Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Across New South Wales and Victoria last week, students went back to school. It was terrific to see photos of preps rejoining their classmates in classrooms across my state and across my community. If you want to really know what's going on with the community, here's a tip: ring the school principals. On Friday, along with Sarah Connolly, the state member for Tarneit, I had the pleasure of a Zoom meeting, with independent and state principals from across the state seat of Tarneit in my electorate of Lalor, and I want to tell the House what's happening on the ground.

These heroes of the pandemic, these school principals, are doing amazing work. Behind the scenes, they are making sure that every family knows when, where, how, and why. They are looking after families in isolation. One principal described to us the three platforms operating in the school: those essential workers' children in the school, those children still on remote learning on different days, and those children at home in isolation on remote learning, who are planned for differently. This is extraordinary work, and they are absolute heroes, as are the teachers who are delivering this hybrid curriculum to our kids.

But I just want to say this to this government: these schools need access to rapid antigen testing. This government has an opportunity to ensure that that's provided, affordably, to every school across this country, and it needs to get on with it.

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