Ms FINOCCHIARO - 2012-10-24
The housing crisis in Darwin has brought significant impacts and wide-reaching consequences of the lives of Territorians. Can you explain the impact of this on the education system?
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale. Yes, indeed, the housing crisis has impacted on the Department of Education and Children’s Services and its ability to recruit teachers. Recruiting teachers within the Northern Territory is an extremely challenging job despite the housing problems. The department has to look afield, interstate, as well as within the Territory, to find suitable applicants for the many positions that became available each year. These positions are not just teachers, they are principals and also in the children’s services section of the department.
The problems they encounter are not unlike the problems other professional groups, other workers, encounter when they come to the Northern Territory. There is a lack of affordable housing; rentals are high. The former government was very tardy in its release of land and how it implemented its housing loan schemes. They missed the mark, and did not effectively create more supply - they created more demand.
So, teachers, like many other professions and groups of workers, have been caught in the firing line. They have been caught in this situation that has unfolded over the last decade through the mismanagement of the former government, in that housing is extremely expensive and really out of the reach of the average worker.
Sourcing quality teachers, as I said, is a challenge. I am hearing that within the Darwin rural area, Taminmin High, Humpty Doo Primary and Berry Springs schools have all recently experienced significant difficulties in recruiting teachers to their schools because of the shortage of suitable housing. Just this week, I was contacted by a young teacher, a woman who came to the Territory last year with her partner. She is very happy in the Territory, she is working in a school she loves. It is very important for most teachers that they build a good relationship with the children in their classrooms, with the families, with the community, with the school.
She contacted my office quite despairingly. She was very sad that she and her partner had decided to leave Darwin because of the high cost of rental accommodation in Darwin. She said she was paying around $500 a week and it just was not sustainable. She felt guilty, she was sad, and she felt she owed me an explanation as to why she thought she was letting down the Territory.
The very poor planning of the former government, very poor land release, housing schemes that have failed essentially to create demand, impacts on the education of our children in the Northern Territory.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, I thank the member for Drysdale. Yes, indeed, the housing crisis has impacted on the Department of Education and Children’s Services and its ability to recruit teachers. Recruiting teachers within the Northern Territory is an extremely challenging job despite the housing problems. The department has to look afield, interstate, as well as within the Territory, to find suitable applicants for the many positions that became available each year. These positions are not just teachers, they are principals and also in the children’s services section of the department.
The problems they encounter are not unlike the problems other professional groups, other workers, encounter when they come to the Northern Territory. There is a lack of affordable housing; rentals are high. The former government was very tardy in its release of land and how it implemented its housing loan schemes. They missed the mark, and did not effectively create more supply - they created more demand.
So, teachers, like many other professions and groups of workers, have been caught in the firing line. They have been caught in this situation that has unfolded over the last decade through the mismanagement of the former government, in that housing is extremely expensive and really out of the reach of the average worker.
Sourcing quality teachers, as I said, is a challenge. I am hearing that within the Darwin rural area, Taminmin High, Humpty Doo Primary and Berry Springs schools have all recently experienced significant difficulties in recruiting teachers to their schools because of the shortage of suitable housing. Just this week, I was contacted by a young teacher, a woman who came to the Territory last year with her partner. She is very happy in the Territory, she is working in a school she loves. It is very important for most teachers that they build a good relationship with the children in their classrooms, with the families, with the community, with the school.
She contacted my office quite despairingly. She was very sad that she and her partner had decided to leave Darwin because of the high cost of rental accommodation in Darwin. She said she was paying around $500 a week and it just was not sustainable. She felt guilty, she was sad, and she felt she owed me an explanation as to why she thought she was letting down the Territory.
The very poor planning of the former government, very poor land release, housing schemes that have failed essentially to create demand, impacts on the education of our children in the Northern Territory.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016