Spirit of Anzacs ‘contest’

DRAFT changes to the Australian Curriculum proposing Anzac Day be “contested” in class has been condemned as insulting to veterans and painting an “overly negative view” of the country.

Education Minister Alan Tudge has criticised the draft, which proposes year 9 students would learn about “the commemoration of World War I, including different historical interpretations and contested debates about the nature and significance of the Anzac legend and the war”.

“In relation to what occurred in 1788, the arrivals of the First Fleet, people should learn about that, and they should learn the perspective from Indigenous people at that time as well,” Mr Tudge said.

“However, there’s things that I don’t like, such as the way that Anzac Day is presented, for example.”

Mr Tudge said instead of Anzac Day being presented as the “most sacred of all days in Australia”, it was presented as a “contested idea”.

“The word contested itself is used 19 times throughout the curriculum,” he said.

Veteran advocate Heston Russell said that he was “all for philosophical conversation”, but questioned who was actually debating Anzac Day.

“We commemorate the spirit that was forged through the actions of those faced with what must have been a modern-day hell on Earth.”