Thursday, 17 August 2023

Northern Metropolitan Region schools

Evan MULHOLLAND (Northern Metropolitan) (17:57): (421) My adjournment tonight is directed towards the Minister for Education Natalie Hutchins. We know there is an extreme lack of teachers in Victoria, but under this government things are getting so bad that according to media reports recently Craigieburn Secondary College in my electorate has asked for a four-day school week with one day from home. Things have gotten so bad at Craigieburn Secondary College that they have had to send children home early on Fridays and have had classes cancelled. Under this government there is a shortage of over 3000 teachers in Victoria, which is incredible. So the action I seek from the minister is to clarify what she is doing about it and possibly even come out to Craigieburn with me. I know it is a long way from Rwanda, but Craigieburn in my electorate deserves attention too.

Just like this government, it has approved all these new housing estates and has not spent a single cent on duplicating roads or providing additional infrastructure. We have got a burgeoning population in the north, and the government is not properly managing its schools to cope with that growth, to hire and train additional new teachers. Those opposite talk about free TAFE a lot and all they are doing for training, and they have got a teacher shortage of 3000 in our state. So just like they have botched the delivery of growth suburbs in my electorate, they have also botched the delivery of teachers in my electorate.

The minister would know my community in the north is not very happy with her. She would have got a lot of correspondence from Aitken College in Greenvale. Craigieburn Secondary is also in Greenvale. She seems to be targeting Greenvale. She would have got a lot of correspondence from the community at Aitken College in regard to the school tax. A parliamentary petition that my colleague Dr Bach sponsored was actually started by a parent at Aitken College, and thousands of people signed that petition here to the Parliament to tell her to backflip on her schools tax. Now she has partially backflipped, but people are still angry because it does not allow any room for growth. My schools know that they will be captured eventually by this tax, because if there is anything we know about this government, it is that they love new taxes and they love ratcheting up taxes where they can.

We really need the minister to come out to the north, have a look at these schools and have a look at possibly providing upgrades to these schools, because they are overflowing. The government needs to stop neglecting the north. We need to hear the Labor member for Greenvale – we do not often hear him on these issues – advocate for the north and stop ignoring the north.

Matthew Bach: On a point of order, President, I have been alerted to the fact by my staff that I unwittingly misled the house in my contribution. With your leave, could I potentially take a moment now to correct the record?

The PRESIDENT: Sure.

Matthew Bach: In my contribution the figure I used was wrong, and I apologise. I said that there were 2275 teacher vacancies in the state. I have been informed by my staff of a message from Meredith Peace, the head of the Victorian branch of the Australian Education Union, that actually says that figure was from earlier today. The true figure as we speak is in fact not 2275 vacancies but rather 2311 vacancies. The full message from the head of that union reads, ‘How long until Natalie Hutchins MP and Daniel Andrews intervene?’ My apologies to the house for unwittingly misleading the house.

The PRESIDENT: I kind of regret saying ‘Sure’ now. Anyway, it is late in the day.