Education Minister Yvette Berry guaranteed no permanent public school staff positions would be cut this year, but said changes to temporary and casual staffing arrangements were “business as usual” for the sector. Photo: Ian Bushnell.
The ACT Government has been compelled to guarantee that there will be no cuts to teachers, support staff, or programs in any public school (including casual and temporary staff) for the remainder of this year and next year.
Shadow Education Minister Jeremy Hanson moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday afternoon (2 September) on the back of reports that 77 of Canberra’s 92 public schools are either already overbudget or are expected to be in the red by the end of this year.
Earlier that day, Education Minister Yvette Berry guaranteed there would be no redundancies for permanent staff – either this year or in 2026 – but stated temporary staff would be “retained where there are safety or other compliance requirements”.
“We’re hearing principals are being asked to list staff contracts that are due to expire and prepare not to renew them,” Mr Hanson told the Assembly.
“In essence, anyone that’s not a permanent employee is on the chopping block.”
Mr Hanson said his office had been hearing of instances where non-essential excursions were being cancelled and classes combined rather than schools spending money on relief teachers.
The government has commissioned an independent review of education resourcing to find out how this situation arose. The report is due next year.
Mr Hanson questioned how the budget had been handled, given that such a review was now required.
“For the minister [Berry] to claim she needs to have an independent review within a month of the budget being handed down is a cause for deep concern,” he said.
“Until we see that review … and we can make some considered decisions, enough of the cuts.
“If you need to find cuts elsewhere in the budget, go looking elsewhere, the tram’s a place you could start.”
The government did not support the motion.
Ms Berry highlighted that the ACT is the only jurisdiction to fund all public schools above the national school resourcing standard and that the recent 2025-26 budget contained a record spend of more than $1 billion.
During Question Time on Tuesday (2 September), she stated that it was “business as usual” and that temporary and casual staffing numbers would change, given that student needs at each school would also change.
Thus she could not promise that all temporary and casual positions would be protected.
“Temporary staff will be retained where there are safety or other compliance requirements,” Ms Berry said.
“Where staff need to be reassigned to another school, consultation will occur.”
Ms Berry rejected suggestions that schools had been asked to combine classes and cancel contracts to find savings.
“The advice our schools have been given is to maintain their current 2025 budget projection. This means that they should not spend more in Terms 3 and 4 than they did in the first half of the year,” she said.
“There are no cuts to school spending in 2025.
“Schools have not been asked to make decisions that would adversely impact the safety of students and staff. Schools have been asked to consider where they could reasonably reduce non-essential spending and will continue to make daily business-as-usual decisions.”
Mr Hanson’s motion was supported by the entire crossbench, with amendments introduced by both the ACT Greens and Kurrajong independent Thomas Emerson.
Greens education spokesperson Laura Nuttall’s amendment clarified the timeline the Assembly wanted a guarantee for, and made it clearer MLAs wanted a firm answer on casual and temporary staff.
“I think we need to give our most vulnerable staff, alongside students and principals and parents, the certainty that they deserve,” she said.
Mr Emerson’s amendment further called on the government to “invest in our public education system sufficiently to arrest the decline in public school enrolments in the ACT.”
Mr Hanson supported both amendments, but felt Mr Emerson’s additions weren’t “helpful” to the debate at hand.
The motion, as amended, was passed. The Assembly can call on the government to take action on an issue, but it is up to the government to decide if it will or not.
The Australian Education Union hailed the motion’s passing, with ACT branch president Angela Burroughs calling Ms Berry’s statement that there would be no cuts in 2025 as “misleading”.
“The government’s intention is to achieve millions in savings by not re-engaging staff at the end of their temporary employment. There are more than 1500 casual and temporary staff in ACT Public Schools,” she said.
“Coming back within budget would equate to slashing 470 teacher or 720 school assistant jobs. Over 77 public schools, this is the equivalent of cutting six teachers or nine school assistants in every school.”
