ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry has rejected an Opposition suggestion she had stopped politicians from visiting Canberra schools, as an inquiry begins into the education directorate's visitation policies.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
Opposition education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee on Thursday suggested Ms Berry had rejected Opposition politicians from visiting the capital's schools during debate on Ms Lee's motion to establish the committee inquiry.
Ms Lee told the Assembly she had obtained documents from former Liberals' education spokesman Steve Doszpot, who has since passed away, showing what she said was a cordial approach to his visits to schools by the former education minister, Andrew Barr.
But she said that had not been her experience since taking on the shadow portfolio, with Ms Berry as minister, and that Liberal politicians had trouble getting Ms Berry's approval to visit schools.
Under the current policy, all politicians in the ACT need to seek Ms Berry's approval to visit schools before doing so, though the policy has been in the spotlight since Speaker Joy Burch last year made several visits to schools without seeking Ms Berry's permission.
Ms Lee also said that while she had been invited by several schools to visit, in her capacity as shadow minister, when she had sought approval for such visits, often the government had instead offered her visits to other schools.
She said the directorate had also told her that was because there were specific schools the government was keen to highlight, which she believed meant there were other schools the government "did not want us to see".
But Ms Berry rejected Ms Lee's suggestion she or the directorate had been rejecting Liberals, or any other politician, from visiting schools, saying that often there were valid reasons why a politician should not be doing so.
Among those issues, she said a critical incident could be underway at the time that needed to be dealt with, also claiming a politician asking schools to visit could put principals or other public servants in an awkward position.
She said the issue was not about politicians, but about teachers and students, who should not be required to drop everything to host politicians, saying Ms Lee's motion seemed to suggest the Opposition thought it reasonable politicians could simply be wandering through schools.
Ms Berry also denied she or her ministerial staff had asked the directorate to "un-invite" politicians from visiting schools, despite emails released under Freedom of Information laws show a senior public servant writing that was the case in November.
It is unclear why a senior public servant would write such an email, if the staffer was not under the impression the minister or her staff had asked for people to be un-invited, though ultimately the proposal did not go ahead.
Ms Berry also suggested if the visitation policy was not in place, it could lead to all 25 local politicians visiting a single school at the same time, a claim Ms Lee said was a fantasy.
Ms Lee also hit back at Ms Berry later in the debate, saying the minister had personally attacked her, and it was an indicator that Ms Berry's management of the portfolio was incompetent.
"She is out of her depth, so has resorted to personal attack ... she gets up with her prepared scripts and sometimes I have to wonder whether she even understands what she is reading," Ms Lee said.
She also said she had never suggested a 'free for all' of politicians visiting schools unannounced and she wanted the inquiry to ensure no-one, including schools were inadvertently breaching the policy.
While Ms Berry proposed an amendment to Ms Lee's motion, which would have put an end to the proposed committee inquiry, Greens leader Shane Rattenbury posed a further amendment to hold the inquiry, which ultimately passed.
The inquiry into the directorate's events and visits policy will seek submissions and report back to the Assembly in May.
