Tuesday, 31 March, 2026
Council plan comes in half-mast
This season and Ranges’ tourism economy
Emergency services train together
See Real Estate liftout inside
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A Star News Group Publication
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Strike ‘necessary’ By Gabriella Vukman and Oliver Winn Staff from Healesville High School and Upper Yarra Secondary College joined a statewide teacher march for better working conditions and pay on Tuesday, 24 March. The march came as part of a strike action initiative after nine months of negotiations between the Allan Labor Government and the Australian Education Union’s (AEU) Victorian Branch reached boiling point. Victorian school teachers demanded a 35 per cent pay increase over four years to bring salaries in line with inflation, and measures to address workload, reduce class sizes and increase support staff. Meanwhile, the government’s latest offer was a 17 per cent pay rise over several years with limited practical changes to working conditions. Upper Yarra Secondary College assistant principal Michael Schultz said strike action was necessary as Victoria’s schools remain understaffed, underpaid and overworked. “We didn’t want to have to tell a heap of students that they needed to stay home that day, but if we didn’t head into the city and we didn’t show that we think that this is important, then we’d just pay lip service to the whole thing,” Mr Schultz said. “We needed to turn up and demonstrate that we were unhappy,” Mr Schultz said. A week before the strike, the Victorian Government put measures in place to reduce workloads, including simplified student reports and wellbeing plans, among others. Teacher salaries in Victoria are among the lowest in Australia, earning around $10,000 to $15,000 less per year when compared to other states. Victorian entry-level teachers were paid around $79,600 in 2025, while in New South Wales a fresh teacher gets a starting salary just under $90,200. Science Lab Tech at Healesville High Kerry Davies falls under the category of education support staff and does not currently get a paid lunch
Healesville High School staff featured on the front page of The Age among other strikers on Tuesday. (Kerry Davies) break or compensation for the extracurricular hours she puts in. “I am a science lab tech, but I also run the breakfast club, and I’m a sports coordinator, and I go on camps and do the social secretary stuff here
too,” Ms Davies said. “Yesterday after the strike, I bought toppings on the way home because I do Milkshake Mondays, and I also had to buy dishwashing liquid for the Year 12 kitchen because they don’t have any,”
she said. “We just do these things because we care and want to be involved, but we are all spread so thin with all of the extra things we do.” Read more on page six
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