National leader Simon Bridges says this week’s rolling teacher strike is understandable when you consider teachers have had to watch others in the public sector, including police, enjoy significantly higher pay offers in recent years.
Mr Bridges sympathised with teachers as he accused the Government of raising expectations before the election and then “wasting” money while in office.
“You said it yourself, it was an 11th hour offer from the Government, I don’t think they’ve handled this well in their dealings with teachers.”
“If you’re sitting there and you’re a teacher, a number of groups, the police for example in the public sector have had significantly higher pay offers and settlements from the government and they also see that it’s a government, that despite what (Education Minister) Chris Hipkins is saying, has money.”
The Government had wasted money in a variety of areas, according to the opposition leader, including on “free (tertiary) fees, for a Shane Jones slush fund, so they (teachers) see all of that and not unreasonably, I suspect, they’re in the position they’re in.”
Mr Bridges admitted he didn’t have a grasp of the specifics of negotiations but said it was about more than just pay for the teachers.
“I think the honest truth is I don’t know, I say that because I’m not in that negotiating room, I don’t have a sense of the nuance,” he said.
“The money is clearly important, but I would also make the case that it’s not just about money, it’s about the resources and what happens in the classroom.”
“I’ve been very clear as leader of the National party, I think, and this is part of the teachers’ case, we should for example have smaller classroom sizes.”
“I think you put all of that together and ultimately you have teachers feeling like they’re very respected professionals, ultimately, of our communities and I think we’ve got away from that in recent times.”
He defended National’s record negotiating with teachers while they were in Government and said they had a new outlook with him as leader.
“I think you’ve got a new leader, I come from a family of teachers and I’ve got them hectoring me at all times about the issues.”
“I think what New Zealanders understand is we didn’t get everything perfectly, but even teachers knew, we had GFC, we had earthquakes, we had a tighter fiscal envelope so they didn’t strike then by now they see a government that is actually throwing the money round, that’s frankly wasting quite a bit of it.”
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