New federal Education Minister Jason Clare says he is not interested in stoking culture wars over the national curriculum and has pledged to be a strong defender of teachers. auspol
for the decline in the academic results of Australian students while praising private schools for employing only quality teachers.Clare, who describes himself as a “proud product” of the public education system, delivered a different pitch, saying: “You won’t hear me say a bad word about teachers.”
Clare, who had an emotional reunion with Fry, says: “You won’t hear me say a bad word about teachers.”Among the challenges confronting the new minister will be renegotiating the next four-year state-federal funding deals for public and private schools, which will kick in when the current agreement expires at the end of next year. Clare said he spent the first days in the job meeting and speaking with his state and territory counterparts, and contacting university vice-chancellors.
Clare first entered parliament in 2007 as the member for Blaxland, former prime minister Paul Keating’s old western Sydney seat, and was a minister in the Rudd-Gillard governments. In opposition, he most recently held the housing portfolio and was widely regarded as one of Labor’s strongest performers during the election campaign, taking a leading role when Albanese was sidelined with COVID-19.