IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, September 9th 2025
Educators are outraged by the Education Minister’s unexpected announcement around Multi School Organisations, which comes without consultation and defies other key recommendations of the Minister’s own Independent Education Review.
The Review was critical of previous Ministers implementing new initiatives without proper consultation or review and it was clear that community consultation and multi-partisan support are essential for any future reform to succeed.
It’s unacceptable that the Minister has simply cherry picked the parts of the review she likes and thrown the rest on the scrap heap.
Likewise, Minister Palmer’s promises of workload relief for educators have been tossed aside; there has been no change in workload despite a trail of broken promises from the Minister dating back to last year.
“The secrecy and lack of transparency from the Minister is appalling,” said David Genford, AEU Tasmania President. “No one was asked, we were just told. There’s no reason to believe this will succeed because the Minister has refused to learn from the past.
“Educators are sick of being ignored. We’ve been telling the Minister the solutions for years. The Minister ignored us and commissioned yet another independent review, and now the Minister has ignored that too.
“Minister Palmer has repeatedly broken promises to educators. It’s a slap in the face to learn that the Minister is dedicating her time to pursuing a pet project instead of fixing the crisis in public education.
“We need smaller class sizes, more time to prepare, and more in-school support for students. We’re bargaining for a new Teachers Agreement and we won’t be ignored again.
“It’s insulting that we have an Education Minister who has gotten distracted by a shiny new toy and has completely dropped the ball on fixing the crisis in schools.”
