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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-11-22 Daily Xml
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TEACHER EMPLOYMENT EMAIL

Mr PISONI (Unley) (14:46): My question is for the Minister for Education and Child Development. If the minister knows the perfectly rational explanation why student and contract teachers were incorrectly told they were short-listed for permanent teaching positions, could she now give this perfectly rational explanation to the house? On 10 November, when the minister was asked a similar question, she said, 'I am familiar with the matter to which he refers and there is a perfectly rational explanation.' She then sat down without giving the explanation.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr PISONI: The next day, the minister's office contacted my office asking for details on the issue.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI (Hartley—Minister for Education and Child Development) (14:46): That's right, Madam Speaker. The member for Unley—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: The member for Unley raises a question in here, I presume because he wants an answer, so I sent my office to him—

Mr Pisoni: You make it up as you go along!

The SPEAKER: Order! Member for Unley, you have asked your question.

An honourable member interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. C.C. FOX: Point of order, Madam Speaker. I draw your attention in relation to what the member for Unley just said and standing order 127. The member for Unley said, 'You're just making it up', and I believe that imputes improper motive to the member for Hartley.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Thank you, Minister for Transport Services.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr Marshall interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Norwood, order! Minister, sit down until we have got some order, and if the—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! I am on my feet. If the member for Unley did say that, then I would ask him to withdraw that.

Mr PISONI: I withdraw, Madam Speaker. I think that everybody knows.

The SPEAKER: Thank you.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Did he? Yes. I heard the 'withdraw that', but I did not hear the last bit. I think that he said that everybody knows. I would ask him to withdraw that, also.

Mr PISONI: I withdraw that 'everybody knows', but I can't help that, I'm afraid.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Member for Unley, you will withdraw the whole thing and stop making smart comments or you will leave the chamber. You will apologise to the minister.

Mr PISONI: I withdraw and I apologise, Madam Speaker.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. Minister.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Thank you, Madam Speaker, and to the former deputy speaker, I thank her as well. Yes, I did ask my office to contact the member for Unley in the spirit of actually trying to provide a constructive response to the member for Unley—and what did he say? 'You write to me.' He said, 'You write to me.' As he would well know—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —there are about 1,000 sites that we are responsible for, but schools are responsible for their own recruitment. An online recruitment system was introduced in 2008, and in addition a new teacher recruitment and selection policy was implemented in June 2011 to allow more decision-making and recruitment at the local level and to provide greater—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: —opportunities for graduates and contract teachers to gain permanent employment within the agency. Since being introduced, this system has resulted in more than 700 additional teaching positions being advertised to an open field, enabling temporary contract teachers and new graduates to apply for all positions and compete equally with existing permanent teachers. I would suggest that the member for Unley (and the shadow minister) needs to decide where his priorities lie. As recently as this morning on 5AA he was calling for schools to be given—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! Point of order, minister.

Mr WILLIAMS: Point of order: the minister is now debating. This is question time; it is not time for her to suggest what the member for Unley—

The SPEAKER: Thank you, member for MacKillop.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

Mr WILLIAMS: On a second point of order, the question was seeking a perfectly rational explanation.

The SPEAKER: Thank you. I do not know what the point of order was but, minister, can you bring your answer to a close?

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order!

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: On the one hand we have—

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order, the member for MacKillop and the Minister for Transport! The minister will be heard in silence.

The Hon. G. PORTOLESI: Thank you, Madam Speaker. On the one hand we have the shadow minister calling for schools to be given 'the ability to self manage', something that we are doing here in South Australia. Now he seems to be complaining that the government is doing too little to intervene.

Members interjecting:

The SPEAKER: Order! The member for Reynell.

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