George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Minister for the Arts and Sport) Share this | Hansard source

when he said this:

According to postmodern dogma, all “texts” are equal and equally worthy of study whether they are plays by Patrick White, an SMS text message or a return ticket to Flinders Street Station. Texts are no longer studied to reveal their moral or aesthetic value, they are “unpacked” or “decoded” to expose perceived racism, sexism and the exploitation of “victims” by the hegemonic classes. This ideological approach means that even if students do study anything from the canon of great literature it is through the jaundiced eye of left-wing politics, turning a deaf ear to the musicality of language or the aesthetics of beauty. It is extraordinary that at a time when young people feel more freedom to express open pride in their Australian identity they are not being exposed to what our greatest writers and poets have to say about being Australian.

In order to address that concern evident to all Australian parents of school age children, the Australian government has taken a series of initiatives. Last week the Minister for Education, Science and Training, Ms Bishop, and I attended the Australian Literature in Education Roundtable, convened by the Literature Board of the Australia Council at the National Library here in Canberra. The roundtable was convened under the chairmanship of Mr Imre Salusinszky, the Chair of the Literature Board—