New Pay Deal For Teachers

Nationals MP PETER HALL has welcomed the new pay deal between the
Victorian State Government and Victoria’s 40,000 or so public school
teachers. Mr Hall said it was high time Victoria’s teachers were paid at
comparative levels to interstate teachers and equivalent professions.

It was only a fortnight ago in the Victorian Parliament that Mr Hall lead
a debate calling for Victorian teachers to be paid salaries equivalent to
the best in Australia.

“We want the best education for our children and that means we need the
people best equipped to teach standing in front of the classroom. To get
the best you need to offer an adequate salary”,
Mr Hall said.

“I am pleased the Government has finally recognised the need to reward
teachers appropriately but it has been tardy in doing so.

It took a $396 million pledge from the State Opposition 3 weeks ago and
sustained pressure from the teacher’s union to bring about an outcome”, Mr
Hall said.

However Mr Hall said there appeared to be a number of unresolved issues
associated with the Government’s announcement earlier this week. He said
it was unclear if kindergarten teachers were covered by the new agreement.
He also said it was apparent there was no resolution for TAFE teachers or
school principals in their efforts to strike a new pay deal.

Mr Hall also said there was now a need for the State Government to work
with the non-Government school sector to address imbalances in salary
levels between public and private school teachers.

“So I warmly welcome the outcome for our teachers, but in the areas of
pre-school, vocational education, the principal class and non-Government
sector, there is much more to be done”, Mr Hall concluded.