The Liberal government has demonstrated its contempt for Tasmania’s teachers with its woeful display in Parliament this morning.
Rather than take responsibility for school closures, Premier Jeremy Rockliff and his Education Minister Roger Jaensch both blamed teachers for today’s industrial action, with Mr Rockliff labelling them “irresponsible” and Mr Jaensch saying school closures are the fault of teachers.
Schools will be closed from lunch time – not because of teachers but because they are fed up with being ignored.
As the Premier has been told repeatedly, today’s industrial action is not just about wages – it is also about addressing unsustainable working conditions.
Our teachers are the lowest paid in the country, they are working with less support at a time when challenging student behaviours are on the rise, and stress leave claims are up 54 per cent in the past three years.
For the Premier to claim he values teachers and in the next breath call them irresponsible is a huge insult when he is the one who has broken his promise to work with and support them.
And the Education Minister’s comments are just as appalling – especially coming on top of his misleading claims that exams would be impacted and that teachers’ cries for more support were “nothing but posturing for the sake of it”.
Tasmania’s teachers deserve our respect and support, not the contempt this government has shown them – and it is time the Premier showed some leadership, pulled his ministers into line and reached a fair pay deal with Tasmania’s essential workers.
Rebecca White MP
Labor Leader
