Tasmanian Labor is concerned that families who have the financial means will be able to withdraw their children from school when one COVID case emerges, while less-well-off families could need to wait for an "outbreak" to be declared.
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Tasmania's back-to-school plan outlines that five cases within a single learning environment would constitute an outbreak and prompt a Public Health response.
At that stage, parents could become eligible for income support of $750 from the federal government or $250 from the state government if they are required to stay home from work to care for their children while they isolate from school.
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"Working parents who may be casual workers might not have that opportunity, they might not be able to take the leave they want to," he said.
"They will be forced to keep their students at school until they become a close contact, that is five cases in a classroom within seven days.
"They will be effectively forced to leave their child in that environment so if they do become a close contact, they will be able to access the COVID isolation payments."
The Australian Government's pandemic leave disaster payment is available for people expected to lose 20 hours or more of work for a week, with a reduced amount for less than 20 hours of work lost.
The Tasmanian Government's support payment is for people who miss work due to a Public Health direction to isolate for testing, but Premier Peter Gutwein has foreshadowed that both payments could be available for parents should outbreaks occur in schools.
Labor has repeatedly attacked the back-to-school plan since it was announced on Thursday, including concerns for teacher workloads in needing to discuss individual plans with parents of children with a disability, and Public Health's capacity to keep track of school outbreaks.
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Acting Education Minister Jeremy Rockliff said Public Health advice was that the best place for children to be was "in school", but it was understandable for parents to be feeling anxious.
"To be clear, all students should be aiming to be at school unless they are unwell or have symptoms of COVID, or have medical advice that they shouldn't attend," he said.
"Students with a disability, or who are medically vulnerable, will continue to be supported on an individual basis, in line with each student's medical action plan."
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