Baillie ChrisCHRIS BAILLIE (ACT): I rise on behalf of ACT in opposition to the Education and Training (Teaching Council Fees Levies and Costs) Amendment Bill a bill which seeks to allow the Teaching Council to set fees to fund its operations. The bill is required due to a series of unfortunate decisions and circumstances. Teachers need a Teaching Council. It's an important body required for regulating the teaching profession and the certification of its teachers but they have moved outside the scope that the teachers had given them into professional development that the teachers really hadn't asked for and subsequently that requires the increased fees.After consulting with the teaching profession the Teaching Council decided that annual registration was the way to go and this is when things really started to go wrong. They didn't listen to the consultation that they received from teachers who overwhelmingly didn't want a change from the three-year registration to the annual registration. The registration process is a stressful time for everyone—teachers administrators and principals—and it just adds that extra layer of stress. As it turned out as we know it took the Post Primary Teachers' Association case to the High Court to have it reversed. So it just wasn't done properly. It's this sort of behaviour that has led the teaching profession to really distrust rightly or wrongly the Teaching Council.When I renewed my registration last year it was a really hot topic at the time and at the time I and my teaching colleagues couldn't believe that the Teaching Council believed it was quite justified in raising their fee from $220 every three years to $157 every year. Even those teachers who didn't teach maths could work out that it was a pretty big increase from $220 to $471 every three years and now they're up with a wage freeze. I was in the Education and Workforce Committee and heard many of the submitters and lots of issues were brought up like the extra powers the rushed process—was questions being mentioned a few times tonight—the concern that the Teaching Council weren't the right people to provide the professional development that the requirements keep changing and requiring teachers to receive professional development for these changes and whether the Teaching Council the body for discipline of the teachers was the appropriate body to provide the professional development and leadership. Many mentioned the salaries of the Teaching Council staff—they weren't happy with that. There's a certain amount of annoyance that the Teaching Council had a budget so they should work within it like everyone else and almost every submitter was concerned about the lack of consultation.Unfortunately the change in wording in section 479(2) that says with the written approval of the Minister" doesn't give any cause for reassurance. Teachers look at this whole fiasco with a huge degree of suspicion. There are big problems with our education system already with truancy a major concern literacy and numeracy standards spiralling downwards teacher training and retention issues dubious curriculum decisions being made with very little thought as to what happens next—how are they taught? Who's going to teach them? And millions of dollars being poured into a restructure. When they hear the Ministry of Education say "There's a risk that those who paid the $157 dollars for an annual certificate could refuse to pay the remaining $63 owing for the 2023 year certificate with which they have now been issued. This does not meet the criterion of fairness." they're quite rightly wondering where the Government's priorities are.So in summary: consultation was asked for albeit in a truncated process and it was received loud and clear. Teachers want to know what the point of consultation is if it's going to be ignored. The Teaching Council has an important role to play in the registration and discipline of teachers—40 percent of the Teaching Council's budget is spent on disciplinary processes. Maybe it should be more. Do it well be more efficient. It's affecting people's lives and reputations. Leave the professional development required by specialist subject areas like science or music to the experts who understand already what is required. One of the professional leadership aspects of the Teaching Council's work is "to encompass matters such as promoting inclusion discouraging racism and affirming the need to have high aspirations for all students." I would argue that all of these should be addressed in the recruitment process. If not maybe that's what the Teaching Council should be concentrating on.The other responsibilities that have developed over the years need to be reassessed. The Teaching Council have a lot of work to do to gain back the confidence of the people it represents. They must have the trust and respect of teachers. ACT accepts this bill will pass and sincerely hopes that the Teaching Council works very hard to remedy the disconnect it has with teachers that is so evident. Thank you Madam Speaker."