Brisbane news live: Schools will remain open today, says education minister

On the eve of today’s teachers’ strike, Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek declared that schools would be open and told parents there was no expectation they keep their kids home.

Tens of thousands of public school teachers across Queensland will walk off the job today for rallies and marches, including the largest, which begins this morning at Brisbane’s Convention Centre in South Bank.

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Speaking to 4BC Drive with Gary Hardgraves, the minister said a first round of conciliation talks at the Industrial Relations Commission was held yesterday, but the planned industrial action would go ahead.

While the Queensland Teachers’ Union has told parents to keep their children at home, Langbroek said the department was working with principals to make arrangements to keep schools open.

“The union can ask people to do anything they like, but as the minister responsible, I’ve said schools will still be open, and we work with our principals to make sure that there’s supervision of students,” he said.

“There are some parents for whom it’d be very difficult if they have to keep their children home, and so we’re saying to them, no, we don’t expect you to do that, and that’s why we’ll provide that supervision in our schools.”

The Queensland Teachers’ Union is claiming thousands of teachers have joined its ranks in anticipation of today’s strike, but an alternative group is speaking out against the action, and says its numbers are growing too.

The Teachers’ Professional Association of Queensland is part of the “red union” movement of alternative professional associations, which is not part of the current talks over the pay deal.

Edward Schuller from TPAQ told 4BC Drive with Gary Hardgrave that many teachers joining his group did not want to strike because they saw it “for what it is … an outright sham”.

“For the last 12 years, the last four agreements the QTU have negotiated, real wages have gone nowhere for teachers ... they act like they’re doing something for their membership base, but it’s the same old,” he said.

“The teacher shortage crisis, the student behaviour, ideologies being pushed in classrooms — all of this has happened under their stewardship.”

While only QTU members can legally participate in the strike, TPAQ is urging its members to take sick leave if they are stressed by their workload increasing today.

TPAQ is calling for a 31 per cent pay rise, and says this can be done with no extra budget through a restructure.

On the eve of today’s teachers’ strike, Education Minister John-Paul Langbroek declared that schools would be open and told parents there was no expectation they keep their kids home.

Tens of thousands of public school teachers across Queensland will walk off the job today for rallies and marches, including the largest, which begins this morning at Brisbane’s Convention Centre in South Bank.

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Speaking to 4BC Drive with Gary Hardgraves, the minister said a first round of conciliation talks at the Industrial Relations Commission was held yesterday, but the planned industrial action would go ahead.

While the Queensland Teachers’ Union has told parents to keep their children at home, Langbroek said the department was working with principals to make arrangements to keep schools open.

“The union can ask people to do anything they like, but as the minister responsible, I’ve said schools will still be open, and we work with our principals to make sure that there’s supervision of students,” he said.

“There are some parents for whom it’d be very difficult if they have to keep their children home, and so we’re saying to them, no, we don’t expect you to do that, and that’s why we’ll provide that supervision in our schools.”