8.22.2005
Costello Alarm at Anti-US Teachers (TheAge.com.au)
By Brendan Nicholson
Foreign Affairs Correspondent
August 22, 2005
LEFT-WING teachers have created a "dangerous" anti-American bias in Australian schoolchildren, according to Treasurer Peter Costello.
He warns that undermining a long-time ally and the world's most powerful democracy could leave Australia and the world generally vulnerable to terrorism.
In a speech in Sydney on Saturday about Australia's relationship with the United States, Mr Costello said the situation was so bad that some students were unaware that the US had protected Australia from the Japanese in World War II.
Mr Costello raised his concerns about anti-American feeling at the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue dinner, at which he said the knowledge of the role played by the US in the early 1940s had faded with time.
In a follow-up television interview, Mr Costello said it would be dangerous if anti-Americanism were to rise substantially, because the US was Australia's most important strategic and defence partner.
Anti-Americanism could easily morph into anti-Westernism, which threatened Australia's interests as well, he said.
(More ... Costello alarm at anti-US teachers - National - theage.com.au) ¶ 20:40
Foreign Affairs Correspondent
August 22, 2005
LEFT-WING teachers have created a "dangerous" anti-American bias in Australian schoolchildren, according to Treasurer Peter Costello.
He warns that undermining a long-time ally and the world's most powerful democracy could leave Australia and the world generally vulnerable to terrorism.
In a speech in Sydney on Saturday about Australia's relationship with the United States, Mr Costello said the situation was so bad that some students were unaware that the US had protected Australia from the Japanese in World War II.
Mr Costello raised his concerns about anti-American feeling at the Australian-American Leadership Dialogue dinner, at which he said the knowledge of the role played by the US in the early 1940s had faded with time.
In a follow-up television interview, Mr Costello said it would be dangerous if anti-Americanism were to rise substantially, because the US was Australia's most important strategic and defence partner.
Anti-Americanism could easily morph into anti-Westernism, which threatened Australia's interests as well, he said.
(More ... Costello alarm at anti-US teachers - National - theage.com.au) ¶ 20:40
