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Education Act review a missed opportunity

Published September 10, 2014

Labor today expressed disappointment in the Liberal Government’s closed approach to education reform.

Labor Leader Bryan Green said the Premier was yet to respond to his genuine offer of bipartisanship on education reform.

The centrepiece of Labor’s reply to the 2014-15 Budget was the proposal to establish of an expert policy body spearheaded by the University of Tasmania and incorporating business expertise and representatives of community groups, parent associations, teachers, principals and unions to take the politics out of education.

Labor has received significant support for the idea, including from UTAS, the Tasmanian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the AEU and the Tasmanian Principals’ Association.

Mr Green said today’s announcement of a review of the Education Act was a missed opportunity.

“Ï wrote to the Premier personally last week to articulate our proposal but to date I have not received a reply,” Mr Green said.

“The Liberal Government does not appear to be interested in bipartisanship or genuine consultation.

“We have seen very little detail of the Government’s planned review but it appears to be narrow in scope, without the long term vision and stakeholder engagement offered by Labor’s proposal.

“Labor will continue to advocate for bipartisanship on education reform but it will be extremely difficult if the Liberal Government insists on shutting us out of the process.”