Education Policy

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER (Morialta—Minister for Education) (15:38): Moments ago the Leader of the Opposition told this house and the people of South Australia that the Labor Party has a vision, a $500 million-plus hydrogen job plan. That 'plus' refers to the $500 million extra they did not consider including in their document because they failed to notice that you actually need to build the whole system.

They also said that they had an education policy, an education agenda, because they know the children are the future and they know that they deserve better than they have had under COVID, and it is been a difficult time under COVID. The Liberal Party took a very substantial education policy to the last election. It included reforms that were groundbreaking in early childhood literacy, and we are seeing groundbreaking results. They included the transition of the year 7s into high school, the most significant structural reform to our public education system in generations.

That is on track to be a remarkable success, and already the pilot schools that have been doing it have been reporting outstanding improvements, wellbeing and academic results from their kids. We had a broad suite of policy measures that we have delivered, and the results are there for all to see. I encourage members interested to have a look at my grieve from yesterday and the question from the day before, when I announced some of those.

The Leader of the Opposition made a claim that I do not think is entirely accurate. The Leader of the Opposition said that they have taken a substantial education policy and announced it to the people of South Australia before the election. They have released a number of headlines with a garbled, unsustainable and internally incoherent and inconsistent set of remedies to the issues they face.

Yesterday, I took the house through how the principal hiring and firing so-called announcement was in fact a damp squib, that the changes they are proposing to principals firing underperforming staff were little more than a one-week difference in the performance management, unless of course they are proposing to take away teachers’ WorkCover rights. I do not know whether that is part of the policy; if it is, I invite them to say so.

They then also said that they are going to give principals the right to hire people without intrusion from head office. If you are not giving any advice to the people of South Australia about what that means, then you are doing them a disservice because most of the people in this circumstance who are not necessarily a first choice are people who are permanent teachers. Permanency is something the Labor Party says that it has valued because another part of their policy says that they will increase permanency rates by 10 per cent—from 80 per cent of the workforce to 90 per cent of the teaching workforce.

Mr Boyer: That's not what it says.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: What does it say? The member for Wright says, 'That's not what it says.' Let's talk about it: 'A Malinauskas Labor government will increase the percentage of permanent teachers by at least 10 per cent,' is the quote from the document, but—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: The member for Wright wants to take the percentage of permanent teachers when they were in office maybe and increase that by 10 per cent. That is up to him to explain. Nevertheless, when you give somebody permanency, that means they have a right to then stay in a job.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: So, if they are exercising a right of return from a country school—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: —that means they have to be found a school.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Interjections are becoming spirited.

The Hon. J.A.W. GARDNER: If the member for Wright and the Leader of the Opposition are proposing to take away their right to return to the city after five or six years, well, then let them say so because, if that is the case then, sir, I submit to you that it will be very hard to attract teachers to the country in the first place. I invite the member for Wright to consult with any teacher in a country school, any principal of a country school, and ask them whether they are happy to take away that right of return which this government is not proposing to take away.

The Labor Party's third part is improving teaching in the country through the ongoing country allowances. I note that the department is already extending that incentive to teachers working in their sixth to eighth year in country zone 4 and 5 schools. With respect to subject specialist teachers, they say that a Malinauskas Labor government will create a workforce plan. Fantastic! And that is sitting alongside the royal commission, which will deliver all their child protection reforms. The member for Wright and the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, or whoever is writing the education policy for Labor, do not have the gumption to come up with the detail of how to actually deliver on their headlines.

They have their headlines, they have market tested the headlines, they have done the focus groups, they do not know how to deliver—that makes their policy utterly insubstantial, uncosted and bordering on worthless. I welcome them to the debate. I welcome them to the new position of having stuff to say about education. I now invite them to do a moment's research on the matter.