Half-a-million dollars to evaluate Minister’s pet project

Government tender documents have revealed a Victorian consulting firm has been paid $482,015 to evaluate Minister Palmer’s pet Multi School Organisation project.

As a former teacher, I would happily tell Minister Palmer that it’s a bad idea for free.

The education of Tasmania’s students builds our future. Any reform needs a considered approach and support from the sector, not a Minister plucking a pet project from overseas after a highly sponsored study tour.

The scale of the evaluation contract also raises serious questions for the Minister to answer.

Premier Rockliff has put Eric Abetz in charge of cutting jobs and services to pay for 13 years of Liberal waste.

Less than a month ago it was revealed that there had been $24 million worth of cuts to education this year alone, with $22.5 million of those cuts affecting “in school education”.

Eric Abetz has even cut $500,000 from the Student Assistance Scheme for disadvantaged families, showing he’ll stop at nothing in his quest to cut services from Tasmanians who need it most.

How can Minister Palmer justify spending nearly $500,000 to evaluate her pet project at the same time the Government is ripping the same amount of money away from disadvantage families?