Current Labor Leader Rebecca White must come clean on whether or not Labor supports the Hodgman majority Liberal Government’s successful 11/12 extension school program.
Now that the secret recommendations have been adopted from the secret review of Ms White’s disastrous 2018 State election campaign, Tasmanian families deserve to know where Labor stands on this important educational reform.
It’s a clear choice: either Ms White and Labor support the extension of all state schools across Tasmania to 11/12, or they oppose it, and would halt the reforms if elected, creating a two-tiered system and unnecessary disadvantage.
There are dozens of motherhood statements in the Education section of Labor’s newly-re-written platform, but not once can they bring themselves to openly support this successful program, which is delivering better educational outcomes across rural and regional communities in Tasmania.
While Labor has a series of vague statements, the Hodgman majority Liberal Government has actual policies, which are already being implemented to improve educational outcomes, address mental health and wellbeing, enable school based apprenticeships, create more access to early learning opportunities, improve teacher quality, increase support staff and encourage better family engagement with schools.
Ms White needs to demonstrate the strength of her leadership and put Labor’s position clearly on the record in relation to extending high schools to years 11 and 12 at the Labor State Conference.
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