Working together for the common good

MAREE O'HALLORAN told the Local Government Conference that Federation and local governments could work together to improve amenities for communities.

Teachers in public education have a strong belief in the common good, and I know that we are united with you in that belief.

We recognise and value the crucial, indeed pivotal, role that local governments play in building communities. We see a very strong and natural connection between public education and local government.

Our public schools and TAFE colleges also build communities. The student cohort is often drawn from the community in which they are situated. They build bridges between people and forge social cohesion as young people learn to live and work together with mutual respect.

The values of public education are the values of community. We have a joint responsibility for our students and residents regardless of country of origin, religion, race, or economic status.

Education of our youth is essential to the success of a modern community and our public schools and TAFEs are at the heart of that success. They must, however, continue to thrive and that requires greater state and federal government funding.

We need to guarantee all children a future and this requires equity of educational opportunity. We believe equity of educational opportunity to be a pre-requisite for civic participation.

Everyday across Australia, there are 2.25 million people in public schools and every week 1.65 million people enter a TAFE college. What a fantastic and powerful opportunity to encourage civic participation and build strong communities!

The teaching profession shares a close working relationship with local government in many communities. For example, we have worked together to establish new or upgraded schools, as at Lake Cathie and Jindabyne, and we have worked together to save schools, most recently Hunters Hill High School and Erskineville Public School.

The recent Vinson Inquiry into the Provision of Public Education in NSW was jointly sponsored by teachers and parents in the state. It enjoyed great support from local government, which was part of its success. The goal of the Inquiry was to reach out to communities about the future of public education. Teachers and parents believe that the state government has failed to engage in long-term planning for public education. Many of the Inquiry recommendations have now become state government policies. Indeed, the Premier, before the state election, indicated that the Vinson Inquiry was directly responsible for convincing him that smaller class sizes from kindergarten to year 2 was a desirable policy. Over the next few years the implementation of this policy should help all the communities.

I would now like to outline some areas where we can work together to improve amenities for communities.

The first is in the area of TAFE student fees.

The June 24 State Budget cut funding to public education in real terms. The decision to introduce TAFE fees was reprehensible and unnecessary. Through strong community action, supported by local governments, we have successfully pulled back fees for disadvantaged students. The State Government has recently announced that course exemptions in TAFE would continue to apply. This is a significant breakthrough. However, a range of other courses will have significant increases in TAFE fees and charges and many of these TAFE fees and charges will exceed what is paid in other states.

Federation believes that the fee introduction should be reversed because TAFE provides the opportunity for skill acquisition to everyone. TAFE is the backbone of the community. It also provides a critical opportunity for second chance education. At the very least, a cap should be considered in line with other states.

The second area that I believe we can work together on is the issue of public school transport subsidy scheme.

Of course, students require free transport to local public schools. However, in this state approximately $300 million per year is spent to transport students past their local public schools. NSW is the only mainland state to provide this type of subsidy. This is huge amount of funding that could be directed to the maintenance of our public schools. The teachers and parents are united in our view about this issue and we also know that the bus subsidy is very damaging to many small rural communities.

Maree O'Halloran is the President. This is an edited version of her address to the Local Government Conference. She also spoke on the issue of teachers' salaries.

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