Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (12:58): (2303) On 24 March tens of thousands of teachers, school principals and school support staff stopped work, at their own expense, to fight for fairer pay in Victoria, so my question is to the Minister for Education. Numerous educators from the South-Eastern Region – from Westall to Lyndhurst, from Hallam to Cranbourne, from Frankston and Clyde – gave up their daily wage to attend the protest. Many schools in the south-east are poorly funded and have resource shortages. Sixty per cent of teachers say they feel stressed at work, and violent crime incidents against staff are rising. It is no wonder Victoria has a significant teacher shortage. Under the Allan Labor government Victoria has become the home of Australia’s highest paid Premier and the nation’s worst paid teachers, so on behalf of all my constituents who are teachers, support staff and education staff in my region I ask: when are you going to negotiate a fair and equitable pay deal to allow Victorian teachers and staff to no longer be the worst paid?

The PRESIDENT: I acknowledge the new Consul-General of Lebanon we have in the gallery and the ambassador.