Class Wars: Murat Dizdar
Murat Dizdar is the Secretary of the NSW Department of Education, responsible for more than 2200 public schools and almost 800,000 students. And he's on a mission to stem the flow of students to private schools and claw back funding from the federal government.
For Dizdar, the son of Turkish migrants raised in council housing, this mission is personal.
"I stunk of working class," he tells Australian Story. "I stunk of what work looked like. And I don't mind when I reminisce about that odour because that odour was hard-earned. It taught me that to get your way there was no shortcut. I've always been in the in the corner of the battler, the working class and that's why I'm also so passionate about public education."
Dizdar thrived in the public system and received one of the highest HSC marks in the state. The expectation was that he would study law or medicine, and he chose law. But while working in a law firm as a student he realised he had to follow his true passion – teaching.
A notoriously hard worker, Dizdar worked his way to the top of the department, only resting for nine days after a serious heart attack.
"Absolutely read him the riot act after the heart attack," his wife Ceyda Dizdar says. "And I remember distinctly him saying to me, ‘I'm fine. I'm fine. Can you bring my laptop?'"
Australian Story was granted extraordinary access to Murat Dizdar as he undertook the fight of his life – to secure an extra $800 million per year in funding and start the process of winning back students to public education.
"Murat has got the right idea, in my opinion," former justice of the High Court Michael Kirby tells Australian Story. "For most of the time I was on the High Court, I was the only justice whose entire education had been at public schools. For a long time now, the federal government has been the donor of very, very large amounts of funding to private and religious schools and they've done that to the damage of public schools."
The episode also features interviews with NSW Education Minister Prue Car, former public school alumnus and Socceroo Craig Foster, and former colleague and now state minister Jihad Dibb.
Trailer
Recently Updated Shows
Beyond the Gates
Beyond the Gates is set in a leafy Maryland suburb just outside of Washington D.C., and in one the most affluent African American counties in the United States. Here you'll find a posh gated community with winding tree-lined streets and luxurious mansions to call home. At the center of this community are the Duprees, a powerful and prestigious multi-generational family that is the very definition of Black royalty. But behind these pristine walls and lush, manicured gardens are juicy secrets and scandals waiting to be uncovered. And those that live outside these gates are watching closely. These are the places where our characters live, love, work and play. Those who have "made it" and those who haven't are all trying to navigate life … and some with more grace than others.
Surviving Earth
Surviving Earth will take an incredible journey into prehistory to learn the lessons from past mass extinctions.
Adopting cutting-edge digital technology, each episode transports the viewer back to meet the bizarre and amazing creatures and breathtaking landscapes of a vibrant lost world. Audiences will witness how life finds a way to survive on a planet where meteors fall, super volcanoes erupt, seas boil and the land moves. From the creators of "Walking with Dinosaurs" and "Primeval," these are the stories of the survivors, fighters and lucky ones that shaped the world we live in.
MasterChef Australia
MasterChef Australia is an Australian competitive cooking game show consisting of a group of hopeful contestants that cook and present food to judges in order to win the title of MasterChef Australia.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Emmy Award and Grammy Award winner Jimmy Fallon brought NBC's "The Tonight Show" back to its New York origins when he launched The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon from Rockefeller Center. Fallon puts his own stamp on the storied NBC late-night franchise with his unique comedic wit, on-point pop culture awareness, welcoming style and impeccable taste in music with the award-winning house band, The Roots.
