Journal jun2015 web

Q U E E N S L A N D T E A C H E R S ’

5 June 2015Volume 120 number 4

Also in this issue: Minister at Council IR reforms Federal Budget Gonski reborn

LABOUR DAY 2015

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Teachers Journal ad.indd 1 12/05/2015 12:34 pm

Open an Everyday Account and get a $50 thank you note.

This offer is only available to new customers who open an Everyday Account with QT Mutual Bank via qtmb.com.au between 18 May 2015 and 31 July 2015. Offer is limited to one account per customer and to the first 100 accounts opened only. Not to be used in conjunction with any other offer. $50 will be deposited into the customer’s Everyday Account within 21 working days of the account being opened (the $10 member share may be deducted from this deposit). To consider if this product is right for you, please refer to the QT Mutual Bank Terms and Conditions, which includes full terms, conditions, fees and charges and is available from branches and qtmb.com.au. This promotion may be modified, cancelled or extended at any time without prior notice at the sole discretion of QT Mutual Bank Limited ABN 83 087 651 054 AFSL/Australian credit licence 241195. QTMB181TJ.5.15

We’ll also say thanks with:� Free withdrawals at all rediATMs� Unlimited free Visa and eftpos purchases within Australia� No account keeping fees when you deposit $2,000 or more

each month, e.g. your salary.

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10 Rethink needed on IPS

11 IR law reform

12 Budget ignores education

13 Gonski reinvigorated

14 QTAMA to close

15 NCCD concerns

16 Labour Day 2015

20 Community closures

21 Reconciliation plan

24 Education Leaders Conference

features

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Editorial policy Articles and letters should be sent to ‘The General Secretary, Queensland Teachers’ Journal Editor, PO Box 1750, Milton BC, 4064’, faxed to (07) 3512 9050 or emailed to [email protected]. Letters should be no more than 200 words in length. Articles should be a maximum length of 500 words. All submissions should be signed and those wishing to remain anonymous should indicate their name is not for publication. Articles, letters to the editor and advertising in this journal do not necessarily represent the views of the Union. The next edition will be published on 17 July 2015. The deadline for all editorial and advertising material is 22 June 2015. For advertising enquiries, email [email protected] or call (07) 3512 9000.

5 June 2015Q U E E N S L A N D T E A C H E R S ’

www.qtu.asn.auISSN 0033-6238

Cover image: Across the state, QTU members, their families and friends celebrated Labour Day 2015 (p16)

regulars 4 News

5 Editorial

7 From the President

9 From the VP

27 New teachers

29 Legal

30 QTAD

31 Lighter side

32 At leisure

32 Retired teachers

35 QTU contacts

35 Classifieds

35 Anniversaries, reunions and events

8 Minister at Council

16 Labour Day 2015

25 Union Reps Conference

Vol 120 No 4 | Queensland Teachers' Journal 3

Vale John LivingstonOur much loved executive principal John Livingston passed away peacefully in the early hours of Wednesday morning, 6 May.

John Livingston had been executive principal of Kirwan High for the past 27 years. His outstanding leadership has seen Kirwan High accredited as a member of the Council of International Schools; accepted as an International Habits of Mind Learning Community of Excellence school; and most recently the first school in North Queensland to be accredited by the Australasian Schools Accreditation Agency. John was very proud when Kirwan High won the Reconciliation Award for Excellence in Indigenous Education for the second time in 2014.

John commenced his career as an English and history teacher and authored 12 textbooks. His career highlights included Honorary Visiting Teacher at the University of Queensland, member of the Golden Key International Honour Society, James Cook

University, the Department of Education Minister’s Leadership Award, and the Secondary Principals’ Association Award for Achievement and Innovation. John was also recognised by Rotary International with a Paul Harris Fellowship for his community work. In 2010, John’s leadership in education was recognised with a Fellowship of the Australian College of Educators award. In 2014, he was named as an inaugural Queensland Education Leadership Institute Ambassador.

John had a strong belief in state schooling. He had a genuine passion to improve the lives of all young people. He coined the phrase “Kirwan High, a school for everybody” to demonstrate a strong commitment to ensuring all students, regardless of their background, received a world class education.

Kirwan High’s standing as an arts and sporting excellence school reflects John’s lifelong enthusiasm for these areas. Opening night of the annual musical and Kirwan Bears' victories were among John’s proudest moments.

The Kirwan High community has been blessed by John’s strong leadership and commitment to the pursuit of excellence. He will always be dearly remembered as “Mr 110 per cent, the executive principal of Kirwan High, the best school in the universe.”

Meredith WentaACTING EXECUTIVE PRINCIPAL, KIRWAN STATE HIGH SCHOOL

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News

Hysteria around union influence is misplaced

This editorial is being written at a time when the Queensland Government had completed its first 100 days in office. Rather than focus on any achievements in turning back some of the worst policies of the previous government, some public commentary obsessively focused on links between the new government and the union movement, with the insinuation of “secret deals”.

One example concerned the charters given to Ministers by the Premier, outlining their priorities. Education Minister Kate Jones was charged with introducing a new classification for high-performing teachers. This allegedly supported the notion of a government run by the unions because it is “a policy long supported by the QTU.”

Of course the introduction of new categories of highly accomplished and lead teachers is supported by the QTU: it is far superior policy for attracting and retaining teachers in the profession than the former government’s flawed plan for performance pay through bonuses. The method of allocating the bonuses was based in large part on student marks and was limited by a quota system.

Both sides of politics support higher pay for experienced teachers. The ALP policy is more professionally sound. And neither was it a “secret”; the ALP announced the initiative before the election and promoted it during the election campaign. The new pay classification featured in the QTU’s communication with members before the election, where we compared the major parties’ policies in terms of what was best for the profession, for state schools and for the TAFE system.

It is also mainstream education policy. The Australian Professional Standards for Teachers, adopted by governments

with considerable input by teachers and their unions, have categories for highly accomplished and lead teachers. In 2008, the Business Council of Australia endorsed a report into keeping teaching talent in the classroom, which proposed not only highly accomplished and lead teacher classifications but salary levels for them. There are teachers being certified in those categories in NSW and other states and territories.

The problem has been spoken about since the late 1980s. In attracting talented people to teaching rather than other professions, the starting salaries of teachers are attractive. The problem is that salaries lose pace, and then plateau after about 10 years unless teachers leave the classroom for limited promotional positions. Teacher unions have pursued remedies like advanced skills teachers and our recent claim for professional pay, but have always been frustrated by lack of funding or employer policy.

The government policy is about establishing an architecture and a process of certification as a highly accomplished or lead teacher, with the attached salaries to be ultimately settled by the Industrial Relations Commission.

Another theme for negative commentary was the Palaszczuk government’s policy on union encouragement.

For all practical purposes, the government policy simply reinstitutes long-standing provisions that even the Newman government agreed to in its last enterprise bargaining agreement with the QTU in 2012, before seeking to firstly invalidate them through legislation and then, in another burst of legislation, attempting to make them non-allowable in future negotiations. It was part of the matchless arrogance of the now state opposition that it would reach an agreement and then use its legislative power to override it.

The same applies to provisions like class size targets, maximising permanent employment and rights to consultation about organisational change. Little wonder they are now the opposition.

We will recruit as we always have: teacher to teacher and mostly face-to-face. Our Union Reps will have access to means to communicate with the Union and the capacity to post notices on noticeboards. They will have access to paid leave for union training, which the QTU has won twice in arbitration.

Any hysteria or conspiracy theory around these issues is misplaced.

Graham MoloneyGENERAL SECRETARY


Editorial

Penny Spalding, the QTU’s Assistant Secretary for Women’s and Social Welfare Issues, has won the QCU’s inaugural Kath Nelson Award.

The honour, which was presented at the 2015 Labour Day Dinner in Brisbane, recognises a woman union official who demonstrates high levels of activism and commitment to Union principles. Penny won for her work for women members and her contribution in areas such as social justice and tackling domestic violence.

The QTU also won the award for best small publication for its “Guide for New Educators”, and was Highly Commended for its “Stop TAFE Cuts" campaign.

Labour Day Awards for Penny and the QTU

On the 23 April, 12 women representing the QCU Women and Equal Opportunity Committee met with Shannon Fentiman, the Minister for Communities, Women and Youth, Minister for Child Safety and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, to discuss domestic violence.

The delegation sought the opportunity to ensure that the Queensland Government fully understood domestic violence as a workplace issue, following the release of the Not Now, Not Ever report (produced by the Queensland Government’s Special Taskforce on Domestic and Family Violence in Queensland, led by Dame Quentin Bryce).

ACTU and union-based research, such as the important work undertaken by Ludo McFerran, was presented in the context of why domestic violence (DV) is union business. The delegation highlighted the opportunity for the government to ensure that DV clauses were included in public sector IR provisions and all state-based awards, and were considered in reviewing the Industrial Relations Act.

The delegation also highlighted the key work that unions undertake in supporting the community, and the need to return and improve community sector support and funding for organisations, services and initiatives that support families fleeing DV. We urged the government to fund dedicated refuges for, or with separate areas dedicated to, women experiencing DV and their children, as well as changes to legal aid. There is a strong need for increased funding for dedicated specialist women’s lawyers to assist women in a DV situation, both immediately and longer term, with the typical processes following it including custody, accommodation entitlements etc.

The Queensland Government now has the power to make real change at a state

Union women meet Minister to discuss domestic violence

level on behalf of people, statistically overwhelmingly women, who are experiencing domestic violence and to lobby for change where it will make a difference at a federal level. For example, strengthening penalties for offenders, removing the income threshold barrier to legal aid for women in a DV situation with sufficient documentation to qualify (eg an AVO from police), lobbying the federal government to change the Family Law Act to add more weight to the safety of the child versus the “right of the child to know the father”, and also, really importantly, to expedite the process of mutual recognition of DV orders across state borders (as raised at the most recent COAG meeting).

There is community support and momentum for real change, given the

current focus on DV, including the White Ribbon campaign gaining momentum, the appointment of Rosie Batty as Australian of the Year, the Prime Minister’s second review into Violence against Women and, in Queensland, the release of the Not Now, Not Ever report, and the recent COAG meeting where the mutual recognition of domestic violence orders across state and territory borders was prioritised.

The meeting was very successful and the response was positive, with Minister Fentiman inviting us to continue to meet and discuss issues with her as needs arise.

Penny SpaldingASSISTANT SECRETARY – WOMEN’S AND SOCIAL WELFARE ISSUES

News

6 Queensland Teachers' Journal | Vol 120 No 4

You would be forgiven for thinking that this column was about overcrowded classrooms or the jam-packed curriculum. Both issues are important, current and sadly true. However, this discussion is about how schools are being swamped by “good” ideas and what we need to do as educators to clear the decks so that we let teachers teach.

Experienced teachers will know only too well about the precious time, energy and resources that are consumed by the implementation of “innovations” in education. The situation, as described by Professor Stephen Dinham* (President of the Australian College of Educators) in a recent address to the QTU Education Leaders Conference, is that schools are a laboratory for educational innovation, without the safeguards that apply to other fields such as medicine.

Innovation in medicine requires exhaustive research, testing and proof of benefit to the patient before it can be introduced to practice. In sharp contrast, changes being visited upon schools are cloaked in the alleged validity of international and national research outcomes, whereas the reality is that researchers in the field know only too well that the evidence is often the opposite of what is claimed. Consequently, our schools are littered with “innovations” that have been tried and failed to deliver, but we continue to implement them rather than clear them out.

Dinham highlights significant areas of highly questionable practice in Australian education “reform”:• alternative school establishment and

funding: the “school choice” proponents• teacher quality: perpetual attacks leading

to the unwarranted decay of public

confidence and growth of alternative training proposals

• school governance and leadership: the growth of school autonomy despite evidence it is harmful to schools and student outcomes

• school accountability: the proliferation of procedures designed to inappropriately measure, quantify and assess educational practice.

Effective, timely consultation with the QTU as the voice of the teaching profession will do much to prevent the implementation of untried and untested innovations. The Union can and should act as a filter for such programs being imposed on schools. Furthermore, and where appropriate, deliberate decisions must then be made to cease unhelpful practices already in place in schools, with a view to saving our students, our schools and ourselves from continuing to waste time, energy and resources.

Regular readers of this column will be aware of the work being done to highlight the negative and destructive impact of the forces of marketisation on education around the world. Education researchers in Australia are now part of a world-wide movement calling for the truth to supplant the myths of the manufactured crisis in education.

Dinham joins luminaries such as Pasi Sahlberg of Finland and Dianne Ravich from

the USA in exposing the influence of big business in these attacks, with the ultimate agenda of the marketisation of education as potentially the largest untapped source of profits on the globe.

The QTU, through the Australian Education Union (our national union) and Education International (our world union), is part of a global initiative to expose and oppose the intimidating power of the edu-business alliance. With more than 30 million teacher union members world-wide, we can muster great power for good. This is another case where thinking globally and acting locally is the best response.

Kevin BatesPRESIDENT

*A copy of a relevant article by Professor Dinham, “The Worst of Both Worlds: How the US and UK are Influencing Education in Australia”, can be accessed here: http://www.austcolled.com.au/documents/item/77

Our schools are too crowded!

New Organisers appointed


From the President

@qtupresident

May State Council has appointed two new QTU Organisers. Jodie McFadden (right) has been appointed Gold Coast Organiser and Elissa Ferguson (left) has been appointed North Queensland Organiser. Both were previously acting in their roles.

On 15 May, Kate Jones, Queensland's new Education Minister, made a speech to QTU State Council. Here are some of the highlights.

Enterprise bargaining“The Palaszczuk government is pursuing significant amendments to the Industrial Relations Act, to implement our election commitment to restore fairness to government workers.”

“I’m fully aware that your agreement nominally expires on 31 August and negotiations with your union for a replacement are intended to commence after the Teachers’ Award is modernised and the required legislative changes to allow enterprise bargaining are made. I’m talking to the teachers’ union actively about how we’re going to roll over that agreement for an agreed period with a wage increase in line with the proposed wages policy.”

Professional pay“What we want to do through 'Letting Teachers Teach' is to deliver career pathways and remuneration for teachers attaining high accomplishment and lead status as defined in the Australian Professional Standards for Teachers.”

“We need to work very closely with the Union to ensure that the way we are classifying positions and growth as you progress down your career path is one that’s holistic and not piecemeal.”

Australian Curriculum“Getting the timing right for the roll out of the Australian Curriculum is essential for Queensland teachers, and I recognise that. I will be writing to all principals to advise that for the remainder of 2015, teachers can focus their energies solely on consolidating the implementation of the Australian Curriculum phase one subjects. And to be clear, there is no requirement for schools to implement new learning areas in 2015.”

Great Results Guarantee“Queensland did not enter an agreement with the Australian Government in regards to implementing these fundings, and they have not been delivered in line with the Gonski recommendations.”

“The QTU is having ongoing discussions with the state schools resourcing team and has raised issues regarding the allocation, and obviously we will be working to see how we can get this right”

Federal Budget“I don’t know of any leader, particularly of a country of our size, that thinks you’re going to grow the economy and build a better and secure future for your people, without investing in your people. And that’s what education is.”

IPS“There have been some things that have worked well, but there are, as all of us know, key challenges in rolling out IPS further.”

“I’m actioning an evaluation of this initiative and I want to get the results of this evaluation to see what has been the true difference on the ground before we roll out the next 60.”

Capital funding“We basically have inherited a position over the next three to four years where there is no capital funding to build a school in growth areas outside of South East Queensland, basically because they [the former LNP government] have entered into a PPP arrangement which only delivers 10 schools in south east Queensland.”

“The benefit of doing a PPP is so you can roll out the capital costs over 30 years, which

frees up more money in your capital spend to build the halls that everybody is lobbying me for, and all the capital works you need to grow your school. The problem we’ve got is they [the LNP] have frontloaded, and next year, the 2015 -16 financial year, is the worst. I have to pay $108 million out of the normal $300million capital works budget straight on PPP payments. So at the moment I’m obviously fighting to retain as much money for capital spend as I can.”

Conclusion“I want to be honest with you and say I won’t be able to necessarily always deliver everything we need to in the timeframes and with the constraints that I’ve articulated. But believe me, I will be a strong advocate for state schools everywhere I go, I will not talk down state education, I will not talk down teachers, I will not attack teachers, I want to work with you. We have the biggest job in Queensland, and that is looking after our young people. I take that seriously, and I want to do it in partnership with you.”

Minister addresses State Council

News



From the VP

@sampidgeon

Keep the workload conversation going

When the Queensland Education Minister Kate Jones attended the QTU State Council meeting in May, one of her messages was that she wanted to “just let teachers teach”. It’s welcome news, because that’s what we’ve been asking for.

We want to help students to achieve the best outcomes that they can and we want to do it in ways that we, as professionals, know will work. We want to minimise the noise and the clutter and do our job, which is fundamentally to plan, teach, assess, report and reflect and follow that cycle again with the next part of the curriculum.

Our ongoing conversation about teacher workload and ways we can alleviate it has identified a number of themes common to teachers across the state. In the last Journal, we asked you to tell us about the things that were taking up your time that you didn’t feel were contributing to improved student learning outcomes. We have had a broad range of feedback from across the profession, including from classroom and specialist teachers, from primary, secondary, P 10/12 and schools of distance education, and from school leaders.

Across all these groups, the same key themes are emerging: testing including NAPLAN and associated data gathering; bureaucratic data entry, paperwork and other administrative tasks; meetings and emails; dealing with student behaviour; and a range of other professional issues. The problem is that it is rarely only one of these issues that will be impacting on the teachers in a school. It’s the combination of these and the continual layering of them without anything being taken away that is problem.

Take the example of widespread expectations that students who do not

have an individual curriculum plan (ICP) will have another form of individual learning plan. These plans are called different things in different regions and workplaces, but essentially they amount to the same thing: an expectation that teachers will write a separate plan for every student in their class, no matter what their ability level is. There is no requirement for such plans to exist for every student to be found within the Department of Education’s P-12 Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Framework and associated materials. Nor should there be, given that there is no resourcing available for this level of planning or for differentiation to be enacted in the class on a regular basis.

The ongoing planning and programming teachers undertake will broadly describe the types of differentiation, scaffolding and extension that will be put in place for groups of students within a class. When a particular need is identified, the teacher will seek to put in place a set of teaching and learning opportunities to address this. Put simply, teachers’ time should be spent on planning the actual learning activities to be undertaken in the classroom, not on the provision of unnecessary paperwork.

Further information about the QTU position in relation to preparation and planning can be found in the position statement www.qtu.asn.au/ps-prep-planning

When teachers in a workplace assert their professional rights, they are actively

reclaiming the profession. When we are empowered by knowledge and by each other, we can address the pressures we face and see sensible outcomes for all involved.

What is striking, both through the website “Reclaim the Profession: top time wasters” forms (www.qtu.asn.au/timewasters) received so far and a range of related conversations happening on social media, is the professional passion and expertise that is inherent in the responses.

Keep the answers coming because they are important in forming a broad view of just what the causes of increased workload are and in finding ways to support QTU members to address them in regions and workplaces across the state.

Sam PidgeonVICE-PRESIDENT

The QTU has called on the new state government to re-evaluate the Independent Public Schools program amid growing fears that it is creating a two-tier public education system and undermining the transfer and relocation systems, both of which are essential in maintaining high quality staffing in rural and remote parts of the state.

The implementation of IPS by the previous state government is a tale of broken promises that led the Union to withdraw even the conditional support that it had offered.

The program initially operated on the basis that no school would be accepted without staff support. Yet they were. No school was supposed to advertise and promote itself as an Independent Public School. Yet they do. And LNP industrial legislation would have stripped away guarantees of the conditions of teachers in IPS schools across the state.

The system is already starting to break down, to the extent that the Union and department were talking about the impact on transfer and relocation systems, and protocols about recruiting teachers from other state schools.

However, the IPS program will remain. In October 2014, the LNP government signed an agreement with its federal counterpart to extend IPS to 250 schools by 2017, more than doubling the 120 originally proposed. That agreement would be extremely difficult to break.

The alternative is to evaluate the current operation of IPS to determine what further autonomy should be extended to all schools and what additional conditions should be placed on IPS schools to ensure the maintenance and enhancement of the public education system as a whole. It was noticeable that a strong theme of the DET principal conference earlier this year was public education as a system.

The literature about the benefits of autonomy for students is mixed, and at best inconclusive. To the extent there are benefits, they relate to professional autonomy (choosing what and how to teach students) rather than managerial autonomy (where can I buy it cheapest). Ironically, it is professional autonomy that is under threat through notions such as prescriptive curriculum.

The only apparent advantages of IPS lie in: • a direct performance agreement

between principal and Director-General, rather than with a regional director

• a full allocation of staffing without regional adjustment

• a greater say in the appointment of staff to the school, including the capacity to advertise independently

• an additional $50,000 per annum.

Increases in Great Results Guarantee funding dwarf the additional IPS funding to the extent that is not a school consideration. And all schools should have a say in the appointment of staff, with the caveat that the right of teachers and those in promotional positions to a transfer after service in rural, remote and non-preferred locations has to be met. Surely there is room for a better system?

QTU policy (adopted by the Union’s State Conference) is not opposed to autonomy per se, though the Union is alive to the possibility of governments abrogating their responsibility to properly staff, resource and maintain schools, and then blaming the schools themselves. Any changes to autonomy should be negotiated and subject to the conditions in QTU policy, e.g. notional

rather than dollar allocation of staffing budgets, school support for participation, transfers and relocations.


IPS: time for a re-think

News


The Palaszczuk government has moved quickly to restore a fair industrial relations system for state government and local government employees.

On 7 May, the government introduced draft legislation to reverse some of the worst aspects of previous industrial legislation, and to provide a process to restore conditions to employees who have already had conditions reduced. The bill was referred to a parliamentary committee which was expected to report by 1 June, presumably so that legislation could be passed in the parliamentary sittings on 2- 4 June.

The bill will remove: • the lists of non-allowable matters in

awards and agreements that threatened, for example, class size targets, school-based management guarantees, professional development and workload provisions

• the invalidation of clauses in existing awards and agreements that allowed the previous government to proceed without consultation to make state government employees redundant

• requirements for the Industrial Relations Commission (IRC) to give priority to the state’s financial position and wages policy in arbitrating, which saw ambulance officers and firefighters awarded only what the government offered (2.2 per cent p.a.)

• increased access to representation by lawyers in the IRC, which increased cost and delayed proceedings.

These are substantial changes that will fundamentally change award modernisation (which the QTU has referred to as award stripping), the enforceability of current awards and agreements, and what can be bargained in future enterprise bargaining. Although the effect on teachers was limited before the election, the importance of these changes for teaching and learning

conditions cannot be overstated.

This bill does not reverse all the changes to industrial legislation. The LNP government made seven substantial changes to industrial legislation in less than three years. The timelines for bargaining, for instance, remain problematic.

The government has foreshadowed a more substantial “root and branch” review of the industrial legislation, but such a review takes time. The review itself would take almost to the end of the year, and the introduction of legislation into 2016. Independent MP Peter Wellington wants proper consideration of legislation, and who can blame anyone for wanting that after the past three years?

There are two implications in these circumstances. The first is the importance of these interim changes to legislation in removing the worst effects and allowing a mechanism for restoring conditions to employees affected by the previous legislation.

The second is the decision by the QTU to seek an extension of the existing EB agreement for an appropriate pay increase into 2016. Otherwise, the QTU would have to bargain at a disadvantage under unfair LNP legislation.

This bill follows other earlier positive actions by the incoming government.

An early message of reassurance from the Premier has been followed by a new employment security policy, which is in stark contrast to the wholesale sackings and casualisation of employment under the Newman government. The QTU has already raised the implications of the policy with the Director-General and has been assured that

the department will be acting to maximise permanent employment in line with the policy. This, together with the changes contained in the bill, will assist in converting as many temporary teachers to permanency as possible.

The threat to the job security of principals and deputy principals through employment on contracts was removed with the election of the government. It was one of its first pre-election commitments in 2014.

On 17 March 2015, the government also halted the existing award “stripping” process before any further conditions could be removed from employee awards.

A policy on the role and rights of unions in the public service is also expected, as is a policy that will limit the contracting out of government services to exceptional and narrow circumstances.


Government moves on industrial relations

News


As the QTU President Kevin Bates sagely observed on budget night, for the first time in living memory, school education and vocational education and training were completely ignored in the annual budget speech when it was delivered in federal parliament on 12 May.

Sadly, it wasn’t just the speech that ignored education. The budget failed to deliver the Gonski school funding reform allocations for years five and six; a decision that will deny schools two-thirds of the promised Gonski funding and makes a mockery of the “unity ticket” that was pledged before the last election.

According to the Queensland Treasurer, the state faces a reduction in funding levels of $466 million over the next three years. That figure is roughly equal to the value of the promised "Gonski" Students First payments, at some $480 million in 2015/16 and 2016/17. State and territory leaders have vowed to fight against these changes at the upcoming COAG meeting.

Instead, after 2017, recurrent funding will only rise in line with increases in enrolments and the consumer price index (CPI). Using CPI is a departure from the standard practice and means schools will receive less, as the actual rise in cost of wages and school expenses is higher than CPI increases. Thus it is a budget cut poorly disguised as an increase. By 2018/19 a "Gonski gap" emerges; the difference between what schools would have received under the Gonski funding arrangements

and those stipulated in the budget. There is an estimated shortfall of $902 million for all schools. This gap widens further in 2019/2020.

Spending outcomes for education are limited to a $5 million allocation for an advertising campaign to encourage parental engagement in schools, $17 million over four years to test teacher graduates for literacy and numeracy and $60.6 million for the controversial School Chaplaincy Program. Early childhood continues to benefit from funding for 15 hours of kindy per week, however this commitment is only for the next two years. The greater education spending claimed in the Budget is generally limited to the impact of cost of living increases and enrolment growth.

Desperately needed funding improvements for students with disabilities were not delivered, notwithstanding the mounting evidence reflected by the Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students with Disabilities. In fact there is actually less support, as the Support for Students with Disabilities National Partnership is one of the first to be wound up at the end of the financial year. The $1.3 billion interim disability loading is simply indexation of

existing funding; not “extra support” as the Treasurer would have us believe.

Working families were also shocked to discover that the government has done a complete U-turn regarding paid parental leave. During the last election, Tony Abbott promoted his “signature” policy, which would have seen working mothers receive six month's paid parental leave at their actual salary. This scheme, which Abbott promised would begin during his first term, was dropped earlier this year. This budget takes an even bigger retrograde step, attacking as “double dippers” those women who have rightly been accessing Commonwealth paid parental leave as the scheme intended; in conjunction with employer PPL schemes like that provided by the Department of Education and Training.

Opposition responseBy contrast, the Opposition has unveiled a proposal that does invest in education. Bill Shorten said a Labor government would introduce computer coding to the school curriculum, provide $25 million to train teachers in programming and provide 25,000 teaching scholarships over five years to science graduates. Student debts for science graduates would also be written off. As Mr Shorten said: “Australia must get smarter or we will get poorer”.

Kim RoyRESEARCH OFFICER

Federal Budget 2015: education ignored


Federal Budget

The campaign to achieve the full Gonski funding model for schools is starting again in earnest, moving into top gear in term three and continuing until the next federal election.

From the start of term three, the AEU will employ full-time coordinators in about 20 targeted federal electorates across the country. Five of those seats will be in Queensland, currently expected to be Brisbane, Bonner, Forde, Longman and Dickson. These coordinators will run community-based campaigns in the style of the Your Rights @ Work and the recent Stand4Queensland campaigns.

The initial objective is to establish, for the first time, bipartisan support for the needs-based, sector-blind funding model of funding recommended by the Gonski review. If bipartisan support cannot be achieved, the Union will campaign in the lead-up to the federal election for parties which are prepared to support such a model.

For those who came in lateThe review of school funding was promised by the incoming Rudd government in 2007. It was established under the chairmanship of David Gonski, whose name has become inextricably associated with the review and the funding model it proposed.

After widespread consultation, which included thousands of submissions from state schools across the country, the committee recommended a model based on the OECD’s notions of equity in education: not equal outcomes but equal opportunity, irrespective of background.

At the core of the model was an increased school resource standard of per capita funding for each student. This was to be

supplemented by additional funding (loadings) for six factors of student educational disadvantage: socio-economic status, Indigeneity, non-English speaking background, disability, remoteness and school size.

The federal government, by then led by Julia Gillard, proposed that the scheme should be implemented by a series of bi-lateral agreements between the federal government and state and territory governments.

The proposal was for additional funding to be phased in over six years with the federal government contributing approximately 65 per cent of the additional funding required and the state or territory, 35 per cent. The funding was to be indexed, with the rate of indexation for federal funding at a higher rate than that required for the states.

NSW, SA, Victoria and Tasmania eventually signed bilateral agreements, but in Queensland, the LNP government refused. Nevertheless, the community support for the introduction of a needs-based funding model was such that the Abbott federal opposition said it was on a “unity ticket” with the federal government, to neutralise the issue.

After the election, the Abbott government announced that the “unity ticket” was nothing of the sort. The outcry of the community and state governments forced a hasty retreat, but the government was committed only to the four years of funding contained in its budget forward estimates,

with no commitment to either the significant additional funding in years 5 and 6 of the phase-in, or the model itself after the four years.

The outcry over the Abbott government’s attempt to break its pre-election commitment on Gonski also compelled it to promise the distribution of budgeted funding to states, including Queensland, that had not entered agreements.

In Queensland, the Gonski money that teachers, parents and the broader community had won through a five-year campaign became the Great Results Guarantee funding distributed to schools in 2014 and 2015.

To its credit, the LNP government distributed all the Gonski money to schools; $131m in 2014 and $183m in 2015. But distribution had to be cobbled together over the 2013-14 summer vacation, and was then modified for 2015 without any attempt to move towards a transparent needs-based model.

This is another part of the challenge for Queensland schools: to move from the uncertain additional year-to-year funding we now have to a needs-based model that provides certainty into the future and addresses educational disadvantage on an on-going basis.

The QTU has already raised this with the incoming state government. It isn’t “pie in the sky” – the NSW government is in the final stages of implementing such a model – but the process needs to start now.


Achieving the full Gonski


School funding

The Labor government is holding true to an election commitment to close down the Queensland Training Asset Management Authority (QTAMA) by announcing new legislation to dissolve QTAMA and return all TAFE assets to the Department of Education and Training.

The establishment of QTAMA was a key LNP strategy deployed to destabilise and undermine TAFE. Set up as a statutory authority under the Department of Public Works and Housing, QTAMA operated commercially, with the capacity to dispose of “underutilised” property but without any requirement to assess the impact of its operations on training in the state.

With this model in place, TAFE came under a punitive rental rates scheme designed to push it out of facilities it had previously owned. In order to minimise the financial impact, TAFE compressed its footprint in campuses, even abandoning some. The result? Empty buildings, including some of the newest and best trade training facilities.

People looking suspiciously like real estate agents started to be seen on TAFE facilities showing prospective clients around, and RTOs moved into campuses with no thought given to whether they would be in competition with TAFE or the impact on TAFE’s reputation from clients mistakenly thinking their educational experience was being provided by the public provider.

While the establishment of QTAMA was originally mooted as a means of efficiently managing the state’s training facilities, analyse it in the light of a rolling set of TAFE EB negotiations and a different picture emerges. With EB negotiations begun in 2012 and still not brought to a successful conclusion, it can be argued that QTAMA was a tool designed to marginalise TAFE and its workforce, given the parallel establishment of TAFE as a statutory authority.

While an 11 month agreement was initially negotiated, the follow up negotiations for a full three year replacement ushered in a saga of court appearances as the parties tried to navigate the plethora of arcane changes wrought by the LNP in their attempts to disempower Queensland workers. The employer’s log of claims reduced TAFE teachers’ wages to flat a rate $70,000, made massive productivity gains with no compensation and silenced swaths of the Award. With these negotiations ongoing, the contemporaneous establishment of QTAMA removed the physical assets from TAFE, leaving it with nothing but its employees and its intellectual property.

This follows the model used against stevedores in the 1998 waterfront dispute, where Patrick workers were in fact employed by a shell, an employment services company that was subcontracted to a parent company. The parent company refused to renew the arrangement to purchase services and the shell company went broke unable to continue to pay wages given it had only the one contract to supply labor. Meanwhile other non-union workers were employed by a different company established to work for the parent.

QTAMA was a part of a pincer attack on TAFE teachers’ wages and conditions designed to undermine a unionised workforce; conform or get out. The impact of these attacks on TAFE Queensland were exacerbated with the LNP government’s move to fully contestable funding, making TAFE scrabble in the street with other providers for dollars to pay its employees

The Palaszczuk government announcement on 20 May brings this shameful attack to an end. Yvette D’Ath, Minister for Skills and Training, has stated publicly that TAFE is a community asset that builds communities and individuals, that it is about more than just jobs for the economy and that it needs to be funded and supported as such. Securing the facilities and assets of TAFE in public hands for the public good is only the first step in returning to a balanced approach to vocational education in Queensland, but it is a necessary and welcome one that returns TAFE to the centre of the system.

David TeraudsTAFE ORGANISER

Announcement of QTAMA closure ends shameful attack on TAFE


TAFE

The Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability (NCCD) is a federal government initiative agreed to by all Australian states and territories.

First trialled in 2011 and then again in 2012, a phased implementation began in 2013. This year, all Australian schools are to participate. The data is collected over a 10 week period, with the data collection tool opening on 18 May and data to be submitted by 7 August.

The QTU, along with the Australian Education Union and the Queensland Association of Special Education Leaders, supports the NCCD program in the hope that having nationally consistent data will lead to future needs-based funding. However, there are a number of concerns.

Which students will be reported onSome students that teachers will be asked to report on will not have a verified disability. This is because of a disconnect between the federal legislation and the department’s six EAP categories of disability. The federal legislation has a broader definition of disability than that used by the department. However, schools do not need to report on every child. According to the Standing Council on School Education and Early Childhood National Schools Fact Sheet: “A student will only be included where there is documented evidence to support the inclusion of a student as meeting the definition of disability under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992.”

“Diagnosing” students who are not verifiedWhile teachers’ professional judgement is called upon, they are not expected to diagnose students.

If you don’t need to alter anything to involve the student in class activities, they probably

don’t have to be included in the data collection. If you do, then that student can be included, even if they aren’t diagnosed.

Notifying the federal government and publication on MySchool The SCSEEC states that: “Data security will be a priority. Data will be de-identified at the school level. Only de-identified school level data will be transmitted beyond the school to ensure that the privacy of the individual student is maintained”.

There are plans for school level data to be released on the My School website in 2016, “subject to the confirmation of data quality”. However, it is asserted that: “reported data will be aggregated at the school level by year level and will be reported in such a way that the privacy of all students is maintained”. At this stage, we do not have any details on how “data quality” will be confirmed. We have concerns regarding how this data could be used if published on My School, and also regarding the marginalisation and residualisation of public schools. The QTU has raised this concern with the Australian Education Union for further investigation.

Additional workloadOur members have repeatedly identified workload pressures as a significant professional issue. While we acknowledge the NCCD does add to workload, we consider the potential benefit outweighs the burden of the once-a-year collection. Additionally, we’ve been advised that while the first year of participation is time-consuming, subsequent years are significantly less so.

We do suggest that schools raise this issue through their LCCs and that staff involved in the data entry should be given appropriate time to do so.

DET supportWe have raised the issue of support for schools with the department and have been told that there will be:• face-to-face professional learning

sessions• iConnect- teleconference learning

sessions for schools • OneChannel recorded sessions • email support at DisabilityPolicy.

[email protected] • “hotline” support (contact: 3513 5950)• a professional learning module on Elearn

Blackboard • TRS for schools new to data collection in

2015.

A number of support documents are also provided by the federal Department of Education and Training. For further detail, see https://education.gov.au/what-nationally-consistent-collection-data-school-students-disability

It is our view that the Queensland department’s expectations are not unreasonable. However, the challenge will be in ensuring that this remains the case at the local level. For further advice or if you have concerns about the way the NCCD is being conducted at your school, contact your local Organiser or [email protected].


Nationally Consistent Collection of Data on School Students with Disability


Professional


Sunshine Coast

Blackwater

Brisbane

QTU members across the state took to the streets over the Labour Day weekend to leave no-one in any doubt that they are proud of their profession.

They were among an estimated 25,000 marchers who turned out at 15 locations throughout the state to recognise the achievements of the union movement, with around 20,000 believed to have taken part in the Brisbane march alone.

It was the first Labour Day since the election of a new state government, and the event became something of a celebration. New Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk received a warm welcome from the Brisbane crowd and an even louder cheer greeted her pledge that the Labour Day public holiday would return to May from next year.

Proud of our profession

2015


Toowoomba

Proud of our profession

2015


Bundaberg

Townsville

Rockhampton

Toowoomba

Brisbane


Gold Coast

Maryborough

Cairns

Sunshine Coast

Stop closure of Aboriginal communitiesA “call to action” has been announced in protest at the forced closure of remote Aboriginal communities.

Protests are due to take place on 26, 27 and 28 June, the first weekend of the midyear holidays. They are the latest in a series of actions against the proposed closures. On 19 March, an estimated 25,000 people around the country gathered in protest. A second round of protests occurred on 1 May, with people participating in 97 rallies in Australia and overseas. A social media campaign, run by SOS Blak Australia, has been used as a platform to campaign against these closures.

BackgroundIn 2014, the federal government decided that it would no longer take responsibility for the provision of municipal services to remote Aboriginal communities, arguing that states and local communities should shoulder this responsibility. The state most affected is Western Australia, where there are 274 remote communities, 90 per cent of which are in the Kimberley and Pilbara. The Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) lands in South Australia are also affected. Some of these communities are very small, and the cost of maintaining them is upwards of $1 billion per year. This includes the provision of essential services, such as

power, water and rubbish removal; services which have been provided by federal government for more than 50 years. Prime Minister Tony Abbott was widely reported as stating: “What we can’t do is endlessly subsidise lifestyle choices”. Upon assigning responsibility to the state government, the federal government offered WA $90 million over two years. As a result of the funding shortfall, in November 2014 the WA government announced that nearly 150 of the state’s remote Aboriginal communities would close. If these communities do close, more than 10,000 people will be removed from remote communities and placed into larger regional towns. Since then, there has been some backtracking and promises of consultation, but uncertainty remains about the future of these communities.

Why it mattersMany of these communities were established in the 1970s as part of a movement to allow Aboriginal people to return to country. The threatened closure of these communities has caused enormous stress and anxiety for those living in these communities. The threatened closures don’t take into account that many of these

communities exist in places that enable Aboriginal people to stay in touch with their land and their culture. It has been described as another example of forced removal and dispossession. The Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress described it as: “an indefensible attack on the human rights of Aboriginal people”. There has also been little consideration given to the impact the forced closures will have on the communities people are moved to, and whether adequate housing, education and health facilities exist to ensure a smooth transition.

Union responseThis issue was considered by the Federal Executive of the Australian Education Union in April. As the QTU is the Queensland branch of the AEU, several QTU Senior Officers were at this meeting, where it was resolved to “unequivocally condemn any actions by the Barnett and Abbott governments to close Aboriginal communities and forcibly remove Aboriginal peoples from their lands in Western Australia”. As more information becomes available, we will share it on the QTU website.


TUH is a company incorporated under the Corporations Act 2001 and is focused on the provision of private health insurance and related health services to its members.

The Board of Directors of Queensland Teachers’ Union Health Fund (TUH) invites nominations from QTU members for 1 Director position on the TUH Board.

To be eligible, the nominee must fulfil ALL of the following criteria:

• Is a company member of TUH,• Is a contributor to the TUH Health Fund, and• Is a financial member of the Queensland Teachers’ Union of

Employees.

The Nominations Committee of the TUH Board will consider all applications and make a recommendation to the Board, which will in turn make a recommendation to the Annual General Meeting.

An election of a total of 3 Directors, including the position above, will be held at the Annual General Meeting of TUH scheduled for 24 November 2015. Elected Directors will serve for a term of 3 years.

The selection and appointment criteria, Constitution, Nomination of Candidate Form and Fit and Responsible Assessment Form are available by contacting the TUH Company Secretary on (07) 3259 5374 or the TUH website: www.tuh.com.au .

Completed forms must be received by TUH by 5pm on 14 August 2015.

Nominations for Directors

Queensland Teachers’ Union Health Fund Limited (ABN 38 085 150 376)


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander news

The QTU is formalising its commitment to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians by developing its own reconciliation action plan (RAP).

RAPs are developed in partnership with the national not-for-profit organisation, Reconciliation Australia. Many organisations now have these plans, from other trade union organisations, such as the Queensland Council of Unions and the ACTU, to tertiary institutions, community groups, large corporations and banks. Interstate, some teacher unions (such as the State School Teachers’ Union of Western Australia) have RAPs under development.

At the suggestion of Gandu Jarjum, the QTU’s committee for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members, the QTU has now decided to develop its own RAP, in the belief that developing our own plan and committing to further actions will enable us to progress towards reconciliation and show deeper respect for our Indigenous cultures.

A RAP working party (pictured) was established last year, and a draft RAP has been developed and considered by Gandu Jarjum, Executive and State Council. It is hoped that the draft RAP will be endorsed at the QTU Biennial Conference later this month, with a view to it being launched at the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education Conference in September and State Council in October.

The RAP development process requires broad consultation, and we would love to hear your views. If you would like to read the draft RAP and provide feedback, please contact Kim Roy at [email protected]

RAPs for schools: Reconciliation Australia’s Nurragunnawali program

Reconciliation action plans can also be developed for schools and other educational institutions. Heatley State School (Townsville) and the Gympie Flexible Learning Centre are two Queensland educational institutions to have had their RAP published on Reconciliation Australia’s RAP Hub, and several QTU members have advised me that their school is in the process of developing a RAP.

To assist schools, both with reconciliation generally and RAP development, Reconciliation Australia has created a program called Nurragunnawali: Reconciliation in Schools and Early Learning.

This program is designed to help schools develop environments that foster a high level of knowledge and pride in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander histories, cultures and contributions. It provides a framework to enable positive and meaningful action in the classroom, across the school and with the wider community. The primary audience for the program is teachers and educators,

and it contains four program areas:• schools and early learning reconciliation

action plans• curriculum resources• professional resources • school and early learning reconciliation

awards.

The RAP developer, an online system schools can use to develop their RAP, is very easy to use, and well thought out. It is a far simpler system for developing a RAP than that companies have to use – with the RAP developer, schools simply enter data into the program. One of the more difficult sections of a RAP to complete is “suggested actions”; the schools RAP developer provides drop down options that can be selected, which makes this process much easier. A high level of support is provided, including as contacts and reminders. This program has made the fairly complex task of developing a RAP as straightforward for schools as possible, and school RAPs do not have to be endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.

DET’s Assistant Director-General State Schools – Indigenous Education, Selwyn Button, has indicated that the department is very supportive of the Nurragunnawali program and is encouraging Queensland schools to develop their own RAP.

To find out more, visit www.reconciliation.org.au/schools


QTU to launch reconciliation action plan

Pictured: QTU Vice-President Sam Pidgeon, Natalie Clarke, Margi Malezer, Penny Taylor and Kim Roy


Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander news

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Tony Abbott’s changes to your paid parental leave (PPL) scheme have created a mess – and he’ll need more than Napisan to clean it up.

In one cheap Budget trick, the Coalition stripped away $11,500 from more than 16,000 Queensland mothers, and insulted all those parents who had accessed this scheme since its introduction five years ago. Teachers or administrators in DET who were previously eligible for both their employer’s 14 weeks PPL and the federal payment will now not be able to receive the government payment. As a result, all QTU members who need to access PPL will be $11,500 worse off.

The current universal paid parental leave scheme introduced by the previous government was designed as a basic scheme for parents that would be complemented by more generous employer schemes taking women’s wages up to their full salary.

Those employer schemes were negotiated through enterprise bargaining, with employees making concessions to reach agreement. Now the federal Coalition has double-crossed and turned on an estimated 80,000 Australian female workers. Even

worse, senior federal Coalition figures are describing this scheme as a “rort” and legally accessing these schemes is “fraud”.

That’s not how Tony Abbott saw PPL back in 2012 when he promised a government-funded scheme that would give some new mothers up to $75,000 for 16 weeks to stay home with their baby.

Now Tony Abbott and the Coalition have decided that the new parents of Australia are expendable in their latest budget.

Currently, mothers can access parental leave payments both from the modest government scheme and from their employer, if their workplace has one. The government scheme, introduced by Labor in 2011, provides 18 weeks of leave at the minimum wage of $640.90 per week to primary care givers earning $150,000 a year or less.

Combined with an employer scheme, it provides new mothers with the opportunity

to access the recommended 26 weeks of time with their young child. Why 26 weeks? That’s what World Health Organisation and National Health and Medical Research Council experts say is the minimum recommended period of exclusive care and breastfeeding. That gives mothers time to bond with and breastfeed their babies without financial stress forcing them back to work too early, sometimes within weeks, which will be the case under the Coalition changes.

Unions lobbied politicians from both parties in its efforts to ensure paid parental leave would have wide community support. Activities included a 25,000 signatory petition, community and workplace meetings, major public events as well as a parliamentary submission, and numerous letters to media outlets and politicians.

As then-ACTU President Sharan Burrow said: “The campaign to win this essential piece of social infrastructure has taken 30 long years. Importantly, the scheme will cover hundreds of thousands of women in lower paid jobs with poor job security, especially in hospitality and retail where there’s been very limited access to paid maternity leave.”

Attaining Paid Parental Leave was a major union and community effort, but now it is being swept away for political expediency. Unions and community groups are preparing to campaign again for what should be a basic right – to provide the best care for young children.

The QCU has launched a petition on its Stand for Queensland website – www.standforqld.com.au/ppl

Changes to paid parental leave create financial mess for young families

Thank you Tony for helping make my 1950s housewife dreams come trueThank you Tony for helping make my 1950s housewife dreams come true

THANK YOU TONY FOR BRINGING MY FRAUDULENT

DOUBLE-DIPPING DAYS TO AN END

Tony Abbott cuts paid parental leave entitlements for 47% of new mothers


PPL

Education Leaders Conference 2015

The 2015 QTU Education Leaders Conference “ United in Professionalism” took place in Brisbane in May, giving school leaders a deeper understanding of current issues, as well as updates on the latest developments at the state and national levels.

Following a welcome from QTU President Kevin Bates, Professor Stephen Dinham, the Director of Learning and Teaching and Chair of Teacher Education at the University of Melbourne, took the lecturn. His keynote address, “School Autonomy: friend or foe”, highlighted the problems autonomy has caused in the US and UK and the threat posed by politicians using non-existent or misunderstood research to justify their “reforms”.

After QTU General Secretary Graham Moloney gave them an update on the issues currently being dealt with by the Union, the delegates broke into workshops: “Navigating HR in your school”, “Leadership starts from within - are you focusing on what matters to you” and “Recruitment and selection - how to apply for principal positions”.

After lunch, the conference heard from QTU Assistant Secretary - Women’s and Social Welfare Issues Penny Spalding, who explained the Queensland roll out of the Safe Schools Coalition, Deputy General Secretary Kate Ruttiman, who provided an update on professional issues affecting school leaders, and DET Director-General Dr Jim Watterston, who looked at leading cultural change from a systems perspective.

Pictured top left to right: Kevin Bates, Prof. Stephen Dinham, Graham Moloney, Kate Ruttiman, Dr Jim Watterston

Leaders

Union Reps Conference 2015

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Around 150 QTU Union Reps gathered in Brisbane during the Easter holidays to hone the skills they need to support their teaching colleagues.

The conference, which took place in Brisbane in April, was informed by the recent change of government and had a focus on the new environment and the new opportunities it presented.

After a welcome and an address by QTU Deputy General Secretary Kate Ruttiman and President Kevin Bates, attention moved to the international scene. Angelo Gavrielatos, formerly the Federal President of the AEU and now in a new role at Education International, shared his reflections on Gonski before highlighting the threat posed by the creeping privatisation of education around the world.

After morning tea, General Secretary Graham Moloney focused on the new industrial landscape and what it meant for the QTU, after which delegates broke into workshops to discuss how to grow the Union.

More workshops followed after lunch, looking at: "Navigating professional issues"; "Building a consultative culture in the workplace"; "Work entitlements and how salary classification works"; and "How to run a meeting".


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Lifelong learning: an experienced teacher reflects on QTU new educators training

Teaching, by its very nature, is one of those fields where there is always something more to learn.

Every day teachers go to school we learn something, whether it’s through metacognition, curriculum content, student responses or reflections on pedagogy. Attending new educators training was no different as far as learning experiences go. After six years in the game, I continued my journey of lifelong learning in the field of education.

Throughout the seminar in Roma, presented by QTU South Queensland Organiser Zeb Sugden, I was often left wondering why I hadn’t attended something similar in my first few years in the profession. I think part of it was because I felt like my head was already swimming with too much new

information and I didn’t think I could fit any more in there! However, I wish I had. It’s the beauty of hindsight, I guess. Luckily, as a mentor in the newly introduced beginning teacher mentoring program, I know my new-found knowledge will be put to good use – not only in my own practice, but also for the benefit of my current mentees and future beginning teachers.

As experienced teachers, we know that enduring the first few years isn’t just about survival in the classroom, it’s so much more. In those early years we learn more about our role in the profession and how our values align with reality; we learn about our rights and responsibilities as practitioners

Get to know your QTU Officers

Penny Spalding works out of the Milton office of the QTU and holds the position of Assistant Secretary – Women’s and Social Welfare Issues.

Penny is Secretary to the Women Teachers’ and Girls Education Committee (WTGEC) and also looks after the Social Justice Networks of the Union. She represents the

QTU on the Queensland Council of Union’s Women and Equal Opportunity Committee and works closely with other Women’s Officers from other states and territories and the AEU.

Aside from assisting members with parental leave queries and women’s issues, Penny is also the QTU Officer with carriage of leave issues, including special leave, sick leave and long service leave. Passionate about feminism and equity, Penny oversees the Anna Stewart Memorial Project, Emma Miller Awards and women’s functions of the QTU. Penny has been a strong advocate for the rights of LGBTIQ students in state schools.

Working closely with other Officers and Organisers, Penny also provides assistance and advocacy for temporary teachers and works closely with DET in regards to the

conversion to permanency process for temporary teachers.

Penny’s teaching background was as an art and film and television teacher. She began her teaching career as the sole art teacher at Rosedale P-12 Campus (Wide Bay), then transferred to Loganlea SHS (Logan) where she was promoted to HOD of the arts.

A QTU school-based representative since her second year of teaching, she involved herself in her local branches and was a member of Area Council, State Council and Executive (and Chair of the Social Issues Committee) prior to her appointment as the Gold Coast Organiser.

Penny sought transfer into the Women’s Officer role (a position long held by Leah Mertens) following four years as the Gold Coast Organiser. She has been in her current position since early 2012.

Penny Spalding

Assistant Secretary – Women's and Social Welfare

Issues

and facilitators of learning; and we form networks and contacts that we can rely on wherever our careers take us. The new educators training addressed many of these pressing topics and more (for both permanent and contract teachers), ranging from the transfer process to taking leave, teacher induction, working hours, and developing professional learning goals. Attendees also had the opportunity to network with their peers, something that, in a rural setting, is incredibly important and invariably useful. Some of the local QTU representatives were also available to meet and greet new educators.

All in all, the new educators training was a wonderful opportunity for beginning (and experienced) teachers, and I thank the QTU for the opportunity to attend.

Candace DavisQTU MEMBER AND MENTOR


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Dismissal for teacher who taped children to seats

“In the law, context is everything”. This is a proposition regularly stated by judicial officers and even more commonly applied by them. It reflects, of course, common sense and daily experience.

A recent decision of the Fair Work Commission, in a case arising in another state, illustrates the care which teachers must exercise and demonstrates that, in relevant circumstances, the using of masking tape to secure children to their seats can justify serious disciplinary action, including termination.

The teacher “did not dispute using masking tape to secure three children to their seats. She explained that the masking tape was placed across the children’s lap and down each side to the base of the chair. … she regarded this as being done ‘in a playful way’ and that she described the tape as ‘a seatbelt’.”

The (non-government) school in question had extensive and specific child protection policies in place which dealt with the question of physical contact (though not explicitly with the question of taping children to their chairs).

A senior teacher at the school gave evidence that he understood that the primary school teachers had been advised that any problems with particular children should be referred to him, and that the teacher in question had not referred any particular concerns to him. His recollection was that only one of the three children needed to be taken out of the classroom by him.

The Commissioner held that he was “not satisfied that in these respects (the teacher) followed the procedures for addressing such

situations and the policy of dealing with inappropriate behaviour.”

The Commissioner concluded that the allegations were substantiated, adding: “I accept that the masking tape may not have touched the children’s skin and that it may have been physically possible for the children to break out of this tape. Nevertheless, (the teacher) clearly intended that the children should regard themselves as ‘secured’. (The teacher’s) behaviour in these respects was inconsistent with the expectations of her as a teacher in terms of the guidelines and specified standards.

“On the basis of the advice provided by (the teacher) I can only describe her actions in these respects as deliberate. These were not instances where the children were secured by masking tape accidentally. (The teacher) made deliberate decisions to use the masking tape. She characterised it as being like ‘a seatbelt’ and she repeated her use of the masking tape after the first occasion.

“Contrary to her submissions in this respect, I am unable to regard (the teacher’s) behaviour as ‘a storm in a tea cup’. This behaviour clearly breached a significant policy requirement and created the real potential for harm to children entrusted to (the teacher’s) care. An attempt to characterise the matter as trivial appears to reflect a significant failure to appreciate a vital school policy requirement.”

Later the Commissioner noted: “It was

behaviour that even (the teacher) recognised may have scared at least one of the children.”

The cumulative effect of all of these matters, particularly the young age of the students, the repeated behaviour, the failure to follow school directives, the failure to take advantage of processes for seeking assistance with difficult children, and knowledge that at least one of the children was scared, were held to justify termination.

Although in other circumstances termination might well have been an excessive and inappropriate response, it is, of course, always inadvisable for methods such as this to be used, particularly without consultation or approval and in contravention of school policies and procedures.

It is an important reminder of the need for “restraint in using restraint”.

"Bad behaviour" decision upheld on appealIn the Journal dated 24 April (pg 25) we discussed a decision of the Fair Work Commission in relation to termination resulting from inappropriate sexual harassment by a Qantas pilot. On 28 April 2015, a Full Bench of the Fair Work Commission held that there was no ground for granting leave to appeal, and so the decision stands.

Andrew KnottTRESSCOX LAWYERS


Legal

I believe that I am eligible for the meritorious sick leave credit. I have heard that you must apply for it, it doesn’t just happen. An additional credit of 65 working days of sick leave on full pay may be added to the sick leave account of a teacher in full-time employment, provided that: • the teacher has completed 26 years

of meritorious service within the Queensland public sector

• the service is service that counts towards long service leave accrual.

Please note, service being recognised for this purpose need not be continuous, but it must count for long service leave accrual, i.e. service or leave which is recognised for accrual of entitlements (paid leave and minimum periods of unpaid leave as per the “Leave without salary credited as service” directive). See table for an example.

Part-time employees or employees who have completed the required period of service through a combination of permanent full-time, part-time or temporary arrangements are eligible for meritorious sick leave on a pro-rata basis.

Teachers may apply for meritorious sick leave after 26 years’ meritorious service without the requirement to exhaust their existing sick leave balance. The additional 13 weeks’ sick leave will be added to the current sick leave balance and be available for immediate use.

Application for this special credit should be made to the appropriate regional director through the principal. As there is no current

form to make application for meritorious sick leave, the QTU encourages members to make the application in writing.

The current directive requires an applicant to explain how their service has been meritorious, although this should not be extensive. A statement such as the example below is sufficient:

“I write to apply for my meritorious sick leave. I believe my service to the department is meritorious as I have received no reprimands and have conducted myself professionally and undertaken my duties diligently throughout my career.”

Should members be asked to provide further detail with their application, they should contact the QTU.

Part of my teaching service was completed interstate, can this be counted? No. While service undertaken within interstate departments may be recognised for long service leave and sick leave purposes, in accordance with the “Recognition of prior service” public service directive, the public service directive on “Sick leave” specifies that the service is as an employee in the Queensland public sector. So while service interstate or for the Commonwealth can be recognised for the portability of sick leave, it is not taken into consideration in the granting of meritorious sick leave.

Prior to becoming a teacher with DET, I worked for a local council for 20 years. Will service undertaken at the council be counted?No. A local government is not considered to be a “government entity” under section 24 of the Public Service Act, and as such is not recognised for meritorious sick leave purposes.

Appointed January 1969 = 3 years

Resigns January 1972

Out of service = 12 years

Recommences January 1984 = 23 years

Service with no

break to

January 2007

Total service

recognised

= 26 years

Queensland Teachers' Assist Desk 1300 11 7823 | [email protected]

Pilates – the perfect balance between body and mindWhether you want to reach a fitness goal or just grow old gracefully, maintaining physical fitness is essential. General muscle strengthening helps the human body to sustain healthy immune and cardio respiratory systems and maintain a healthy body weight to prevent fatal diseases such as diabetes and cardiac failure. More intense musculoskeletal development is beneficial to treat and or prevent sports or occupational injury.

In the 1940s, Joseph Pilates developed a system of exercises promoting perfect balance between strength and flexibility. It was especially useful for people requiring a superior standard of physical fitness, such as the defence and police forces, and was popular with athletes and dancers. Eventually, body control pilates was developed in 1995 to bring the benefits of pilates to the average person, irrespective of age, income or fitness level. This form of pilates leads the participant safely and progressively through a range of exercises, building towards Joseph Pilates’ original level of fitness.

The principles that underpin the modern take on pilates include: • concentration• flow of movement• endurance• coordination• core control• breathing• alignment • relaxation.

Each exercise teaches a different movement skill, gradually improving your body awareness, increasing strength and flexibility, improving posture and co-ordination and leaving the participant with a feeling of balance and clarity. If you’re looking for a safe and effective way to build your muscular strength and gain the benefits that go along with this, then why not try a group pilates class?

This column supplied by TUH.


Health

Lighter side

"Corey then proceeded to pull his trousers up to reveal a knee cap a long way away from where it should have been."

Second thoughts about first aidEvery six months, we undergo Epi Pen training. It is important that all educators are comfortable and confident in administering this life saving medication should a student or colleague suffer from an anaphylactic response.

Despite the giggling and silly role plays, when it comes to the practical part of training sessions, we all understand how important it is. However, I live in constant dread and fear that I will be faced with a life and death scenario where I need to take charge. It’s not as though I don’t have the skills or the training, it’s that I doubt myself under pressure. For example, a few years ago, merely days after updating my first aid qualifications, I found myself in a situation in a drama class where a student dislocated his knee cap. Instead of responding appropriately, I initially thought he was “acting”, as his group had been working on a melodramatic piece and had been trying to gain my attention when I was working with other groups around the room.

“Miss! Miss!”

“Yes?”

“Corey has hurt himself!”

“Has he?”

“Yeah! Look! He’s on the floor!”

“It really hurts, Miss!”

“Ha ha, Corey! You will win an Academy Award one day with that acting!”

“He’s serious, Miss!”

“I am serious!”

“As serious as you were a few minutes ago when you were pretending that you broke your arm?”

“More serious.”

“Really?”

At this point, I noticed that Corey was actually a kind of grey colour and was sweating profusely.

“Corey, you’re not joking, are you?”

“No, Miss.”

“What have you done?”

“I think it’s my knee. I’ve dislocated it once before and it feels like it did then.”

Corey then proceeded to pull his trousers up to reveal a knee cap a long way away from where it should have been. That’s

when I also turned a grey colour and started sweating profusely.

“Right. We need someone with first aid in here now! Jackson – go and get Mr Wilkinson from next door and tell him it’s an emergency! Corey, I’m going to get the front office to call an ambulance for you and to contact your mum, okay?”

By this point, Corey was barely conscious with the pain. Mr Wilkinson arrived and began to work his first aid magic like a pro. I was able to manage the rest of the class well but could not bring myself to look at Corey’s knee again. I nominated myself to wait out the front of the school for both Corey’s mum and the ambulance to arrive and mentally questioned my complete lack of ability to deal with the dislocated knee on a first aid level. I couldn’t even look at it, yet only a few days earlier had successfully bandaged every pretend injury that had come my way in the first aid course. I repeated the course again months later and have now successfully dealt with other situations in a much more proficient manner. After all, Mr Wilkinson may not always be next door.

Christina Adams


Lighter side

The wet season has ended in North Queensland and the panel was thinking of wines for cooler times. Queensland, however, is different and the wines we drink need to be suited to the climate. We like our reds, but big blockbuster reds are not for here. Subtlety and finesse are the watchwords.

The Gallows Wine Company in Margaret River is producing some terrific wines and the panel particularly liked their “The Bommy” Semillon Sauvignon Blanc. The blend is one that Western Australia shines at and the 2013 vintage offering is a stunner. An attractive fresh nose, with crisp crunchiness on the palate coupled with citrus highlights. The Semillon provides complexity while the Sauvignon Blanc offers lively fresh fruit and focused acidity, all coming to a very clean finish.

Brands Laira “The Clipper” Cabernet Sauvignon 2013 is a full bodied wine from the Coonawarra, but every component is fully balanced. The nose is perfumed with blackcurrant and cassis, red fruits and a trace of oak. The palate has plenty of red and dark fruit flavours contributing to a soft but rounded palate. Balanced tannin and fruit flavours lead to a sustained finish. Great value for money.

St John’s Rd Blood and Courage Shiraz is from the Barossa and the winemaker is Phil Lehmann. The 2013 is from a great vintage year and is a full and generous wine which displays elegance throughout. In the glass it is a deep rich red right to the rim, and the nose offers a foretaste of the palate with fruit flavours and underlying oak as a result of 15 months maturation in French hogsheads. This is a fully integrated and

harmonious wine – there is power in the palate but the winemaker has it all under control. It is drinking well now but has the staying power for those with cellar capacity. Good value for the price.

The de Bortoli First Block Shiraz 2013 is a medium bodied Shiraz that offers a mix of ripe black fruit and some sweet red berry, plus a hint of spice. Maturation in oak has provided complexity with soft tannins. A drink-now wine that retails for under $10 – incredible value!

Jenni Holmes, Keryn Archer and Warwick Jull

Winedown

National Volunteers Week recently made me wonder what is a volunteer? The Collins dictionary quotes a volunteer as a person who voluntarily offers him or herself for a service or undertaking or who performs a service willingly and without pay.

Volunteering creates opportunities to provide support for others while at the same time meeting new people, gaining skills or using past experiences. Differing stories about why we volunteer show a multitude of reasons as well the numerous rewards that come from giving of one’s time for a greater cause.

The most comprehensive research on philanthropy in Australia found that we are giving and volunteering more than ever before, contributing more than $11 billion in 2004. Results from the National Survey of Voluntary Work in 2006 by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) showed that 5.2 million people (34 per cent of the Australian population aged 18 years and over),

participated in voluntary work. Seniors spent more time doing voluntary work than younger adults. Among those aged 65–84, the median was two hours a week.

With the volatility of employment in Australia in recent times, volunteers and volunteering are very important to the progress of the nation. Teachers have long relied on the work of volunteers in their classrooms. Sometimes we called them parent helpers or reading grannies, but no matter the title, their contribution to the education of children is very valuable.

Many organisations exist through the giving of time and experience of its members. This is true of the Queensland Retired Teachers’ Association. Sadly, as with retirement from paid jobs, there comes a time when volunteers also retire. At present, there are members of the Executive who find themselves in this position. Unless new volunteers are willing to step up and donate a little time, the association will not be able

to function. We are calling for members to offer to join the working party of this organisation. If you are willing to be such a person, please do not hesitate to contact the committee.

Recently, we have had great outings. Firstly, a visit to the museum at Gallipoli Barracks and then a wonderful birthday lunch at COTAH, where we learned all about the latest scams trying to cash in on our hard-earned savings. The next activity, on Tuesday 16 June at 10am, is a tour of the Brain Institute at the University of Queensland to hear about the latest research into dementia.

If you are able to join us, please let Donella Lister know on 3848 5980, 0409630319 or [email protected] . Watch for an email with more details.

Noela RogersQRTA PRESIDENT

Thank you, volunteers


At leisure

Retired teachers

Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesElection Notice

The Queensland Industrial Registrar has issued Decisions, pursuant to the Industrial Relations Act 1999, that the ElectoralCommission of Queensland conduct an election for positions of office within the Queensland Teachers Union of Employees.

BallotsShould a ballot be necessary to elect a TAFE Council Representative of a Branch, the Commission will conducta secret postal ballot of financial members of the Union in the respective TAFE Branch. The above ballots, ifrequired, will open on Monday, 27 July 2015 and close at midday on Wednesday, 19 August 2015.

Should a ballot be necessary to elect a Member of TAFE Executive, the Commission will conduct a secret ballotof TAFE Council at the meeting of TAFE Council following the close of nominations.

JACINTA HYNESReturning Officer

13 May 2015ELECTORAL COMMISSION of QUEENSLAND

Level 6 160 Mary Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000 GPO Box 1393 BRISBANE QLD 4001Telephone (07) 3035 8057 or 1300 881 665 Facsimile (07) 3036 5775

[email protected] www.ecq.qld.gov.au

Information for CandidatesCandidates for election must be financial members of the Union at the close of nominations. All nominationsmust be in writing and signed by the nominee. Nomination forms must also be signed by at least two (2)financial members of the Union, provided that:

Nominees for Member of TAFE Executive must be a member of TAFE Division and be a TAFE Branch memberof the TAFE Council, and/or be a person elected to take office as a TAFE Council Representative on the dateon which the ballot is scheduled to be conducted and be signed by at least two (2) financial members of theUnion of the TAFE Division.

Nominees for TAFE Council Representative of a Branch must be a member of the respective TAFE Branchand that nominations must be signed by at least two (2) financial members of the relevant TAFE Branch.

Candidates who wish to withdraw their nomination may do so five (5) clear days after the close of nominations.Prospective candidates and their nominators should verify their financial status and other qualifications re-quired by the Union (refer to Union Rules 6.4 & 6.5).

Nominations close at midday on Wednesday, 1 July 2015Nominations open at midday on Friday, 5 June 2015. Nominations must be in writing, comply with the registeredrules of the Union and reach the Electoral Commission of Queensland no later than midday onWednesday, 1 July 2015.

A nomination form suitable for use in this election is printed with this Journal. Nomination forms are alsoavailable from your Union’s office, the Electoral Commission and the Commission’s website; www.ecq.qld.gov.au.Any form of nomination that complies with the Union’s rules is acceptable.

Nominations may be received by means of hand delivery, post, facsimile or any other electronic means thatincludes the signatures of the nominees and nominators. Nominees should ensure that their nomination isreceived by the Commission and can be clearly read.

Office No. of Positions

Member of TAFE Executive ........................................................................... 1

TAFE Council Representative in MSIT - Mount Gravatt Branch ..................... 1

Acknowledgement correspondence will be sent via email.Please ensure your email address has been provided.


Queensland Teachers Union of EmployeesNomination Form

Nominations close at midday on Wednesday, 1 July 2015We the undersigned financial members of the Queensland Teachers Union of Employees, hereby nominate

Member No: Ms/Mr/Other:

for the position/s of : (Tick the box/es to indicate the position/s of office that the nominee is standing for election to)

Member of TAFE Executive

TAFE Council Representative in MSIT - Mount Gravatt Branch

Membership No. Full Name Signature

Consent to Nomination (Candidate to Complete)

And I, a financial member of the Queensland

Teachers Union of Employees from Branch/Area

Council, do hereby agree to be nominated and to act if elected.

Address:Postcode

Telephone: (Home) (Business)

(Mobile) Facsimile:

E-mail:

Signature: Date:Acknowledgement correspondence will be sent via email. Please ensure your email address has been provided.

(Print the full name of the person you are nominating)

(Print your name as you would like it to appear on the ballot paper)

(Branch name / Area Council name - if nominating for Area Council officer position)

(Courtesy Title)

ELECTORAL COMMISSION of QUEENSLANDLevel 6 160 Mary Street, Brisbane, QLD 4000 GPO Box 1393 BRISBANE QLD 4001

Telephone (07) 3035 8057 or 1300 881 665 Facsimile (07) 3036 [email protected] www.ecq.qld.gov.au


QTAD (Queensland Teachers Assist Desk): 1300 117 823 Telephone: (07) 3512 9000 Fax: (07) 3512 9050 Email: [email protected] Web: www.qtu.asn.au Address: 21 Graham Street, Milton | PO Box 1750, Milton BC Qld 4064 Facebook: www.facebook.com/QueenslandTeachersUnion

All officers, organisers and members of Executive may be contacted through the Union office, except where an alternative is given below.

Senior Officers OrganisersPresident Mr K. Bates a/h phone 0418 789 162 twitter.com/QTUPresident

Vice-President Ms Sam Pidgeon a/h phone 0400 705 180

Honorary Vice-President Ms J. Swadling

General Secretary Mr G. Moloney a/h phone 0409 613 703

Deputy General Secretary Ms K. Ruttiman a/h phone 0419 655 749

Deputy General Secretary Mr B. Welch a/h 0408 194 385

Brisbane based:

Telephone (07)3512 9000 or email [email protected] B. Crotty (Brisbane South)

Ms F. McNamara (on leave) Mr D. Bevis (acting) (Brisbane North)

Ms K. O’Neill (Redlands/Logan)

Ms L. Esders (Moreton)

Mr D. Terauds (TAFE) [email protected]

Regional:

Mr Z. Sugden (South Queensland) 1-3 Russell St (cnr Neil St), PO Box 2859, Toowoomba Qld 4350 Phone (07) 4614 4600, fax (07) 4614 4650 Email: [email protected]

Ms E. Ferguson (North Queensland) 15 Palmer Street PO Box 5622, Townsville MC Qld 4810 Phone (07) 4722 6400, fax (07) 4722 6450Email: [email protected]

Ms J. McFadden (Gold Coast) Bldg 6, 175 Varsity Parade, Varsity Lakes 4227 PO Box 4, Varsity Lakes 4227 Phone: (07) 5562 6800, fax: (07) 5562 6850 Email: [email protected]

Ms M. Duffy (Peninsula)255 Mulgrave Road PO Box 275, Westcourt Qld 4870 Phone (07) 4046 7500, fax (07) 4046 7550Email: [email protected]

Mr S. Welch (Wide Bay) Shop 6, 264 Bazaar Street, PO Box 150, Maryborough Qld 4650 Phone (07) 4120 0300, fax (07) 4120 0350 Email: [email protected]

Ms M. Maguire (Sunshine Coast) 6a, 9 Capital Place, Birtinya PO Box 159, Buddina Qld 4575 Phone: (07) 5413 1700, fax: (07) 5413 1750Email: [email protected]

Mr B. Thomson (on leave) Mr D. Coxen (acting) (Central Queensland)Rockhampton Trade Union Centre, 110-114 Campbell St, Rockhampton, Qld 4700 Phone (07) 4920 4200, fax (07) 4920 4250 or a/h (07) 4928 8177Email: [email protected]

Executive membersMr P. AndersonMr A. BeattieMr A. CookMs K. CreedonDr P. DarbenMs L. OlssonMs C. RichardsonMs N. RoosMr N. ShirleyMs R. SugdenMs P. TaylorMr A. ThompsonMr S. Tibaldi

Assistant secretaries – ServicesMr M. Anghel Mr J. BackenMs P. BousenMs L. Cowie-McAlister

Assistant secretary – Services/Women's CoordinatorMs P. Spalding

Assistant secretary – Research and IndustrialMs T. EdmondsDr J. McCollow (on leave)Ms L. Mertens Ms K. Roy

Kalapa State School was established 100 years ago, and the centenary celebrations will be held at the school grounds on 11 July. Opening ceremony will be 10am. All past staff, students and families are welcome. The opening of the time capsule laid at the 75th anniversary will be held during the day. For further details, contact Vince Reynolds on 07 4934 7256 or email [email protected]

Kulpi State School celebrates 100 years of quality schooling in 2015. The centenary celebrations will be held in the school grounds on Saturday 8 August. All past staff and students are welcome to join in the fun, including classroom displays and the opening of the 75th time capsule. Organisers are also seeking memorabilia, anecdotes or photographs. Please contact Kulpi State School on 4692 8239, or Carolyn Bidgood on 4692 8226.

ClassifiedsRESOURCES

AUSSIE MATHS Word Problem Worksheets. Fun WORDED maths based on current affairs, pop stars, TV shows, sport, etc. Emailed fresh each weekend. 3 Primary School levels. SCHOOL ORDERS ACCEPTED. Just $159 per full school year. FREE SAMPLES at www.EdShop.net.au/mondaymaths or Email your request to [email protected] Tel.: (03) 8746 8332.

TRAVEL

CUBA CULTURAL TOURS Drawing Cuba - Travel with an artist. Drawing, painting, printmaking. No experience necessary. Havana Jazz Festival Tour - Dec. Baila en Cuba - Learn to dance salsa, Nov. Learn Spanish in Havana - 1 month, lessons, accom. from $2500. Havana Ballet Festival Tour - Oct 2016. Bespoke tours for groups. www.cubanculturaltravel.com 02 8214 8420

VOLUNTEERS

RETIRING SOON?Volunteers For Isolated Students' Education recruits retired teachers to assist outback families with their distance education program. Travel and accommodation provided in return for six weeks teaching. Register at www.vise.org.au

Financial members can list in the classifieds for half price. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Submit your events to: [email protected] or fax 3512 9050


Contact details

Anniversaries/reunions

From conversation

comes knowledge.They can be powerful things, conversations. And they can change your life for the better.

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Just quickly, we need to let you know that this product is issued by the QSuper Board (ABN 32 125 059 006) as trustee for the QSuper Fund (ABN 60 905 115 063) so please consider how appropriate this product is for your personal needs. You can do this by downloading a copy of the product disclosure statement at qsuper.qld.gov.au or calling us on 1300 360 750 and asking for a copy. © QSuper Board of Trustees 2015. 8525 05/15.

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