Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Bridget VALLENCE (Evelyn) (09:56): Our teachers are wonderful people. They value education and help nurture the potential in our children and young people. I pay tribute to the hardworking and dedicated teachers that educate students at schools in my community – thank you. You achieve strong educational results with very little resources. Yet under the Allan Labor government Victorian teachers are the lowest paid in the nation, and their workplaces, state schools, are the lowest funded in the nation. Our teachers deserve to be valued more, not less. Our teachers deserve a fair pay rise, yet after a decade of financial mismanagement Labor cannot afford to negotiate in good faith. Debt is skyrocketing, and interest repayments on Labor’s debt are costing taxpayers $1 million an hour – that is money that cannot be spent on a pay rise for teachers. Corruption on Labor’s Big Build projects has resulted in $15 billion lining the pockets of criminals and bikies – that is money that cannot be spent on a pay rise for teachers.

Teachers are frustrated, and it should not be this way. Too many are quitting the profession or leaving Victoria to teach in Queensland or New South Wales, and we must do more to keep them here. How can Labor say we are the Education State if they keep paying teachers the lowest in Australia? I share teachers’ concerns and call on the government to value and pay teachers more so that they can get on with what they are good at and love doing: teaching our young kids.