Interview - ABC News Breakfast

CATHERINE MURPHY: Let’s get back to our top story now, and of course Victorian teachers going on strike today for the second time this year. The Federal Education Minister, Jason Clare, joins us now. Good morning to you, Minister, great to have you on the show.

JASON CLARE, MINISTER FOR EDUCATION: Good morning, Catherine, thank you. What do you say to parents that are rearranging their day, or perhaps even missing a day of work because of another Victorian teachers' strike? Yeah, well, I'm a parent too, you know, I'd be saying I hope this gets sorted out as quick as it possibly can, that teachers do the most important job in the world, I want to see them being paid as good as they possibly can be.

We know that when you pay people more, more people want to do the job. In New South Wales we've seen the evidence of that. The big pay rise for teachers in New South Wales has seen vacancies in classroom drop to a 12‑year low.

I know the Victorian Government's got a big offer on the table here of a 28 per cent pay rise which would be even bigger than New South Wales. So that's a good thing, and I really hope that the Victorian Government and the teachers can get together and sort this out for parents and for our kids as quick as possible. As you say, bigger than New South Wales, but that's coming off a really low base where Victorian teachers were underpaid for years comparatively to other States.

Do you think they should get a better offer? I'm not going to get involved in the individual negotiations, but the truth is we need more teachers. Now we've got a shortage of teachers.

At our universities now we're seeing some really big jumps in the number of people enrolling in teaching, and that's a good thing. But we also want to make sure that our teachers are paid what they deserve, as well as taking some of that unnecessary admin burden off them so they get more time to teach, to do the things that really make a difference at school.

So as I said, I'm pretty optimistic. I think the Government is determined to get a good outcome here for our teachers, and I'm pretty confident that this will be worked out. Have you spoken to the Victorian Premier, Jacinta Allan about this?

Oh, I talk to the Victorian Education Minister on a regular basis about school funding, about what's happening in schools, and he's made it very clear to me that he's determined to get a really good result here for teachers, and for parents and for our kids. It's fair to say that the Government and the Premier are under the pump in Victoria. Is Jacinta Allan the right person to lead them right now?

Oh, absolutely, you know, she's doing a very good job. I see it in education; I see the incredible results that are happening in Victoria, in Victorian classrooms, which are as good, if not better than anywhere else across the country, and I get the privilege as a Federal Minister to be able to work with that State Government on those big things, and she's doing a good job.

But Minister, and so because we do have limited time, aren't you surprised that it's not sorted out by now? Oh, of course I'd love for it to be sorted out by now, but I'm pretty optimistic that this will get sorted out, in the interests of our teachers as well as our parents and our kids. Minister, changing topics now, Nine Newspapers have reported on the level of donations from gambling companies to your party.

Now of course you're not the only party that takes those donations from those companies, but how can the public trust that that money and those donations won't influence the debate about whether to strengthen gambling laws further? Well, I think the proof is in the fact that we're a government that's taken tougher action on gambling reform than any other government.

You know, we know that this is something that hurts and affects lots of Aussies across the country, and we've taken stronger action than any government. Look at the legislation that's in the Parliament now to ban ads on TV and on radio when kids are being picked up from school or on their way to school, or the reforms we've made to stop access to betting with credit cards.

You know, we take this seriously. There will always be some people that say that we're doing too much or that we haven't done enough, but I think the evidence is there in the reforms that we're implementing. Why not take it even further though, because we know that more than 70 per cent of Australians want to see the end of gambling ads during sport, I believe more than 80 per cent of your voters, so what's holding you back?

Well, you know, I think we are taking action. As I said, there will be some people that will say, "Well, that's not enough". We're taking more action than any government has ever done, and that's something that I'm very proud of.

Before we let you go, Minister, Pauline Hanson's comments on domestic abuse have been well documented. What was your reaction when you heard them? You know, one in four Australian women are victims of domestic violence, you know, that's one in four women who are violently attacked by people who tell them that they love them.

You know, that's not a two‑way street, that's a crime. Will it be a big topic at the Labor Conference? Look, I don't know whether Pauline Hanson's comments on that will be a big topic at the conference - (crosstalk) More your plan - Well, I think it will be ‑ I'll talk about the Government's plans if you like.

You know, one of the things that we're doing is building homes for women to flee domestic violence. Often women who flee home to a refuge are forced to go back to a violent home because there's nowhere else to go. And that's why we're building permanent accommodation for women fleeing domestic violence.

Guess who voted against that in the Parliament? Pauline Hanson. She was also against paid domestic violence leave so people can take time off work to pack up, pick up, get the kids out of the house and flee safely.

And I think when people hear these comments, if they're thinking about voting for Pauline Hanson, they think, "Hang on, I didn't sign up for that". Minister, we appreciate your time on the show this morning, live from Adelaide. You were battling a lot of noise at the end of that interview there.

Well done on not getting distracted. No worries at all. Good to see you.

Thank you, Minister.