Thursday, 19 March 2026

 Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (14:45): (1580) My question is to the Minister for Education. Principals and school communities across the electorate of Murray Plains are warning me that vital funding used to employ teacher aides and other critical student support staff is being pulled away, leaving schools scrambling to support their most vulnerable students. Teacher aides are not a luxury. They are essential in classrooms, supporting students with additional learning needs and helping teachers manage increasingly complex workloads. Yet principals are now being forced to contemplate cutting these roles, further overloading already stretched teaching staff and putting dedicated education workers out of a job. Instead of supporting students, this financially incompetent and scandal-plagued government appears to be balancing its books by ripping support out from under principals, teachers and students. Can the minister advise when this vital funding will be restored so schools across Murray Plains can keep teacher aides in classrooms and provide the critical support that students deserve?