton to a judicial review, after a report that surfaced the previous day indicated he may not even be eligible to be an MP, much less the Prime Minister. At some point Julie Bishop, who is arguably one of the most well-liked (and probably was the Liberal Party's best shot at gaining popular support in a future election) in the party, threw her hat in the ring.
4. Peter Dutton, who spent Thursday hemming and hawing that he had support, waited until the last minute to produce documentation that showed a majority of Liberal MPs sided with him for a spill. It took until Friday, just an hour before Turnbull said he would hold the meeting, for the letter to make it out. And, interestingly, many of the signatures came with the caveat of "we didn't really want to sign this."
5. A meeting finally took place just after noon on Friday. Turnbull resigned as Prime Minister, and the search was on. We didn't have to wait long... A few minutes later, the three-person race became a two-person race with Julie Bishop out in the first round (which turned out to be pretty suspect, though sadly not all that unsurprising). Then, just a few moments later, the news announced Morrison as Prime Minister. Pretty amazing, considering until 24 hours before many people hadn't heard of him.

In general, the sentiment of most people I know is one of disgust at how things unfolded.

So, now things are back to "normal," but it seems anything could happen at any time, ranging from the government calling an election (which they can do any time between now and May), or potentially another challenge from the far right.

The other bridge

On Sunday morning I took advantage of a break in the off-and-on rain (which we desperately need as we are in a drought) to go on a run. I haven't been keeping up with it since the race a few weeks back, and once I got started I decided I would go for 10k.

My run took me up along the foreshore in Glebe, and rather than turning around and running back along the coast, I decided to try something new—the Anzac Bridge. While the Harbour Bridge is no doubt Sydney's iconic bridge, the Anzac Bridge is of a similar scale, spanning Johnstons Bay on the Harbour, between Pyrmont and Glebe. 

The approach up the Anzac Bridge, heading toward the city.

The nice thing about running on the Anzac Bridge is that it isn't packed with tourists and offers a gentle ramp up and down each side, rather than stairs like the Harbour Bridge.

The view toward the Harbour Bridge from the top of the Anzac Bridge.

 Also, the top of the bridge offers a nice view straight ahead to the skyline of the city, as well as a glimpse of the Harbour and Sydney's better known bridge in the distance.

Overall, it was a good run, I managed to miss most of the rain, I got to experience a new place in the city, and I will definitely do it again.

The cables of the Anzac Bridge.

How unis work

The Australian tertiary education system is fundamentally different than colleges in the United States. I spoke with one of my colleagues about it today, prompted by the fact that the last week has been filled with talk of "Open Day" at various unis around the city (and country—after all, many of my friends are academics), and I was curious about how things work here.

First, you have to know that most people stay in their home cities (or at least states) to go to university. And there aren't really private universities here, only public institutions, save for a few very specific instances. Also, they don't call them "colleges" here, as some high schools are called colleges. That one will involve some more research at a later time.

Students in Year 12 (or as we would say, 12th grade) rank their preference of schools within the state, as well as what they are interested in studying. For example, if someone really wants to study law (which is done in undergrad here) and lived in New South Wales, they may rank something like this:

1. University of Sydney - law
2. University of Technology Sydney - law
3. University of New South Wales - law
4. University of Newcastle - law

Whereas, if they care more about going to a specific school, say Sydney Uni, because it is prestigious, they may say:

1. University of Sydney - history
2. University of Sydney - anthropology
3. University of Sydney - sociology
4. University of Sydney - psychology

Terrible example, but you get the point.

Wandering around the Sydney Uni campus a few weeks back. You can see why it is known as a "sandstone" university.

Then, all students in the each state take the same exam, which are pretty similar across all of the states. In New South Wales it is called the HSC (High School Certificate) exam, in Victoria it is the General Achievement Test, etc. Once every student in the state takes the exam, all students are ranked. Results are released in December, and Universities, who have quotas for each program, then announce what grade had to be achieved that year to get a spot in any given field of study.

Then, students are given the chance to re-rank their choices before being placed according to their preferences and scores before the university semester starts in March.

At least, that is my basic understanding of the situation. All in, I find it very fascinating that students don't go through the labourious admissions process of writing essays, school visits to far-flung campuses, and all the other rigmarole that goes along with choosing a university in the states. Ultimately, the score on an exam dictates where you can go and what you can study.

So there's your education about education for the week!