Wednesday, 3 May 2023

Berwick electorate schools

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (09:43): I had a fabulous time the other day in Melbourne’s outer south-east in Pakenham and in Clyde. I was invited to that part of the world by the member for Berwick, and I want to thank him for his invitation. Ms Hermans was there as well, and we toured a whole range of schools in that part of the world. There are all sorts of problems that schools are encountering in that part of the world – a workforce crisis that is really crippling so many of our schools. We know so many families after so many interest rate rises now are levered; they are under so much pressure because under the Andrews Labor government they pay more for what should be a free state education than parents anywhere else in the country.

But there were bright spots. In particular I had a fabulous time at Clyde Secondary College. Clyde Secondary College has teachers who were there through the Teach for Australia process, and I have long loved Teach for Australia. I am aware that one of the schools in the new part of our electorate, President, Mill Park Secondary College, has long been an advocate of the Teach for Australia project. My staff inform me that over 50 Teach for Australia teachers have gone through Mill Park; many are now in senior leadership positions. This fabulous program does such a good job of ensuring that its ongoing teachers actually stick – stick in the workforce – which is such a problem for us given that our teachers are just drowning in red tape, if I am not mangling the analogy. So I want to thank my colleagues for inviting me to their part of the world. I want to thank Clyde Secondary College and in particular the leaders at Teach for Australia.