Cut & Paste picked up something from Mark Latham yesterday that is, unfortunately, locked behind the paywall. This is what they reproduced but is only a mere shadow of just how strange it really was. But it was the bit in bold that got to me. Who even dares mention that such problems exist? Which party is it, whose policies are they, that allow people to live one generation to the next without actually having to work? Is the only solution to have the students of wealthy schools associate with the products of these sinkholes and public housing estates? A glimpse into the real world outcomes of the helpful people of the Labor Party.

Mark Latham weighs into the issue of drunken street violence, Australian Financial Review, yesterday:

IN Sydney’s tabloid media, the knee-jerk response has been to argue for greater social separation: tougher penalties for offenders, with longer periods of incarceration. While this reaction is understandable, it does nothing to confront the core problem.

Why? Latham elaborates:

ANYONE who visits Sydney’s Middle Eastern sinkholes or outer-suburban public housing estates will know why. For every Kings Cross thug the authorities lock away, there’s a long production line of feral adolescents ready to take their place.

And he has someone to blame:

PEOPLE like (Tim) Hawkes (headmaster of The King’s School) are part of the problem. They have promoted elitist values and practices – a form of social segregation whereby the middle class has deluded itself into thinking that private wealth and private schooling can buy public safety.

Solution?

IF the headmasters and families of elite private schools truly want to protect their children they should end their segregationist ethos. They should establish regular teacher and student exchanges with underclass schools, sharing their resources and expertise in promoting responsible male citizenship. If the next generation of Thomas Kellys (the ex-King’s student punched to death in July 2013) are to come in contact with their feral peers, it’s much better for this to happen in the classroom than outside the parlour rooms of Kings Cross.