Time for leadership

TIME FOR LEADERSHIP The Minister for Education, Marion Scrymgour, needs to personally intervene in the teacher’s dispute in an attempt to avert the strike planned for Monday. “The fact negotiations have deteriorated to the point of strike action is the signal for the Minister to involve herself directly in the process,” says Terry Mills, Leader of the Opposition. “There is room to move on both sides of these negotiations and those options should be fully explored by the Minister before any strike action is taken. “Everybody will lose if this strike goes ahead – the students, parents, teachers and the reputation of the Territory as destination for professional teachers. “We have enough trouble recruiting adequate numbers of teachers as it is. “Forcing teachers to strike to get a small real wage increase won’t help our interstate recruitment drive. “Inflation ran at 4.4% in the Territory last financial year, is tipped to come in at 3% this year and is of ongoing concern for the Reserve Bank. “It’s not beyond the realms of possibility that the entire 10% wage rise on offer from the Territory Government would be gobbled up by inflation during the next 3 years. “The Labor Government needs to admit that the high cost of living in the Territory quickly eats up any wage increases. “The cost of buying a home, renting a home, putting petrol in the tank and the weekly groceries make Darwin one of Australia’s most expensive places to live. “For an Education Department critically reliant upon imported teachers to fill its class rooms a nationally competitive wage offer is essential. “High quality education is one of keys to building long term prosperity and committed teachers are critical to the delivery of high quality education.”