Premier Peter Gutwein needs to step up today, show some leadership and call Education Minister Sarah Courtney back to work as the start of the new school year approaches in less than three weeks.
Labor Leader Rebecca White said if the Premier was not prepared to order Ms Courtney back from holidays it showed a fundamental lack of judgement on his part and a deep misunderstanding of the Tasmanian community.
“The Premier is completely out of touch on the critical need to provide information to parents, students and teaching staff,” Ms White said.
“Mr Gutwein has demonstrated a total lack of understanding about the level of concern among parents and school staff about the return to school without a clear COVID safety plan from the government.
“Before she went on holidays Ms Courtney gave repeated assurances that schools would be ready for the inevitability that COVID would be detected in schools.
“But those repeated assurances have not been backed up with any detail about what work has been done to make classrooms safe or what measures the government has planned should an outbreak occur.
“Mr Gutwein needs to be calling Ms Courtney back to work to do her job as the Minister responsible for the safety of tens of thousands of students and staff.
“If he does not he has failed to understand and address the fact that there is significant anxiety about keeping kids safe and confusion about what the government plans to do.”
| Rebecca White MP Labor Leader |
