TEACHERS NEED PAY RISE: NATIONALS

The Nationals have come out in strong support of a decent salary increase for teachers, and have gained support for their proposal from the Upper House of State Parliament.

The Nationals’ Education spokesman, Eastern Victoria MP Peter Hall, has called for the Brumby Government to immediately increase Victorian Government school teacher salaries from the lowest paid to the highest paid in the nation.

Mr Hall said: “Teachers are a vital part of our community. Even if everything else in our education system was top class, if we don’t have enough teachers, we have a huge problem. We need to reward them properly for the important work they do.”

In Parliament, Mr Hall spoke in support of the Coalition’s policy to commit nearly $400 million over three years to achieve that goal.

“The government has put on the table a 3.25 per cent wage increase. That will still leave Victorian teachers well below their interstate counterparts.

“The coalition has costed that beyond the existing 3.25 per cent offer on the table, and says another $396 million will be required over three years to bring Victorian teachers' salaries to a level so that they become the highest paid in Australia.

“That is the commitment from the coalition (that) applies not only to teachers in the primary and secondary system but also to preschool teachers, because if there was ever an area that really needs some addressing, it is the preschool system.”

Mr Hall said there was a strong requirement to keep teachers in the system.
“The median age of the profession is increasing, and it is common for teachers to retire just prior to their reaching the age of 55 years. Given the fact that 40 per cent of the teaching workforce is currently aged over 50 years, there is an impending shortage of teachers in the very near future,” Mr Hall said.

He added it was important that Victoria keep ahead of the pack.

“There are pressure points in the system. If we do not address those pressure points, then we will soon fall behind in the race of delivering the best quality education in Australia.”

Mr Hall said he was particularly keen to see the situation for preschool teachers improved.

“This is an issue which I stressed strongly prior to the last state election. We need to do something to improve the conditions, salary levels and workloads in preschools around Victoria. I am pleased that the government has now moved preschools under the umbrella of education and early childhood development.

“That was a great first step, but the most important step is to provide pay parity for preschool teachers.

“We have an absolute dearth of preschool teachers, particularly in country areas where preschools often have to cancel sessions because there are no emergency teachers to come into the system and take over when a director is sick or is on leave for a day.

“We need to bring about that pay parity between preschool teachers and primary and secondary teachers to ensure that we maintain supplies of qualified preschool teachers in the system.”

Mr Hall’s motion, “That this house recognises the importance of education to Victoria's future and sustaining its economic prosperity, and calls on the Brumby government to immediately increase Victorian government school teacher salaries from the lowest paid to the highest paid in the nation,” was agreed to by the House.