news, federal-politics,

The Liberal Party candidate under fire for referring to Chloe Shorten as a pig once declared private schools were "far superior" to state schools. Kate Ashmor, the candidate for the Melbourne seat of Macnamara, refused to comment further on her remarks in which she said teachers in the private system were better than "the vast majority of those" in the public system. In a letter published in The Leader in 2001 under her maiden name Kate Ash-Burner, Ms Ashmor wrote of her support for the policy of using taxpayer funds to subsidise private schools and talked down her experience in the state school system. "As a former private school student who also attended public schools, I support the federal government's continued subsidisation of private schools," she wrote. "I was only able to attend a private school via a heavy subsidy due to the income restraints of my parents, and I firmly believe that I would never have achieved the high VCE score I did if it hadn't been for my private school education." "The facilities, teaching staff and pastoral care offered by private schools make them far superior to the vast majority of government schools," she concluded. Kate Ashmor studied at Caulfield Grammar under a scholarship. She refused to provide details of what state schools she attended or her VCE score. Asked if she still believed private schools were "far superior" to public schools, the Victorian Liberal Party said Ms Ashmor would not be making any further comments. Her comments come two days after it was revealed Ms Ashmor referred to Bill Shorten's wife as a pig on social media - something for which she has now apologised. Before the election was called, she questioned Josh Burns, the Labor candidate for Macnamara, about whether he was as proud of being Jewish as she was. Macnamara replaces Melbourne Ports which was previously held by Labor MP Michael Danby. Josh Burns stands to hold the seat for Labor according to the ABC's election analyst Antony Green, but only by a tiny margin of 1.2 per cent. - SMH/The Age

https://nnimgt-a.akamaihd.net/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/dc5syd-6m1ncj1dt54dvmm3kzp.jpg/r0_57_840_532_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg