Wednesday, 1 November 2023

School cleaning

Matthew BACH (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:27): (569) I have got an adjournment matter tonight for the Minister for Education, and the action that I seek is for him to rip up the deal with the United Workers Union that his predecessor Mr Merlino signed five years ago regarding cleaning services. It has been well publicised and I dare say members of the house will be well aware that five years ago now Mr Merlino – pardon the pun – did a dirty deal with his union mates in the UWU that has led to shocking outcomes for 900 Victorian schools.

Many principals have bravely gone on the record to talk about what this has meant for their school – in short, cleaning services that are dreadfully substandard. I can tell you that it is really important to have school facilities – especially toilets, but also other school facilities – cleaned to a high standard both for staff and for students. I live close to Chatham Primary School, for example, and have recently met with the principal there. He is one of many principals who have gone on the record, and he said that this deal that Mr Merlino signed with the UWU led to ‘huge problems’ and at his school the standard of the cleaning was ‘woeful’.

The head of the Victorian Principals Association is a very reasonable person. He and others have been calling for a government review of this process. I want to go further than that. Stuff that. We need to scrap the whole deal. In my very first contribution in this place I talked about the fact that we need to empower school leadership in our local schools. I was the head of a large secondary school in my electorate. The idea that some pointy head at 2 Treasury Place would tell me who I should employ to clean the dunnies at my school is just ridiculous. Principals, the leadership of local schools, know what is best for their schools. Many principals had longstanding arrangements with local firms or with family firms who had a connection to the school and enjoyed supporting those family firms on the basis that the school got a great service and also the school was giving back to the community.

So this is a significant issue. It impacts a huge number of schools. So many principals have gone on the record. We have had five years. We know the outcome of this deal with the UWU: it has been dreadful cleaning services to so many schools. I would urge Mr Carroll: the action that I seek is for him to rip up the deal so that Victorian state schools can choose whichever cleaning service they like.