· Elizabeth College staff have strongly voted to opt out of Tas Tomorrow fiasco

· Principal suggests the vote may not be honoured

· Premier must step in and immediately respect the vote

I am deeply concerned that the Education Department bureaucracy is ploughing ahead to implement Labor’s Tasmania Tomorrow changes, ignoring the ballot of teaching staff.

Almost 60 per cent of Elizabeth College staff has voted to stay out of Tasmania Tomorrow.

The College Principal has since sent a circular to staff saying:

“Admin have now seen these voting figures and note that for neither group of staff, teaching or non-teaching, do the number voting for deferral constitute a majority of staff in either category (or therefore a majority of total staff). In this situation I will be acting as per my previously announced intention and consulting further and then discussing the outcome with the Secretary of the Department of Education, John Smyth, before finalising a recommendation to the Premier.”

The vote of the teaching staff must not be ignored.

Elizabeth College staff is so concerned about the Tasmania Tomorrow mess unfolding that they have joined other campuses – Rosny, Launceston and Claremont – in either opting out or demanding a deferral.

The Elizabeth College principal should heed the views of his staff, but more importantly Premier and Education Minister David Bartlett must immediately intervene.

Mr Bartlett said, in response to the overwhelming Rosny College staff vote against the changes “I respect the teachers’ choice and respect their vote.”

He must immediately say the same about the Elizabeth College staff.

Anything else would be outrageous.

Half of Tasmania’s eight former college campuses have now opted out – it is time for David Bartlett to swallow his ego and admit the changes must be suspended.

He will be rightly condemned if he puts his political positioning ahead of the interests of students, teachers and parents.

And David Bartlett must guarantee that no sanction – budgetary or otherwise – will be imposed on those campuses opting out of Tasmania Tomorrow.

In fact full and revised budgets must be provided for Rosny and Elizabeth colleges to ensure full course options are available for students in 2010.
Sue Napier MP Shadow Education Minister