GANNAWARRA students would not lose another second of time in the classroom as part of an early election promise by the State Opposition.
Victorian Nationals leader Peter Walsh was in Mildura on Wednesday to announce the Coalition’s new Face-to-Face Learning Guarantee, which he said would ensure schools were not locked down again.
“Disrupted learning, combined with lengthy social isolation from friends and extended family, has weighed heavily on young people in the community,” Mr Walsh said.
“The Murdoch Children’s Research Institute tells us that ‘continued lockdowns and school closures’, not the COVID-19 pandemic, have caused the most harm on young Victorians.
“Data also shows that country students are falling further behind kids in the city.”
Mr Walsh said the commitment was part of the Coalition’s Recover. Rebuild campaign, launched along with Opposition leader Matthew Guy at the weekend in the long run-up to the November election.
“We believe that Victorians need a good dose of positivity,” he told The Guardian.
“We have lost two years of our lives and are now in our third year of the pandemic. But people want to know what’s the future, what’s the pathway to getting Victoria back to the great state that it was.
“There are 80,000 people on the elective surgery list now. We want to halve that list in our first term of government.
“We want to have the biggest recruitment program in Australia for mental health practitioners and, as we talked about, we want schools to remain open for face-to-face learning.”
Mr Walsh said to deliver the Face-To-Face Learning Guarantee, the Liberals and Nationals in government would provide free rapid antigen tests for all students and staff, with vaccinations made easily available, and that air purifiers be in all classrooms.
It will be backed with “test to stay” protocols and a plan to manage staff shortages so classes could always go ahead.
