Adjournment Debate

Private Music Instructors

Mr GARDNER (Morialta) (16:59): I continue the comments I was making in the earlier grievance debate in which I was seeking to bring to the attention of the Minister for Education her singular opportunity to resolve an issue that is causing great stress to thousands of South Australian students and hundreds of private music instructors.

Prior to my time expiring in the earlier part of the day, I had identified that the minister is in a position, I hope, to make a public statement, a ministerial direction or correspondence to schools about how they can ensure that private music instructors continue to be engaged by families at public schools during the school day with the support of those schools.

If the suggestion I made to the minister or if her application of that suggestion is not to the satisfaction of the Education Union, then point 5 of the consent order allows parties to apply to the Industrial Relations Commission on issues of implementation. If they do not like what the minister should do, and what I am suggesting she does, in writing to schools to let them know how they can identify that, if they have a reason not to undertake hourly paid instructors and have private music instructors instead, the education union can use point 5 of the consent order.

If there is some problem with the process, the department can exercise the same right. Point 5 of the consent order states that they can return to the Industrial Relations Commission. This is something that the minister could do now if she does not want to give that direction to schools. If she does not feel that she can take that on, she can apply to return to the Industrial Relations Commission and get this sorted out. The Industrial Relations Commission's consent order already flags that, if there are implementation issues, they will have another look at it.

Frankly, if all these means are insufficient to resolve the problem, the parliament has a number of sitting weeks between now and 30 April, the deadline that was put on the department by the Industrial Relations Commission, when it can make changes to the act that may be needed to resolve the issue. The point is that we need the willingness of the minister to engage seriously where the outcomes sought are exactly what she identified previously as her priority. In the parliament, the minister stated:

The intention is absolutely that no student will receive any less music education than they do currently, and we will do everything that is required to reach that end point.

To date, the government has not done everything that is required to reach that end point. To date, the government has not acted in that way.

The Liberal Party stands ready to support any reasonable endeavour that the government wishes to propose, if amendments to the act are needed, that ensures that our children are not disadvantaged as they head into the 2017 school year. At the moment, there are year 11 students contemplating doing year 12 studies in solo music performance. If year 11 students are engaged with a private music instructor at the moment, they need certainty going into year 12 that they will continue to engage with that private music instructor during the school day at their public school if they need to learn that instrument.

Private music instructors are able to teach one on one the instruments that students wish to learn. If Instrumental Music Service instructors who teach the instrument that that student wishes to learn are available at that school, then that is great and they are sorted out. However, there are 100 or so Instrumental Music Service teachers around South Australia to service over 500 sites, and they are unable to look after the needs of every child. That is why we have music teachers and that is why we have private music instructors engaged at school sites, and those sites at the moment use the model that works well for their school.

Time is running short. The 2016 school year is very nearly over. Students, families, schools and private music instructors need certainty going forward into the 2017 year. We need a decision before the end of 2016 about whether those services will be available next year. We need support not just from staff giving advice to schools about what they need to do but also from the minister to help schools and reassure their families that they can have private music instructors on their school site next year.

Private music instructors, schools, parents and students alike need to know what circumstances they will face in the new year prior to the end of this school year. We urge the minister to act immediately to fix this situation. I speak on behalf of the Liberal Party and on behalf of the many thousands of students who are undertaking private music instruction at public schools, the several hundred private music instructors and, as we identified previously, the 1,500 petitioners on the online petition and hundreds more who have signed hard copy petitions. On their behalf, we urge the minister to allow music to continue in our public schools.