Mr STIRLING - 1996-02-21
I seek leave to table a memorandum issued by the Department of Education to teachers and principals in the last day.
Leave granted.
Mr STIRLING: What are the minister and his department trying to achieve by issuing directives that transform the voluntary work that teachers perform outside normal working hours, such as school plays and sports excursions, into compulsory core functions and duties, and instituting a system that requires the principals in our schools to dob in to the department any teacher failing to do that type of work on the grounds of industrial action? Is the minister trying deliberately to inflame this dispute and provoke another strike by teachers?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am not sure whether the member for Nhulunbuy is still a current member of the teachers' union. The fact is that we did send a letter to schools. Is it surprising that, when some of the school's employees are about to engage in bans to restrict the delivery of educational services, the employer should write to the principal wanting to learn the extent to which it is occurring? We approached the manager ...
Mr Stirling: Why don't you give them a fair go so that they can all settle down to work again?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stirling: Why won't you give them a separate EBA?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: The fact is that the principal is the chief executive officer at the school, the manager of the school ...
Mr Stirling: I will tell you how impressed they are. You should go and talk to a few of them. Have you spoken to anyone?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The minister will please resume his seat. The member for Nhulunbuy is on very shaky ground. I am placing him on a warning.
Mr HATTON: Mr Speaker, the principal is the manager of the school and has responsibility for the delivery of all educational programs at the school. We are advised formally by the union, albeit in a very cryptic form, that some sort of bans and limitations are
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to be imposed. There is a list of some 60 bans affecting what the member for Nhulunbuy describes as `voluntary extra- curricular activities'. The fact is that most of those are not voluntary extra-curricular activities but an integral part of a teacher's duty. The vast majority are an integral part of a teacher's duty for which that teacher is paid.
Mr Stirling: A sports excursion at the weekend?
Mr Ede: They are not paid for weekend work.
Mr HATTON: The Leader of the Opposition demonstrates his ignorance by that interjection. I make the simple point ...
Mr Ede: They are not.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: Teachers teach for 26 hours and 40 minutes per week. They are paid ...
Mr Bailey: Yes, and they mark all the work associated with that ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: Mr Speaker, I am sure that some people will be interested to hear the answer even if members opposite are not, although they asked the question.
Mr Bailey: Tell the truth and we may be interested.
Mr HATTON: Is the teaching week 26 hours and 40 minutes?
Mr Bailey: No.
Mr HATTON: Oh, it is not?
Mr Bailey: That is contact time.
Mr HATTON: That is contact time.
Mr Bailey: They cannot simply walk in without any preparation.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: However, they are paid for 36 hours and 45 minutes per week. They are given 5 hours stand-down per week, which is paid duty time, for those types of functions that they carry out outside of the classroom. The dispute is over whether they are being adequately paid for it. In 1990, they thought they were being adequately paid for it because the trade union signed an agreement accepting that those functions are the functions of a teacher. A jointly signed agreement stated that they were the functions for which they received a pay increase. That is the truth of it.
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Without going into too much of the detail, I do not apologise for that letter. I think as a ...
Mr Stirling: You called them `terrorists'. That has really hurt them. It is very upsetting when you call them `terrorists'.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: The department has a responsibility to determine whether the teachers are carrying out their duties or not. The persons who should be monitoring their own staff are properly the principals. The principal has a duty to find out whether teachers are carrying out their duties and, if not, to advise the employer. That is what that is about. We did not impose the bans. We did not impose the limitations. We did not take provocative action to restrict the opportunities of children.
Mr Bailey: You are now.
Mr HATTON: In response to that, we have not taken any action against any teachers.
Members interjecting.
Mr Speaker: Order!
Mr HATTON: I must tell you that they will not win this argument. The offer is fair. If the union had bothered to explain it properly, I do not think the teachers would be in this very invidious position. Be that as it may, we will determine the extent to which teachers are limiting the education of children. We are monitoring the situation. I do not apologise in that regard. I do not think that is provocative. It is a natural and responsible approach to a provocative action by the trade union.
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Leave granted.
Mr STIRLING: What are the minister and his department trying to achieve by issuing directives that transform the voluntary work that teachers perform outside normal working hours, such as school plays and sports excursions, into compulsory core functions and duties, and instituting a system that requires the principals in our schools to dob in to the department any teacher failing to do that type of work on the grounds of industrial action? Is the minister trying deliberately to inflame this dispute and provoke another strike by teachers?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, I am not sure whether the member for Nhulunbuy is still a current member of the teachers' union. The fact is that we did send a letter to schools. Is it surprising that, when some of the school's employees are about to engage in bans to restrict the delivery of educational services, the employer should write to the principal wanting to learn the extent to which it is occurring? We approached the manager ...
Mr Stirling: Why don't you give them a fair go so that they can all settle down to work again?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr Stirling: Why won't you give them a separate EBA?
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: The fact is that the principal is the chief executive officer at the school, the manager of the school ...
Mr Stirling: I will tell you how impressed they are. You should go and talk to a few of them. Have you spoken to anyone?
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The minister will please resume his seat. The member for Nhulunbuy is on very shaky ground. I am placing him on a warning.
Mr HATTON: Mr Speaker, the principal is the manager of the school and has responsibility for the delivery of all educational programs at the school. We are advised formally by the union, albeit in a very cryptic form, that some sort of bans and limitations are
Page 1174
to be imposed. There is a list of some 60 bans affecting what the member for Nhulunbuy describes as `voluntary extra- curricular activities'. The fact is that most of those are not voluntary extra-curricular activities but an integral part of a teacher's duty. The vast majority are an integral part of a teacher's duty for which that teacher is paid.
Mr Stirling: A sports excursion at the weekend?
Mr Ede: They are not paid for weekend work.
Mr HATTON: The Leader of the Opposition demonstrates his ignorance by that interjection. I make the simple point ...
Mr Ede: They are not.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: Teachers teach for 26 hours and 40 minutes per week. They are paid ...
Mr Bailey: Yes, and they mark all the work associated with that ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: Mr Speaker, I am sure that some people will be interested to hear the answer even if members opposite are not, although they asked the question.
Mr Bailey: Tell the truth and we may be interested.
Mr HATTON: Is the teaching week 26 hours and 40 minutes?
Mr Bailey: No.
Mr HATTON: Oh, it is not?
Mr Bailey: That is contact time.
Mr HATTON: That is contact time.
Mr Bailey: They cannot simply walk in without any preparation.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: However, they are paid for 36 hours and 45 minutes per week. They are given 5 hours stand-down per week, which is paid duty time, for those types of functions that they carry out outside of the classroom. The dispute is over whether they are being adequately paid for it. In 1990, they thought they were being adequately paid for it because the trade union signed an agreement accepting that those functions are the functions of a teacher. A jointly signed agreement stated that they were the functions for which they received a pay increase. That is the truth of it.
Page 1175
Without going into too much of the detail, I do not apologise for that letter. I think as a ...
Mr Stirling: You called them `terrorists'. That has really hurt them. It is very upsetting when you call them `terrorists'.
Mr SPEAKER: Order!
Mr HATTON: The department has a responsibility to determine whether the teachers are carrying out their duties or not. The persons who should be monitoring their own staff are properly the principals. The principal has a duty to find out whether teachers are carrying out their duties and, if not, to advise the employer. That is what that is about. We did not impose the bans. We did not impose the limitations. We did not take provocative action to restrict the opportunities of children.
Mr Bailey: You are now.
Mr HATTON: In response to that, we have not taken any action against any teachers.
Members interjecting.
Mr Speaker: Order!
Mr HATTON: I must tell you that they will not win this argument. The offer is fair. If the union had bothered to explain it properly, I do not think the teachers would be in this very invidious position. Be that as it may, we will determine the extent to which teachers are limiting the education of children. We are monitoring the situation. I do not apologise in that regard. I do not think that is provocative. It is a natural and responsible approach to a provocative action by the trade union.
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Last updated: 09 Aug 2016