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Speaker 1: We know the Northern territories recruited one hundred and forty

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Speaker 1: six new teachers and twenty three principles who've committed will

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Speaker 1: complete it, I should say orientation in preparation for the

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Speaker 1: start of the school year tomorrow. The new recruits are

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Speaker 1: a mixture of experienced teachers from interstate as well as overseas,

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Speaker 1: including recent university graduates. As of last week though, there

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Speaker 1: was still one hundred and eleven teaching vacancies, which I

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Speaker 1: understand is fewer than in previous years. But joining us

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Speaker 1: on the line to talk a little more about how

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Speaker 1: things are looking as the school year gets back into

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Speaker 1: things is the Australian Education Union's NTY branch president Michelle Airs.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Michelle.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Lovely to have you on the show now. Michelle, what

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Speaker 1: can you tell us about the new recruits this year?

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Speaker 1: It sounds up we've.

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Speaker 2: Got quite a few, we do. I would say we've

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Speaker 2: probably got about double what we've had in the previous years,

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Speaker 2: and so much experience represented within that cohort, so much

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Speaker 2: more than I have experienced in previous years. I felt

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Speaker 2: like every second person I was meeting last week was

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Speaker 2: coming from interstate with multiple years experience and in incredibly

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Speaker 2: interesting specialties as well, which sometimes rareity and t is

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Speaker 2: so pretty exciting.

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Speaker 1: That is great news and quite different to what we've

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Speaker 1: seen in previous years. As you touched on why do

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Speaker 1: you reckon that is.

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Speaker 2: Well, I mean, we can't overlook the value of having

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Speaker 2: fly our salaries. We negotiated an agreement that chame into

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Speaker 2: effect at the end of last year that saw our

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Speaker 2: CT nine rate go up by eleven thousand dollars a year,

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Speaker 2: and that was to match some of what's being offered

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Speaker 2: in other states and territories for their remote benefits. We

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Speaker 2: had to go, look this, the entire nte is remote.

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Speaker 2: We need to be offering the best salaries and by

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Speaker 2: far to attract the best people here. And I'm telling

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Speaker 2: you I'm hopeful that that plan has worked.

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Speaker 1: It does seem to still be quite a high number

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Speaker 1: of vacancies, is that correct? And what sort of work

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Speaker 1: is done to sort of fill or to you know,

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Speaker 1: to make sure that that shortfall is filled to some degree?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I know there's a team that is in the

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Speaker 2: Department of Education that we're actively working even last week

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Speaker 2: to fill those vacancies and I've heard from some principles

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Speaker 2: who have been able to recruit teachers even in the

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Speaker 2: last week, so I would say that that number it

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Speaker 2: has gone out again. But also the fact that we

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Speaker 2: have seen what I would say, and I'm not talking

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Speaker 2: for official figures here, but my guess is we've seen

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Speaker 2: double the amount of recruits and that vacancy figure is

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Speaker 2: a little lower than last year, but not that much lower.

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Speaker 2: I think that means that we've seen a larger number

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Speaker 2: of positions offered, which is actually a really good thing.

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Speaker 2: It means we're going to have flexibility that we haven't

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Speaker 2: had in years when teachers are away, more relief support,

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Speaker 2: et cetera, et cetera.

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Speaker 1: That's really good. It's good to start the year like this,

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Speaker 1: isn't it.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean it's I feel like pretty much every

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Speaker 2: time I've come on your show, it's we've been talking

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Speaker 2: about school funding and this is the first iteration of

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Speaker 2: our new funding agreement with the Commonwealth Government. So as

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Speaker 2: of as of last as of this January, the first

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Speaker 2: year of a five year funding injection has has begun,

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Speaker 2: and it's the smallest year I think is worth noting.

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Speaker 2: It's going to happen on a sliding scale. So there

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Speaker 2: are still a lot of problems and a lot of

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Speaker 2: people who are and maybe schools who are quite underfunded.

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Speaker 2: But we have seen a one hundred million dollar injection

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Speaker 2: in our NT schools and it has enabled, for the

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Speaker 2: first time in over ten years, our schools to be

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Speaker 2: funded on enrollment rather than attendance. And I think the

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Speaker 2: buzz that that has created can't be understated.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, why do you reckon that is such a you

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Speaker 1: know that it is such a basal way of doing things, Michelle, are.

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Speaker 2: Just because the children who are the most disadvantaged are

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Speaker 2: the ones who are the or the families to the

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Speaker 2: most disadvantage are the ones who are most likely to

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Speaker 2: be impacted when when enrollment based funding is taken away

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Speaker 2: when it's based on attendance, And then the people that

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Speaker 2: are punished for that aren't the families, it's the schools.

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Speaker 2: The schools. When money is taken away from the schools,

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Speaker 2: it stops their ability to put quality programs and practice

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Speaker 2: into place that is likely to attract and engage those

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Speaker 2: students back. So then you see a cycle of funding

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Speaker 2: being taken away where so now we're seeing the opposite

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Speaker 2: of that we're finally see maybe a little gloomer of

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Speaker 2: hope where we're able to put on some extra programs,

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Speaker 2: some extra staff. So hope fully we finally have the

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Speaker 2: opportunity to break this cycle of non attendance.

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Speaker 1: So, Michelle, is it safe to say that you know

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Speaker 1: that a lot of Northern Territory teachers are feeling quite

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Speaker 1: positive as we enter the school year.

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Speaker 2: Look, I don't know if it's safe to say that

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Speaker 2: this is I spent last week with two hundred and

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Speaker 2: fifty people, one hundred and seventy of whom are brand

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Speaker 2: new to the territory, so they don't know what it's

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Speaker 2: been like here. We ended last year. The teachers are

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Speaker 2: stretched beyond, far beyond their capacity, so burned out. We

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Speaker 2: really need to We are at a point where we

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Speaker 2: really need to invest in our teachers. And I would

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Speaker 2: say this accounts for those teachers who are new here

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Speaker 2: as well. Our best opportunity the salaries have brought teachers here.

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Speaker 2: Our best opportunity to keep them here is now to

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Speaker 2: invest in their safety, their well being and to make

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Speaker 2: sure that they're able to actually do their jobs well.

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Speaker 1: Michelle, as the President of the Australian Education Unions Northern

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Speaker 1: Tiertory Branch. It is great to speak with you this morning.

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Speaker 1: All the best for the year to you and all

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Speaker 1: of the wonderful Northern Territory teachers and all of the

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Speaker 1: support staff as well as school goes back tomorrow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thank you, Katie, and I will just say all

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Speaker 2: the best of those teachers going back, and also to

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Speaker 2: the families and the children going back tomorrow. I think

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Speaker 2: it's I'm really interested to see how this year shapes up.

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Speaker 1: Michelle on behalf of the parents. We are excited that

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Speaker 1: school is going back. We're happy, we're thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning.

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Speaker 2: Lovely Talkati