Release of schools report delayed
THE State Government’s “secret” independent public schools report will remain behind closed doors despite the Opposition moving to force Education Minister Grace Grace to release it, leading to a heated debate in Parliament.
QLD Politics
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THE State Government’s “secret” independent public schools report will remain behind closed doors despite the Opposition moving to force Education Minister Grace Grace to release it.
Shadow Education Minister Jarrod Bleijie again called for the highly-controversial report to be released on Wednesday night, after Ms Grace stated earlier this month that she would as soon as she was briefed.
However despite being briefed, Ms Grace will now brief the Premier before it goes to Cabinet.
The Government was slammed for bowing down to unions during its Budget Estimates Hearing after the Queensland Teacher’s Union called for the Government to axe the program.
During a heated debate at Parliament, Mr Bleijie said the state’s education system had been overtaken by the QTU.
“We have the former state secretary (Grace Grace) of the Queensland Council of Unions as the Education Minister,” he said.
“The union write to the Minister, the Minister does the union bidding, that’s exactly what happened here.”
Mr Bleijie said the unions didn’t like the program, which promotes autonomy between schools, because it took away their power.
Ms Grace, who slammed Mr Bleijie for having conspiracy theories, said the report was never secret.
“Not only was it not secret, the review consulted many, many different people in relation to that review,” she said.
“There has been a delay in that (report release) and I apologise because unfortunately I wasn’t able to get my briefing.
“I had an accident and I was incapacitated for two days.”
The Minister said earlier this month there was “nothing to hide”, with the “great” report including seven recommendations on how IPS should progress.
There are currently 250 IPS schools across Queensland.
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