QTU Biennial Conference

The 111th Conference of the Queensland Teachers’ Union was held in Brisbane from 29 June to 1 July.

The Conference is the supreme decision making body of the QTU, involving over 220 elected delegates and more than 250 people in total, and it meets biennially.

A highlight was an address by Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on the Wednesday of the Conference. The Premier spoke about ALP election commitments, developing a blueprint for Queensland education and the value and importance of teachers. Other guest speakers included Australian Education Union (AEU) Federal President, Correna Haythorpe, AEU Federal Secretary and Education International President, Susan Hopgood and ACTU Secretary, Dave Oliver. Another highlight was an address by Runcorn State High School student, Anisa Nandaula, in the opening session.

Each Conference reviews and adopts comprehensive QTU policies. Some significant amendments were made, mostly by general agreement, but there were substantial debates around elements of curriculum policy and school funding policy.

Other issues reported and/or debated include:

government performance on election commitments

  • enterprise bargaining
  • government response on the Australian Curriculum
  • the evaluation of the Independent Public Schools (IPS) program
  • workload issues, including negotiations for a joint statement on the appropriate selection and use of data
  • senior secondary assessment
  • negotiations on teacher transfer and classified officer relocation
  • the Gonski campaign and the ACTU campaign plan.

Conference also endorsed a rule change for a tagged position for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander member on the QTU Executive and a Reconciliation Action Plan for the QTU.

Eighteen additional life members were inducted on the first day of Conference. A number of videos of Conference speeches and the Conference Statement are available at www.qtu.asn.au/conference

Graham Moloney
General Secretary


Queensland Teachers' Journal, Vol 120 No 5, 17 July 2015, p14-17