The Australian Education Union today welcomed the Gutwein Government’s withdrawal of their planned $109 million of cuts to education.

“It shouldn’t take widespread outrage from parents and educators and a global pandemic to stop a government slashing Tasmanian kids’ education, but we welcome the decision,” said AEU President Helen Richardson.

The AEU has been running ads questioning the Gutwein Government’s commitment to ‘cut or care’ for schools and education.

“A compassionate government doesn’t cut $109 million from education and we’re glad that after a concerted union campaign the Government has reinstated this funding.”

“There is never a good time to cut funding to children’s education and we hope the commitment to maintain funding extends beyond the COVID-19 health crisis,” said Helen Richardson.

The Tasmanian Government’s COVID-19 support package includes the ‘Removal of the efficiency dividend on State Government agencies over the forward estimates.’

“The AEU is very disappointed that the Government has once again chosen to provide a private sector organisation, in this case the tourism and hospitality associations, with $100,000 for training and support of workers, but no additional money for TAFE which provides the best quality training in the state,” concluded Helen Richardson.