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ACT Legislative Assembly, Elizabeth Lee: no-confidence motion against Yvette Berry fails

A motion of no confidence brought against Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Yvette Berry has failed to pass in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

A motion of no confidence against Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Yvette Berry has failed to pass in the ACT Legislative Assembly.

Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee moved the motion on Wednesday morning in response to reports of horrific working and learning conditions at Calwell High School and the news of three Canberra schools returning to remote learning due to staff shortages.

On Tuesday it was revealed WorkSafe ACT issued a prohibition notice to Calwell High School deeming the working environment unsafe.

Ms Lee’s motion against Ms Berry ultimately failed five to 12.

ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee moved a motion of no confidence against Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry.
ACT Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee moved a motion of no confidence against Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry.

In her opening speech Ms Lee called for Ms Berry to resign or for Chief Minister Andrew Barr to call for her resignation.

“Each day this minister continues to be left in charge of the education portfolio is a day that puts our teachers at risk,” she said.

“The minister has failed to ensure we had enough teachers, and the right school infrastructure to support our growing population.

“The systemic violence and an unsafe working environment in our schools has been the reality under this minister for five years.”

Following the scathing assessment by the Opposition Leader Ms Berry spoke against the motion and defended her record as Education Minister.

“Every local school is a great school,” she said.

“Our schools and teachers work incredibly hard to deliver a high-quality education for our students.”

ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Yvette Berry has survived a motion of no confidence moved by Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee. Picture: Facebook
ACT Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister Yvette Berry has survived a motion of no confidence moved by Opposition Leader Elizabeth Lee. Picture: Facebook

In addressing the situation at Calwell High School Ms Berry detailed a serious incident which occurred at the school on March 24 involving the alleged assault and injury of one student and three staff members.

“ The school’s principal is currently on leave with an experienced school principal replacing her for the remainder of the term,” she said.

“A student was suspended for 15 days as a result of the incident.”

“The WorkSafe visit took place on March 31 and following the visit, the (education directorate) received notices from WorkSafe ACT regarding a number of matters at the school.

“The directorate will meet its obligations under these notices, and is committed to working with WorkSafe ACT to implement necessary actions to ensure their concerns are satisfied.

“Violent incidents like this are very rare in ACT public schools and when they do occur, we treat them very seriously as we have done in this instance.”

Australian Education Union (AEU) ACT Branch President Angela Burroughs told The Canberra Star it would be “disastrous to change education minister at this time.”

“Minister Berry is genuinely committed to supporting teachers, school leaders and other education workers and ACT schools,” Ms Burroughs said.

“These are operational issues that the Education Directorate should be implementing.

“ What is notable is that the Minister should be able to have confidence in her Directorate’s ability to manage staffing shortages and incidences of occupational violence when they occur and clearly this hasn’t been the case.”

Ms Burroughs said the union wants to see the ACT Education directorate comply with the class size policy immediately.

“(The directorate) must be willing to implement the planning measures it developed with the AEU to mitigate for staff shortages,” she said.

“ This means that it must be willing to move a school or parts of a school to remote learning if there are insufficient staff to operate the school safely.

“ It must ensure that the risk of occupational violence towards teachers and staff has been reviewed and mitigated as far as is reasonably practical.”

The union boss said a sustainable solution to Canberra’s education woes would only eventuate after the staffing crisis was alleviated.

“This will require improvements in teacher pay and a reduction of excessive workloads,” Ms Burroughs said.

“Special measures must be implemented for our school leaders as they are under extreme pressure in terms of workload, role overload and emotional demands.”


Ms Burroughs said the ACT has a “supportive education minister” in Ms Berry and described the ACT Greens and Canberra Liberals as “Vocal in their public support for public education” and said she wanted to see that level of support replicated in federal politics.

“ This level of support of public education is missing in the federal arena,” she said.

“Bipartisan support for public education from the federal government complete with proper funding of public schools is required.

“last week’s federal government ripped $559 million out of public schools over three years.

“This is unacceptable. Australian families deserve better.”

Original URL: https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/newslocal/canberra/act-legislative-assembly-elizabeth-lee-noconfidence-motion-against-yvette-berry-fails/news-story/2073333fe18f5a4a691cdc31e42b8673