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THE AUSTRALIAN — Tuesday March 1 2005 The Nation 7

Trainee Grit in the mix makes a top young chef Payout in

G-G sex
cover-up
teachers scandal
Greg Roberts

‘not ready THE woman whose claims of

child sex abuse led to the
downfall of former governor-
general Peter Hollingworth is
set to be offered a six-figure
compensation payment by
the Anglican Church.

for reality’
Jennifer Buckingham
Education editor
TEACHING graduates
should be tested on the
subjects they plan to
teach, to better prepare
them for the classroom.
A committee investigating
teacher training in Victoria
made the recommendation
two weeks after a federal
inquiry was announced into
national teaching standards.
The parliamentary com-
mittee says many teaching
graduates are ill-prepared for
the realities of the profession.
The Victorian Education
and Training Committee
tabled a report yesterday rec-
ommending ‘‘radical reform’’,
including a greater focus on
practical teaching in the
classroom, rather than educa-
tional theory.
The report made 44 recom-
mendations, including tests
for graduates of teacher
training on subject knowl-
edge and competence in in-
formation and communica-
tion technology, as well as
teaching emotional resilience,
communication skills and
conflict resolution.
Other recommendations are
to ‘‘fast-track’’ teacher training
by developing intensive course
work options, and to make use
of the full calendar year and
weekends, rather than restrict
courses to the traditional aca-
demic timetable.
Teacher education is cur-
rently either a four-year full-
time undergraduate degree
or a one-year full-time post-
graduate diploma. The one-
year course is believed to
prevent diversity among
teaching candidates, espe-
cially career-change profes-
sionals and those in rural and
regional areas.
course,’’ said committee
chairman Steve Herbert, the
member for Eltham.
Terry Lovat, president of
the Australian Council of
Deans of Education, said he
was not opposed to fast-
tracking ‘‘in principle, where
people have the appropriate
life skills and knowledge’’.
‘‘But we have to be conscious
that every bit of evidence is
telling us that it is quality of
pedagogy that is important in
education — not just what is in
the teacher’s head, but their
capacity to impart it,’’ Profes-
sor Lovat said.
The committee also recom-
mended broad changes to the
practical component — the
‘‘practicum’’ — of pre-service
teacher training courses,
including the development of
common standards by the Vic-
torian Institute of Teaching.
And it recommended in-
creasing the minimum practi-
cum time from 80 to 130 days
in undergraduate courses
and from 45 to 80 days in post-
graduate courses.
‘‘We found that teaching
practicum is at the heart of
pre-service teacher educa-
tion,’’ Mr Herbert said.
‘‘Education faculties and
schools need to develop
strong, positive partnerships,
through which opportunities
for teaching practicum can be
increased.’’
Australian Education
Union federal president Pat
Byrne said she supported an
extended and properly re-
sourced practicum.
‘‘That’s common sense,’’ Ms
Byrne said.
She was less supportive of
the idea of fast-tracking.
‘‘On the one hand, we’re
Bowl ’em over: Celebrity chef Luke Mangan, right, with young chefs at Sydney’s Flying Fish restaurant for the award launch yesterday
Jane Lyons
WHEN Jordan McLeod was
five he would get home from
kindergarten and cook him-
self pancakes.
Eleven years later, Jordan is
in his first year of a chef’s
apprenticeship. But it hasn’t
been all smooth sailing.
Having come straight out of
school, he suddenly found
himself working 55 hours a
week. ‘‘I was on my feet the
whole time, racing around
with so much pressure,’’ the
No charges for Knights
A 19-YEAR-OLD woman who
alleged she was indecently
assaulted by a Newcastle
Knights rugby league player
16-year-old said yesterday.
But he stuck it out, encour-
aged by employer Peter Kur-
uvita, the owner of Sydney’s
Flying Fish restaurant.
Kuruvita is one of the top
Australian chefs, including
Neil Perry, Guy Grossi, Lyn-
dey Milan and Cath Claring-
bold, who last night launched
the national Lexus Young
Chef of the Year Award.
The finalists will submit a
menu and hold a cook-off be-
fore a panel of chefs on June 26.
The apprentice named as
Sturt University. But she
gave a statement ‘‘requesting
no further action be taken by
police on her behalf’’, NSW
Young Chef of the Year on
July 25 will spend a week
working in London’s Capitol
Hotel, a week working with
British celebrity chef Jamie
Oliver, tour France’s Cham-
pagne region and also receive
$5000 cash.
Kuruvita said the award
would encourage and inspire
young chefs such as Jordan to
continue their careers, de-
spite the long hours and often
little recognition.
‘‘The age group is an impor-
tant one because a lot of the
JOIN US FOR THE CRICKET
senior chefs get recognised,
but the guys who are in the
engine room, in the middle of
it all, are the ones who really
miss out,’’ Kuruvita said.
‘‘I think the incentives to
keep going after your appren-
ticeship, other than sheer grit
and determination, are few.’’
Restaurateur Luke Man-
gan has also thrown his
weight behind the awards,
saying nurturing the creativ-
ity of young chefs is para-
mount to the future quality of
Australian cuisine. ‘‘It’s im-
Picture: Chris Pavlich
portant to keep the industry
growing and these young
chefs are the future of cook-
ing,’’ said Mangan, head chef
at Sydney’s Salt restaurant.
‘‘Hopefully these younger
generations are going to come
through and be the next
superstars in the food world.’’
For his part, McLeod is set
on working as a head chef for
some of the world’s leading
establishments. ‘‘The more
you do, the easier it becomes.
I’m not so tired any more. I
take my vitamins,’’ he said.
Beth Heinrich, 65, identified
herself for the first time last
night when she appeared on
the ABC’s Australian Story.
Mrs Heinrich claimed anon-
ymously in 2002 that Dr Hol-
lingworth, as archbishop of
Brisbane, ignored her claims
that bishop Donald Shear-
man sexually abused her at a
church boarding school in the
central-western NSW town of
Forbes in the mid-1950s.
The then governor-
general’s suggestion on the
same program that she initi-
ated sexual contact as a
14-year-old led to the wide-
spread condemnation of Dr
Hollingworth, who resigned
a year later.
Last August, Mrs Heinrich
attended an historic hearing
in Brisbane’s St John’s Cathe-
dral that saw Mr Shearman
stripped of his holy orders.
Adrian Scarra, the bishop’s
registrar in the Bathurst dio-
cese, where the alleged abuse
took place, said negotiations
with Mrs Heinrich over com-
pensation were well advanced.
Mrs Heinrich last night re-
peated her claim that Mr
Shearman sexually interfered
with her at the St John’s
Hostel, where he was an assis-
tant priest, after telling her
‘‘that was what God wanted’’.
She claims sexual contact
began when she was 14 and
progressed to intercourse
when she was 15. Two years
later, Mr Shearman expelled
her, telling her parents she
had been promiscuous with
other students.
Twenty-one years later,
after she had had five chil-
dren in a failed marriage, the
then bishop Shearman re-
kindled the relationship, only
to break it off.

‘‘If we are to attract this
important cohort, universi-
ties need to provide pathways
which either fast-track their
teacher education or allow
them to continue work while
completing their teaching
told teachers are supposed to
be experts on a whole range
of matters, and on the other,
there is a suggestion that
teacher education could be
shortened. I don’t know how
they sit together.’’
at her university dormitory
has refused to press charges.
The woman had told police
in the NSW town of Bathurst
she was assaulted during a
drunken rampage by
Knights players at Charles
TRIP OF A LIFETIME
police said last night.
Player Dane Tilse has
been sacked for ‘‘bringing
the game into disrepute’’
during the February 20 inci-
dent. A total of 12 players
were fined.

Airfare pair not questioned Spate of

Sean Parnell
TWO Aboriginal leaders were
not required to give evidence
to a Queensland corruption
inquiry despite being central
to the state’s ‘‘airfare affair’’.
The corruption watchdog
finished its investigation into
the taxpayer-funded flight for
Murrandoo Yanner and fel-
low Aboriginal leader Brad
Foster without interviewing
them, because it had received
enough evidence.
A powerful parliamentary
committee last week
demanded the Crime and
Misconduct Commission
explain its decision.
Mr Yanner and Mr Foster
alleged a staff member of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Policy Minister Liddy
Clark asked them to lie about
taxpayer-funded flights they
received after an Aboriginal
death in custody on Palm
Island.
But Ms Clark insisted the
flights were provided on the
Top cop ‘descended into crime’
James Madden
THE life of Victoria’s most
experienced drug detective,
Wayne Strawhorn, is a tale of
meteoric success and an
equally rapid fall.
A decorated detective senior
sergeant in the state’s dis-
graced and disbanded drug
squad, the 49-year-old yester-
day sat silently in the dock as
the jury was told of his alleged
abuse of power and trust.
‘‘This is a trial about one
man’s fall from grace. A fall
from the pinnacle of his ca-
reer . . . to a criminal who
manipulated and misused the
system for his own personal
gain,’’ Crown prosecutor Jer-
emy Rapke QC said in his
opening address at Sergeant
Strawhorn’s drugs trial.
Sergeant Strawhorn is fac-
ing six charges — five of
trafficking pseudoephedrine
between October 1999 and
May 2000, including one count
of trafficking a commercial
quantity of the drug, and one
charge of threatening to kill a
fellow policeman.
The court heard that at the
+ +
Yanner Foster
understanding the men
would reimburse the state
Government, something Mr
Yanner and Mr Foster have
vehemently denied.
Ms Clark has now admitted
to the CMC that public state-
ments she made about the
affair were untrue.
The CMC told the commit-
tee it did not expect Mr Yan-
ner and Mr Foster to co-
operate, particularly as they
would not even verify the
accuracy of media reports
that investigating officers
had to rely on.
CMC chairman Robert
Needham then personally
contacted the committee to
reassure its government and
time of the
offences, Ser-
geant Straw-
horn was in
charge of one of
the drug squad’s
three divisions.
His role was to
Strawhorn oversee autho-
rised drug deals
— or ‘‘controlled chemical de-
liveries’’ — with known crimi-
nals, including the Bandido
bikie gang and Melbourne’s
notorious Moran family.
The policy was to sell pseudo-
ephedrine — the main chemical
in drugs such as speed and ice
— to criminals, and then track
their movements to uncover
their clandestine amphetamine
laboratories.
But it is alleged Sergeant
Strawhorn made several unau-
thorised ‘‘purchases’’ of pseudo-
ephedrine, then secretly sold it
without logging the transac-
tions with the drug squad.
The court heard the drug
could be sold for a profit of 6000
per cent on the black market.
Over the seven-month per-
iod, it is alleged Sergeant
non-government members
the final report would show
why it was not necessary to
interview the men.
Mr Foster yesterday con-
firmed he had not spoken to
the CMC. Mr Yanner could
not be contacted.
Premier Peter Beattie
would neither condemn nor
defend Ms Clark yesterday,
saying he would wait for the
CMC to deliver its report.
‘‘If the CMC report finds
some inappropriate behav-
iour on the part of the minis-
ter, or any other minister, I
will act,’’ Mr Beattie said.
The Premier — who indi-
cated a minister caught lying
to the public would have to
resign or be sacked — said he
would not speak to Ms Clark
before the CMC had con-
cluded its investigation.
Ms Clark and several gov-
ernment staff will be able to
respond to any adverse find-
ings in the CMC’s draft report
before a final report is pre-
pared and released.
Strawhorn and another man,
who cannot be named, illegally
trafficked 5.5kg of pseudo-
ephedrine, including a 2kg deal
with Melbourne underworld
figure Mark Moran a month
before he was killed.
Soon after, officers from the
Victoria Police Ethical Stan-
dards Department began inves-
tigating Sergeant Strawhorn.
The court heard that an
investigation of Sergeant
Strawhorn’s bank accounts
and of his expenditure re-
vealed unexplained wealth.
Two days before his arrest in
March 2003, Sergeant Straw-
horn allegedly made a threat
to kill one of the force’s senior
corruption investigators, Peter
De Santo, who he blamed for
ruining his career. ‘‘I will not
rest until De Santo is dead,’’
Sergeant Strawhorn is alleged
to have said while being se-
cretly taped. When asked if he
intended to kill De Santo him-
self, Sergeant Strawhorn al-
legedly said: ‘‘Yeah, it’s the
only way to get satisfaction.’’
He has pleaded not guilty to
all charges.
needle
in juries
THREE people have been
pricked by syringes on Mel-
bourne’s beaches since
record storms three weeks
ago carried debris to the St
Kilda foreshore from all
over the city.
The latest victim, a seven-
year-old schoolboy, is await-
ing the results of an HIV test
after stepping on a needle
during a Surf Life Saving
water safety program at St
Kilda beach on Friday.
City of Port Phillip The all conquering Australian Cricket team has held the Ashes since
Mayor Darren Ray said
two other people had also 1989 but this year could see an end to this stranglehold as the world’s
been pricked by needles in
the past three weeks, at
No. 1 and 2 test teams battle it out for the most treasured of cricket
nearby Elwood and Port
Melbourne beaches.
trophies. It is sure to be a titanic struggle and a series to remember.
He said this was already
more than the average num-
ber of annual needle-stick The Australian is proud to be offering our readers a choice of two great
injuries in the council area.
‘‘Thirty-one stormwater
cricket tours to England - the EMU tour for the 2nd and 3rd tests, and
drains drain through the
City of Port Phillip into the
bay,’’ he said. ‘‘That syringe
the KANGAROO tour for the 4th and 5th tests - lead in London by
Speedblitz Blues allrounder Matthew Nicholson.
could have come from
Rowville (in Melbourne’s
east), for all we know.’’
Mr Ray added that the
Don't miss this opportunity to be a part of cricketing history and to
council had never had a
single case of a serious
cheer the Aussies on to glory.
transmissible disease being
caught from a syringe.
In 2000, two people, one of
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whom was ironman com-
petitor Jonathan Crowe,
were pricked by needles on
Melbourne bayside
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In both cases, tests for
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hepatitis were negative.
A Surf Life Saving Vic-
Crickettragics.com is a travel brand of
toria spokesman said the
boy, from Our Lady of the The Events Worldwide Travel Group.
Way Catholic school, was Licence 31918 e-mail: cricket@events.com.au
sitting on a rock wall and
digging his feet into the
sand when he was pricked.
The spokesman said
Surf Life Saving staff had
scanned the area for dan-
gerous items, including syr-
inges, before the program
began, but not where the
boy was sitting.
AAP