Ms LAWRIE - 2013-08-27
You are cutting $250m over four years from our education system. Teachers calculate that we face losing 180 teachers from our schools in this term of the CLP government. You are cutting back individual time and attention our students get from their teachers. This also means crowded classrooms, limited access to subject specialists, and fewer subject choices for students like those in the gallery. Parents trust teachers, not you.
Earlier this year you implied teachers were lazy. If you want to claim they are wrong, would you please table the exact teacher cuts by school right now and explain how one less teacher is an improved education outcome?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, come in spinner. Let us put some facts on the table. In the first 12 months of the Country Liberals government we spent more money on education than you did in the previous year. In estimates this year we talked about what we were going to do in education. I know you are working hand-in-hand with the unions at the moment, and on Thursday there will be a mock funeral on the steps of Parliament House. We all know this is a political stunt in the lead up to the federal election.
That is exactly what this is, and it is all about Gonski. You want to hand over education in the Northern Territory to Canberra.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Please table the exact teacher cuts by school and explain how one less teacher is an improved education outcome.
Mr CHANDLER: That is not a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker.
The principals already know. They are the people we should be talking to at the moment. The Education department has already spoken to the principals of every Territory school and they see what the numbers are. Why do you not acknowledge that we need to strengthen the early years of education? Why are we putting an extra 60 teachers into our primary schools, into the years Transition to Year 3?
This government has a focus. This is not the death of education in the Northern Territory, it is the birth of education because we are challenging convention. No one in this House should be thrilled with the results we have had with education in the Northern Territory, particularly in our remote locations as happened under 11 years of Labor. Shameful results in the Northern Territory! We are trying to come to terms with what your educational outcomes have delivered Territorians.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. I am aware of the time; the minister still has not answered the question. Table the details of the number of teacher cuts per school. Why is removing teachers an improved education outcome?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call, if you want to get to your answer.
Mr CHANDLER: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. It is not a point of order. Again, the principals have been notified. In fact, last week we spoke to the unions and I spoke with the shadow minister for Education in this very room last week and gave him an indication of the teachers, where they will be and what the numbers are.
At estimates this year I spoke on the record about 66 in nearly 4000 teachers across the Northern Territory; not the 150 or the 180 teachers you and the unions are talking about. In fact, the numbers turn out to be around half of that: approximately 35 teachers across the Northern Territory where we have close to 4000 teachers across the Northern Territory.
This is renewing education. It is about reviewing where we are going into the future in strengthening education and focusing on where it should be, not coming off the back of the terrible results that occurred under a Labor government.
Earlier this year you implied teachers were lazy. If you want to claim they are wrong, would you please table the exact teacher cuts by school right now and explain how one less teacher is an improved education outcome?
ANSWER
Mr Deputy Speaker, come in spinner. Let us put some facts on the table. In the first 12 months of the Country Liberals government we spent more money on education than you did in the previous year. In estimates this year we talked about what we were going to do in education. I know you are working hand-in-hand with the unions at the moment, and on Thursday there will be a mock funeral on the steps of Parliament House. We all know this is a political stunt in the lead up to the federal election.
That is exactly what this is, and it is all about Gonski. You want to hand over education in the Northern Territory to Canberra.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. Please table the exact teacher cuts by school and explain how one less teacher is an improved education outcome.
Mr CHANDLER: That is not a point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker.
The principals already know. They are the people we should be talking to at the moment. The Education department has already spoken to the principals of every Territory school and they see what the numbers are. Why do you not acknowledge that we need to strengthen the early years of education? Why are we putting an extra 60 teachers into our primary schools, into the years Transition to Year 3?
This government has a focus. This is not the death of education in the Northern Territory, it is the birth of education because we are challenging convention. No one in this House should be thrilled with the results we have had with education in the Northern Territory, particularly in our remote locations as happened under 11 years of Labor. Shameful results in the Northern Territory! We are trying to come to terms with what your educational outcomes have delivered Territorians.
Ms LAWRIE: A point of order, Mr Deputy Speaker! Standing Order 113: relevance. I am aware of the time; the minister still has not answered the question. Table the details of the number of teacher cuts per school. Why is removing teachers an improved education outcome?
Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER: Minister, you have the call, if you want to get to your answer.
Mr CHANDLER: Thank you Mr Deputy Speaker. It is not a point of order. Again, the principals have been notified. In fact, last week we spoke to the unions and I spoke with the shadow minister for Education in this very room last week and gave him an indication of the teachers, where they will be and what the numbers are.
At estimates this year I spoke on the record about 66 in nearly 4000 teachers across the Northern Territory; not the 150 or the 180 teachers you and the unions are talking about. In fact, the numbers turn out to be around half of that: approximately 35 teachers across the Northern Territory where we have close to 4000 teachers across the Northern Territory.
This is renewing education. It is about reviewing where we are going into the future in strengthening education and focusing on where it should be, not coming off the back of the terrible results that occurred under a Labor government.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016