Cutting housing subsidies in Katherine hurts those who want to work toward closing the gap, union says

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

The teachers’ union of the Northern Territory said it had no warning that the territory government was preparing to cut housing subsidies for teachers in the town of Katherine, potentially reducing their incomes by $24,000 a year.

The NT education minister, Selena Uibo, was questioned by teachers at the NT Australian Education Union’s (AEU NT) annual conference in Katherine on Saturday.

According to a report in The Katherine Times, she told teachers that she would not support “continuing ad hoc entitlements” above direct investment in schools.

The conference voted unanimously in support of a motion that strongly condemned the proposed budget cut, saying that the measure would be detrimental to the quality of education provided in Katherine and undermine efforts to close the gap.

Northern Territory wet season the hottest on record and the driest in 27 years Read more

“Educational researchers point to the positive effect of a consistent teacher workforce on student outcomes,” the motion said. “By attacking teachers who want to commit to this town, the government is hurting those who want to work toward closing the gap.”

It followed a meeting on Thursday between teachers, the union, and department of education chief executive, Vicki Baylis, who discussed the measure as part of the territory government’s budget repair plan.

The AEU NT organiser for the Katherine region, Alyson Kavanagh, said Katherine had the highest staff turnover of any education region and this change would exacerbate the problem.

“Teachers are telling me that they are already planning on leaving because if they want to apply for other jobs they have to start now,” she said.

The branch secretary, Adam Lampe, told Guardian Australia that he found out about the review last month when contacted by the NT News.

“It’s an incredibly austere strategy that’s targeting public services in order to do something about the debt,” Lampe said.

“Suspending teachers’ rent subsidies are one of the recommendations of the budget repair document. But they didn’t consult with us, or employers’ agencies, or the public service commissioner.

“It’s a very unpopular move, and it’s been delivered poorly.”

The territory education department said there were 300 teachers and other education staff who work at the large public high school and six primary schools in Katherine.

In a statement to Guardian Australia, the department said about 90 people used the housing subsidy in the town, and not all of them were teachers.

“It’s going to be devastating for Katherine,” Lampe said. Most teachers will leave. And teachers in other towns like Nhulunbuy and Tennant Creek are worried about their entitlements too.

“Housing is an important incentive to recruit and attract teachers to the area.”

Cutting teachers’ housing subsidies would save the NT government $500,000 a year.

The department said it remained focused on “ensuring that all Northern Territory government schools attract, recruit and retain high quality teachers”.

It said that would be achieved despite the proposed subsidy cut by creating a “stable workforce”, and pointed to a new program to allow schools to offer permanent employment to teachers on fixed-term contracts.

That program was introduced in 2017 following sustained lobbying from the union. It aimed to reduce the proportion of teachers on shorter fixed-term contracts from 38% to 20%.

Don Dale: law council demands federal government shut down youth detention centre Read more

“The department continues to work with schools to identify eligible fixed term teachers to move from a contracted to a permanent position,” the department said.

The timing of Thursday’s announcement, Lampe said, was not good news for federal Labor’s election campaign in the NT.

The proposed subsidy cut was a key agenda item when almost 100 teachers gathered at the AEU NT annual conference in Katherine on Saturday.

At a May Day rally in Darwin on Monday, some teachers carried signs that said “Katherine needs teachers, NO to subsidy cuts.”