❓ A parliamentary question regarding teacher pay negotiations in WA, focusing on budget constraints, potential industrial action, and comparison with Victorian teacher salaries. The Minister defends the government's offer and commitment to teachers.
AnsweredQoN 241Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
TEACHERS — ENTERPRISE BARGAINING AGREEMENT
I refer to the ongoing wrangle over a new pay agreement between the government and the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia following the expiration of the previous enterprise bargaining agreement on 29 February. (1) Can the minister confirm that the government’s budget does not allow for a further increase in the salary package that was overwhelmingly rejected by teachers in December? (2) What is the minister doing to divert potential industrial action by teachers who are angry that the government’s budget provides little for the education sector? (3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN
I refer to the ongoing wrangle over a new pay agreement between the government and the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia following the expiration of the previous enterprise bargaining agreement on 29 February. (1) Can the minister confirm that the government’s budget does not allow for a further increase in the salary package that was overwhelmingly rejected by teachers in December? (2) What is the minister doing to divert potential industrial action by teachers who are angry that the government’s budget provides little for the education sector? (3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN
AnswerView source ↗
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(1) Can the minister confirm that the government’s budget does not allow for a further increase in the salary package that was overwhelmingly rejected by teachers in December? (2) What is the minister doing to divert potential industrial action by teachers who are angry that the government’s budget provides little for the education sector? (3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(2) What is the minister doing to divert potential industrial action by teachers who are angry that the government’s budget provides little for the education sector? (3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(1) Can the minister confirm that the government’s budget does not allow for a further increase in the salary package that was overwhelmingly rejected by teachers in December? (2) What is the minister doing to divert potential industrial action by teachers who are angry that the government’s budget provides little for the education sector? (3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(2) What is the minister doing to divert potential industrial action by teachers who are angry that the government’s budget provides little for the education sector? (3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(3) Given that the Victorian government has agreed to a substantial pay rise for teachers, which the Australian Education Union claims will make them the highest paid in the country by 2011, will the minister explain to the parents of children in Western Australian schools how he values the work of this state’s teachers? Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr M. McGOWAN replied: (1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
(1)-(3) I thank the member for Darling Range for the question. In the budget released last Thursday the recurrent appropriation for education increased by 8.7 per cent in nominal terms, and the total cost of services increased by 3.9 per cent. It is a pretty substantial increase in this state’s education budget. The government made provision for a substantial pay rise for teachers in Western Australia under the enterprise bargaining agreement. The government values its teaching workforce and very much wants to make sure that our teachers are amongst the very best paid in Australia. That is what we would like to do. The truth about the Victorian teachers’ pay increase is that our teachers would be far better paid under the offer put to them by the Western Australian state government than they would be under the increase that has been accepted by Victorian teachers. That is the truth. The Premier of Victoria and the Victorian Minister for Education put out a joint press release last week on 5 May. It states in part — Mr Brumby said the pay deal was consistent with the Government’s wages policy of 3.25 per cent with any additional pay rise above that being off-set by service improvement. Our assessment is that the pay deal accepted by Victorian teachers is around 10 per cent over three years. The offer we put to our workforce was between 13.6 per cent — Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr T. Buswell : What do you base that on? Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr M. McGOWAN : The press release put out by the Victorian Premier. Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr T. Buswell interjected. Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
Mr M. McGOWAN : I read the entire sentence to the Leader of the Opposition. The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
The offer we put to the teaching workforce was a 13.6 per cent to 22 per cent pay rise, under which all teachers who are prepared to complete 42 hours of professional development and who have been in the workforce for nine years will earn $84 400 by February 2011. Under the agreement accepted by the teaching workforce in Victoria, teachers will be on $81 800 after 11 years of service. The figures for Western Australia do not include the allowances the government proposes to put in place for teachers working in difficult schools. The government was trying, under this EBA arrangement, to put some merit in place so that people who apply themselves, who show a propensity for improvement in the workforce and who are determined to continue to apply for better positions will receive additional pay. That is something the government tried to put in place. In addition, the government proposes a major expansion in allowances of $4 000 for teachers in rural and tough metropolitan locations. A teacher who is prepared to teach in a location such as Jigalong will, after nine years’ service, earn way more than $100 000. The government wants to reward teachers who go to the more difficult locations. The offer was knocked back and we are now trying to get into an arbitrated process with the State School Teachers’ Union, because we think that is the only viable way of settling this matter.
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