SENATOR DAVEY URGES PREMIERS: PLAN FOR RETURN TO SCHOOL NOW
- Written by Media Release
New South Wales Senator Perin Davey is urging State Governments to start planning now for students returning to school across State bordersin the light of the latest round of COVID restrictions.
Senator Davey spent much of last year advocating on behalf of border communities and regional boarding school students to get exemptions to be able to cross borders to attend school.
“Last year it was crazy with students unable to return home or return to school and the uncertainty causing unnecessary stress on students and families alike,” Senator Davey said.
“We also had the ridiculous scenario where some small regional schools had their operations thrown into turmoil because they had teachers living on the wrong side of a border – yet less than 50km away.
“We have already seen absolute chaos on the NSW-Victorian border because the closure was put in place before some Local Government areaexemptions and agricultural workers permits were devised.
“Because of the way the border closure announcement was made we had tourists clear out of campgrounds which only two days later were declared to be in an exempt zone.
“I heard of a group of grape pickers packing up and leaving their jobs in NSW when just four days later the Victorian Government announced an agricultural worker permit.
“We cannot leave the planning for school communities to the last minute. Families need to know what they need to do to ensure their children can go to school,” she said.
Senator Davey said a consistent approach across State borders was needed to ensure that all students, and cross border staff, had a clear process to follow to apply for necessary permits.
“The new school year is less than a month away and while I hope border restrictions will have eased by then, we must prepare for the worst now and give families time to plan,” she said.
