NSW VOTES 2023

By Yvonne Gardiner

DECISIONS MADE about Tweed schools have been much-contested in Murwillumbah and the broader electorate.

The NSW Government’s merging of four schools into one mega-school has been the subject of fierce debate.

While a high school at Pottsville has both supporters and critics.

Education and training policies affect the entire community. Here’s what candidates for the Lismore seat had to say:

LISMORE

Adam Guise (Greens)

The Greens are committed to providing high quality and comprehensive public education for everyone across pre-school and early childhood education, schools, TAFE, and universities.

Disappointingly, the Liberals and Nationals have stopped listening to teachers, are disenfranchising students, and have no plan to attract and retain teachers in the public system.

The Greens have a plan to scrap the public sector wage cap and give teachers a 15 per cent pay rise plus inflation, fund all schools at 100 per cent of the School Resourcing Standard, and develop a workforce plan to attract the 12,000 teachers needed over the next decade. We want to return students, teachers and unions to the centre of all policy and curriculum decisions.

The current salary, conditions and workload of TAFE teachers has become a barrier to retaining existing teachers and the recruitment of new teachers. TAFE teachers are now paid less than school teachers despite being required to have additional expertise.

The Greens will restore a free and well-resourced TAFE system where teachers and students are valued. We will ensure fair and just salary increases for TAFE teachers and reverse the casualisation of the TAFE workforce.

The Greens will deliver 100 per cent funding to TAFE from the state and Commonwealth budgets with no competition from private providers.

I share the community’s concerns regarding the imposed amalgamation of four Murwillumbah schools into one mega-school. Rather than closing existing schools, we should be investing in them in order to cater for a growing population, children’s different learning needs, and smaller classroom sizes for child-centred learning.

Janelle Saffin (Labor)

Every child needs a solid education. It is their key opportunity to a good life.

Whatever their circumstances, it is our collective responsibility to ensure our kids get the education they deserve, to equip them to make their way in their community, in the world.

To do this we need to arrest the decline in educational results from the last decade, and to do this we simply need to let teachers do what they are qualified to do, and that is teach.

We need to value teachers, reduce the admin load, remove the pay cap, stop the relentless reporting we require teachers to do.

We need to ensure all kids have nice uniforms, decent shoes and are not excluded from excursions due to lack of money.

EDUCATION AND TRAINING: WHAT ARE YOUR POLICIES?

This is a great passion of mine as education gave me a life.

To best do this we need to stop the mindless merger of four public schools in Murwillumbah that is in effect their closure. I have a rock solid commitment from Labor leader Chris Minns that the four schools will remain open if he becomes premier in the March 25 election.

I shall continue to have detailed discussions with firstly the parents, students, teachers and wider community on the best way to support our school communities.

I have detailed my plan for TAFE in a previous Tweed Valley Weekly column (February 16) and have made it clear that TAFE has been gutted, will be repaired and that it is the engine room of our vocational educational sector.

Universities need to remain places of scholarly practice and provide us with solid research that we can use to guide our actions in government and the care of our communities across every area and endeavour. They must not be purely utilitarian but be bold, expansive and challenge our thinking. We need to maintain a strong university presence with our own Southern Cross University. Election note: Other candidates on the Lismore ballot paper for the NSW Election are independents Allen Crosthwaite and James McKenzie, Animal Justice Party’s Vanessa Rosayro, Sustainable Australia Party member Ross Honniball; Matthew Bertalli of the Shooters, Fishers and Farmers Party, and the Nationals’ Alex Rubin. Early voting/pre-poll starts this Saturday, March 18.

Q&A: THE ENVIRONMENT AND KOALAS - HOW DO YOU INTEND TO PROTECT BOTH?

Editor’s note: Greens candidate for Tweed Ciara Denham provided the following response to last week’s question (see above) but this was not printed. Apologies to Ciara and readers for this mistake.

TWEED Ciara Denham (Greens)

The 2020 parliamentary inquiry found that koalas will become extinct before 2050 if urgent action isn’t taken to protect their habitat.

An estimated 8000 koalas were killed in the Black Summer fires, with now less than 20,000 wild koalas left in NSW.

In Tweed, we are lucky to have the Cudgen Nature Reserve. This reserve is a lifeline for koalas in the region. This reserve was fought for and won by the community and for the community. The Greens are calling for this area to have far greater support from the state government, with the areas of the reserve also expanding to include more essential koala habitat. The koala has been a poster child for too many Liberal-National political campaigns in Tweed, without enough subsequent action. Under the Liberal-National government, koalas have no protection in the hinterland of Tweed, where native forests are under threat from logging on private land. Of course it’s not just the koala which is under threat. An intact ecosystem is vital for all of us to survive. The decline in flora and fauna across Australia is 50-70 per cent since 1985. The Greens will expand the protected area network in NSW to 30 per cent of the state by 2030, end native logging, and rehabilitate, regenerate and actively manage our public native forests to slow the extinction crisis and create new jobs and regional opportunities.

Nsw Votes 2023 Tweed

Geoff Provest

(Nationals)

I strongly believe that education is the key to a successful future.

The Liberals-Nationals in government have a strong record of providing both infrastructure funding and educational programs, from preschool right through to tertiary education and training.

We have invested many millions of dollars in major school redevelopments at Pottsville Beach Public, Kingscliff Public, Tweed Heads South Public, Kingscliff High and Tweed River High over the past four years.

A number of schools have received upgrades to lighting and air-conditioning through the Cooler Classrooms initiative and all local schools have benefited from minor capital works programs.

A new vocational training facility has been co-located at Tweed River High as part of the Vocational Schools Initiative to facilitate school–work vocational training.

New and improved facilities are being provided at the Kingscliff TAFE with a health education unit being developed in conjunction with the new Tweed Valley Hospital.

Preschools in Tweed have benefited from Start Strong Funding and other capital grants to improve both facilities and programs, and are included in the pilot rollout of universal pre-kindergarten programs in NSW.

Expanding subsidies for all preschool programs — including those offered by long day care providers — are making preschool more affordable for parents.

It is not just about bricks and mortar — specific funding programs for environmental projects at public schools have been well received in Tweed, ranging from sustainability projects to learning upcycling skills.

Fee-free TAFE courses, scholarships for nurses, midwives and other health support services are also on offer. An expanded range of vouchers is available to directly help families with student expenses, out-of-school care and extra-curricular activities, and to assist apprentices and university students with the costs of travel.

I am committed to the delivery of facilities and programs that will provide the best possible educational opportunities and outcomes for everyone from preschool, through school and into vocational and professional life.

Ciara Denham (Greens)

Education, housing and health are fundamental needs that are not being met by the Liberal-National state government and the Labor federal government, who have left the public sectors in dire straits.

We need a public education system that serves the whole community and that respects the significance good education has on the whole of society and the future of our state.

I met with the Teachers Federation of NSW and I am shocked at the statistics that we are now seeing about the teaching profession. Because of dwindling pay and extreme workload, teachers are leaving the profession early, retiring early, and there is a shortage of people entering the profession.

Data from the NSW Government shows that the number of teacher vacancies has gone up by 258 per cent since May 2021.

The Greens are the only party com-

EDUCATION AND TRAINING: WHAT ARE YOUR POLICIES?

mitted to delivering real pay rises to teachers above inflation. We will immediately instate a 15 per cent pay rise to all teachers.

We will also provide all public school teachers an additional two hours per week relief from face-toface teaching.

I am committed to making public schools, TAFE and preschool truly free. There should be no extra costs to cover for people who are already struggling to pay the bills.

And I am against any school amalgamations into mega-schools. Schools should be resourced to the School Resource Standard, and able to provide holistic support to every child.

Craig Elliot (Labor)

This week a local parent asked me, “What sort of person closes four schools?” The answer is Geoff Provest and his boss Dominic Perrottet. Together we can stop them. Vote [1] Labor to save our four local schools and keep them open.

There is a clear choice at this election. Only Chris Minns and Labor will save our four local schools from being closed by the Nationals’ Geoff Provest and his boss Dominic Perrottet. Only Labor will build a new high school at Pottsville, while Geoff Provest refuses to fund it.

Only Labor will scrap the public sector wages cap that is causing teachers, nurses, paramedics and other public sector workers to have their wages cut by this old and tired Liberal-Nationals government.

Geoff Provest and Dominic Perrottet’s unfair public sector wage cap is forcing our essential workers, including our teachers, to leave their Tweed jobs for better pay and conditions doing the same work in Queensland. I’m asking locals to vote [1] Labor so together we can scrap the public sector wages cap policy so that public sector workers can be recruited, trained and retained for essential jobs across the Tweed.

A Minns Labor Government will further support our teachers by converting 10,000 casual teachers to permanent roles, cut admin hours for teachers by five hours per week and restrict the use of mobile phones in all NSW public schools to reduce distraction, cyberbullying and improve education outcomes.

Our Labor plans will support NSW TAFE to deliver the long-term strategies needed to resolve the state-wide skills shortage, starting with a guarantee that a minimum of 70 per cent of total skills funding will go to TAFE. This will provide TAFE with the financial stability and certainty it needs to flourish and return to providing quality education. Vote [1]

Craig Elliot and Labor.

Susie Hearder (Animal Justice Party)

Education must be inclusive, accessible and free to all, with students of all abilities included in mainstream schooling. Necessary clothes, materials and excursions provided so no student is left behind. More education opportunities for the disabled to enter the workforce. Place more focus on critical thinking and experiential learning, including charity and community service work; reduce standardised testing providing teachers with the autonomy to lesson plan according to student needs. Focus on teaching compassion, empathy and inclusiv - ity. Programs supporting positive interactions with wildlife, rescued farm and companion animals such as volunteer days at shelters/sanctuaries and responsible pet ownership. Ensure an accurate portrayal of Australia’s history is taught with an understanding of First Nations people.

Imbue students with connection to nature with green spaces, a good understanding of environmental science, climate science, and nutritional science and be involved in nurturing nature like the late Bruce Chick OAM did. Forcing the Murwillumbah mega-school on the community and destroying native trees students planted is exactly the wrong message.

Teach social and emotional skills required to promote non-violence, with access to support. Increase awareness of links between animal cruelty and domestic violence.

Teach students how politics, law and ethics operate to guide our society, including an understanding of our voting systems.

Education is detrimental if it includes the suffering or exploitation of animals, especially when there are alternatives. We will formulate programs to foster kindness, care and non-violence to all beings, including replacing animal dissection with virtual or physical model alternatives.

Education must be free of financial conflicts of interest. Remove education programs provided by industry organisations and explain the realities of industries such as modern intensive and extensive farming systems. We will educate about the benefits of plant-based foods and facilitate plant-based foods in all school, university and TAFE cafeterias.

We don’t have enough teachers in our schools or health workers in our hospitals because essential workers are leaving Tweed jobs for better pay and conditions in Queensland.