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Speaker 1: Well, there's certainly been a lot of discussion this week

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Speaker 1: around education. We know that there was a review that

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Speaker 1: was announced earlier in the week. Towards the end of

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Speaker 1: last week, we did learn about this teacher's latest payoffer

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Speaker 1: which has been put on the table, but lots of

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Speaker 1: questions still remain about exactly how it's going to be funded.

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Speaker 1: Now you would have heard that I just replayed a

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Speaker 1: bit of the interview with the Treasurer and indeed Minister

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Speaker 1: for Education Evil Ala just a little while ago. Now

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Speaker 1: joining me on the line, is nt Cogso President Tabby Fudge.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Tabby.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katy, and good morning to your listener, Tabby.

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Speaker 1: How are you feeling about you? After hearing a bit

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Speaker 1: further detail from the Education Minister earlier today around the

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Speaker 1: teacher's pay increase that's being proposed and how it's going

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Speaker 1: to be funded, I must.

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Speaker 2: Say, Katie, I was very pleased and it was honestly

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Speaker 2: an absolute relief to hear our Minister for Education conspirm

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Speaker 2: that school budgets will not be funding the current ABA

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Speaker 2: negotiations and that the fund for the negotiations will be

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Speaker 2: coming out of the Department of educations underspend and I

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Speaker 2: think that's the really crucial point here, that the Department

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Speaker 2: of Education are underspending and that of course any EBA

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Speaker 2: negotiations should be coming out of an underspent and not

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Speaker 2: coming out of school budget. So it was really great

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Speaker 2: to hear the Minister clarify that for us this morning.

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Speaker 2: And I suppose going forward now we can look forward

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Speaker 2: to the Department of Education writing to schools and to

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Speaker 2: school rep bodies rescinding their current instructions for schools to

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Speaker 2: put money aside out of their budgets for the EBA negotiations,

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Speaker 2: So that means that money can now go back into

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Speaker 2: their budgets to be spent on employing teachers at midden Star.

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Speaker 2: And I think you know this is I suppose a

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Speaker 2: testament to Minister Lawler as a long term educator and

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Speaker 2: educational leader in the Northern Territory. Now I think she

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Speaker 2: said early, you know, up thirty forty years now, there's

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Speaker 2: no one better position to understand schools and Minister law

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Speaker 2: and obviously you know the need for every available dollar

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Speaker 2: to be spent on our children in schools today.

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Speaker 1: And so why is there such a big under spent

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Speaker 1: that it can actually that we could be affording to,

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Speaker 1: you know, to have put this offer on the table

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Speaker 1: by the sounds of it for a while. For the teachers.

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Speaker 1: Why is there such an underspent I don't.

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Speaker 2: I have no idea, you know, I have no idea.

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Speaker 2: It's always been the mantra that education budgets should be

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Speaker 2: spent on the children in schools today. You know, we

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Speaker 2: should not be saving that money for a rainy day

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Speaker 2: into the future. The money is in budgets today should

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Speaker 2: be spent on children in schools today. So I have

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Speaker 2: no idea why the Department of It holding funds to

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Speaker 2: that tune. That would be a question better positioned for

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Speaker 2: the CEE of Education. I would imagine it's a lot

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Speaker 2: of money, isn't it.

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Speaker 1: If we can afford seven mil it's a lot of money.

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Speaker 2: Tabby Yeah, I think Menslawa said that the funds were

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Speaker 2: around the underspend was around thirteen millions, So that should

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Speaker 2: cover the ABA negotiations going into you know, for the

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Speaker 2: back payment and for the next year's payment, and then

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Speaker 2: I suppose it will be back to the negotiation table

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Speaker 2: going forward for future you know, funding of the negotiated

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Speaker 2: wage increase for our teachers. But I think what really

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Speaker 2: stands out for me, and I say this often, you know,

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Speaker 2: this is this is a space where there's a greater

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Speaker 2: role for our federal government to play. You know, it's

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Speaker 2: not just a matter of funding education, you know, and

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Speaker 2: we know that a lot of you know, there's a

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Speaker 2: lot of the tendency issues out in remote and very

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Speaker 2: remote communities due to the you know, the movement of

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Speaker 2: our school children and their families through different areas. We

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Speaker 2: know that there's a greater role here for federal government

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Speaker 2: to play when it comes to housing. You know, we

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Speaker 2: have the greatest rates of homelessness and poverty in Australia.

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Speaker 2: You know, this needs this and education comes into this

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Speaker 2: because you know, if we've got overcrowding in housing, we've

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Speaker 2: got kids who are not getting the good night's sleep,

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Speaker 2: who are then sleeping during the mornings and not going

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Speaker 2: to school and things like that, you know, and it

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Speaker 2: contributes to things like o tight as media and rhematic

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Speaker 2: heart disease and you know, all these kinds of things

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Speaker 2: you know, make attendance difficult and that affects our numbers.

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Speaker 2: So you know, federal government really really needs to step

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Speaker 2: up and help the Northern territory out.

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Speaker 1: And so do you reckon that announcement earlier in the

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Speaker 1: week about the current funding model being set to change.

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Speaker 1: Is that a good move?

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Speaker 2: Tabby absolutely, absolutely, it's a good move. I mean, obviously

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Speaker 2: you'd like to see implementation happen at a rapid yea.

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Speaker 2: If the first couple of recommendations are going to be

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Speaker 2: implemented immediately and with a focus on those small schools

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Speaker 2: which are nearly a third of our school population, know,

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Speaker 2: those ones with enrollments of under fifty children, I think

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Speaker 2: that will be a really good thing. So we'll just

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Speaker 2: have to see how that plays out. But I think

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Speaker 2: you know, taking away you know, funding on attendance is

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Speaker 2: going to be good. It's going to give surety to

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Speaker 2: those smaller schools.

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Speaker 1: Now, what about that discussion as well, that obviously the

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Speaker 1: minister had had about the review into secondary schools, so

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Speaker 1: I know that it was something that they're looking at

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Speaker 1: out in remote areas. But also she said that she'd

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Speaker 1: been had quite a few people get in contact with

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Speaker 1: her about middle school and high school and that model

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Speaker 1: that we moved to I think it was back in

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Speaker 1: two thousand and eight. Is that something that does need

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Speaker 1: to be looked into.

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Speaker 2: I think there's been quite a few reviews over the

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Speaker 2: years done on the middle schools seeing a school model,

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Speaker 2: and I think I haven't looked at anything in regard

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Speaker 2: to those reviews lately, so I'm sort of trying to remember.

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Speaker 2: I think the middle school model was sort of seemed

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Speaker 2: to be lacking across some areas, and that why that

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Speaker 2: was there was sort of a push to move back

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Speaker 2: to that comprehensive seven to twelve model. I'm not really

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Speaker 2: positive off the top of my head though, so and

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Speaker 2: I think, as missed Lawla said earlier, we've only got

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Speaker 2: a few teachers a few schools that are still in

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Speaker 2: that middle school space. So yeah, I'm not too sure.

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Speaker 2: But I know that when effective enrollment was boarding, that

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Speaker 2: was when there was that move away from secondary schooling

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Speaker 2: in remote communities. And there seems that the Australian Education

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Speaker 2: Unions that actually put out a really really good study

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Speaker 2: on attendance and funding just over the last week, and

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Speaker 2: there's a correlation between you know, the funding model changing,

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Speaker 2: the push for boarding schools away from homes to these

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Speaker 2: children out in remote areas, and then you know the

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Speaker 2: consequent you know, drop in attendance drop in achievement. So

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Speaker 2: you know, there's been a lot of work in that

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Speaker 2: space and I think, you know, the Deloitte report would

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Speaker 2: be reflective of a lot of that work in the

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Speaker 2: sentiment around you know, that secondary model.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Tabby Fudge. Always good to catch up with you,

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Speaker 1: and hopefully the schools have got a bit more clarity

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Speaker 1: today following on from that interview with the Education Minister.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think we do have a bit more clarity

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Speaker 2: and now we'll just have to wait for that letter

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Speaker 2: from the Department of Air rescinding those prior instructions to

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Speaker 2: put aside some money for the EBA negotiation.

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Speaker 1: Well, Tabby, thank you as always for your time. Good

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Speaker 1: to catch up with you this morning.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Katie, have a great day with you too,