WA teachers' strike: Thousands rally in Perth to protest against school funding cuts

Updated

Thousands of teachers and education staff have rallied in Perth to protest against cuts to education funding in Western Australia's state schools.

Unions have argued that hundreds of positions have been cut and more than $180 million has been sliced from school budgets this year.

Public school teachers, education assistants and support staff held a rally at Langley Park, before walking through the CBD to Parliament House.

Unions WA secretary Meredith Hammat told an animated crowd she would not rest until the cuts were reversed.

"This is a deeply felt issue, one that's not going to go away," she said.

"We're going to make some noise, we're going to continue to campaign until this Government puts back the money it has stolen from our schools, that they've stolen from our kids, and that they've stolen from our communities."

A total of 102 schools were closed for the day.

The State Government announced last August that 500 education jobs would be cut, mostly education assistants (EAs), and there would be a freeze on teacher numbers.

Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten also addressed the rally.

"Today, for me, is not just about the politics, it's not just about the shameful cuts, it is fundamentally about our children," he said.

Mother-of-two Natasha Lebas believes her children's teacher works unpaid overtime to meet her children's needs.

"At the kindy my son was in last year, they're not doing a portfolio of their work because they don't have the aides to do that work anymore," she said.

"Some teachers who would have been working on the curriculum are now having to actually be in the classroom. In fact, an aide in Ollie's room is doing a lot of the work volunteering in her own time, which is wonderful, but [she] shouldn't be in that position."

Primary school teacher Di Cadby, who joined the march, said her school had already been hit by the cuts.

"It has seen the loss of staff, it has seen the loss of lots of funding for important projects," she said.

"That money was basically given to us last year and then taken away."

Tony Abbott: Strike 'not justified'

Prime Minister Tony Abbott told Fairfax radio he did not believe the strike was justified.

"I know that the independent public schools, which Premier Colin Barnett has put in place, are a very good innovation," he said.

"I know that education funding in Western Australia is probably more generous than anywhere else in the country."

Retired teacher Alan Phillips, who worked for nearly 50 years in education, said the State Government needed to re-prioritise its spending.

"I know the budget is always limited, we all have to live within our means," he said.

"I think we just need honest dialogue about important issues and this is an important issue. Hopefully the dialogue will be richer and better."

WA's Education Minister Peter Collier has previously said overall funding for education has increased by 55 per cent since the Liberals took government in 2008, although student numbers have increased by only 9 per cent.

He said that was unsustainable and the cut which has sparked the reaction equates to a 1.5 per cent decrease in education funding across the state.

The Government has consistently criticised the unions for the timing of the strike, just days out from the re-run of the Senate election.

Topics: education, government-and-politics, perth-6000

First posted