Penny Allman-Payne (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Please note that this is not my first speech. Public school teachers are some of the hardest-working people in Australia. Throughout the pandemic, they have been beacons of reliability, dedication and compassion, working for the benefit of our kids in some of the most challenging teaching and learning conditions in living memory. The unshakeable positivity of the teaching profession under these circumstances is admirable. They deserve our thanks. But they deserve more than just our thanks. Public school teachers deserve better conditions and a pay rise.

I understand the value of the work that public school teachers do and I also recognise the complexity of their work. I have been a teacher for almost 30 years, and, immediately prior to joining the Senate, I was a teacher and a head of department at Gladstone State High School. I have seen firsthand how the current system is failing our public school teachers and their students. I have seen firsthand the ever-increasing pressures placed on teachers and the lack of funding to meet the challenges of more and more work with less and less time.

We need an approach to education in this country that values our public school teachers and empowers them to do what they do best without the additional burdens of operating in a system that is consistently underfunded and creates excessive workloads. Teaching conditions are learning conditions, and public money should be for public schools. My message to teachers is this: I am in your corner; you deserve better conditions and a pay rise, and we will work hard to make sure you get them.