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Re-elected Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry has downplayed leadership ambitions as she embarks on her third term in the Legislative Assembly. Chief Minister Andrew Barr has indicated this will be his final term in the Assembly, but his deputy was coy on the possibility of filling the Labor leader’s chair when the time comes. “This year has shown us how unpredictable our world can be and so I think jumping in before anything’s happened or making any statements well before anything’s happened is probably not a wise move,” Ms Berry said. “So I think I’ll just continue with my role as Deputy Chief Minister and the portfolios that … I’m responsible for and supporting Andrew Barr as Chief Minister for as long as he’s here.” Ms Berry retained her portfolios and picked up the youth affairs ministry in the post-election cabinet reshuffle. The cohort of young people that the Education Minister is responsible for has been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic in terms of mental health and employment opportunities. Ms Berry said having 81 school psychologists and employing more social and youth workers would address some of the impact, but the ACT government was not looking at extra funding for small group tutoring to help students catch up academically as the NSW government has promised. “There’s a bit of uncertainty around our world and Canberra, and the future for young people. But generally our young people are incredibly resilient and they have done amazing stuff this year. “So what they haven’t learned in a textbook, they have certainly learned through the experience of going through a national health pandemic.” READ MORE: One of her major tasks for the next term as Minister for Early Childhood Development is to bring in universal access to preschool one day per week for three-year-olds by 2024. She describes the early childhood strategy as one of her most challenging tasks to date, not least because of a clash of ideology with the current Coalition federal government. “The journey is completely different for a child if they have that those two years in preschool before they start their formal education. “So yes, I’ve been frustrated … we couldn’t get the agreement from the federal government to support us with funding or support us with a strategy that would implement that and that’s why I decided to do it ourselves.” Ms Berry said she occasionally gets advice from her father, Wayne Berry, who was a member for Ginninderra from 1989 to 2008. “His support for me is obviously backing me in when sometimes things aren’t as positive as you would like them to be and having somebody to reflect on decisions that you might make. But again, his time was a long time ago in politics and things were very different back then. We’re in a world now of 24 seven social media.” While her own children are not showing much of an interest in politics, she said she wouldn’t encourage them to go down that path. “At the end of the day it’s their decision, I wouldn’t sort of push them in that direction.”
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Re-elected Deputy Chief Minister Yvette Berry has downplayed leadership ambitions as she embarks on her third term in the Legislative Assembly.
“This year has shown us how unpredictable our world can be and so I think jumping in before anything’s happened or making any statements well before anything’s happened is probably not a wise move,” Ms Berry said.
“So I think I’ll just continue with my role as Deputy Chief Minister and the portfolios that … I’m responsible for and supporting Andrew Barr as Chief Minister for as long as he’s here.”
Ms Berry retained her portfolios and picked up the youth affairs ministry in the post-election cabinet reshuffle.
The cohort of young people that the Education Minister is responsible for has been disproportionately affected by the coronavirus pandemic in terms of mental health and employment opportunities.
Ms Berry said having 81 school psychologists and employing more social and youth workers would address some of the impact, but the ACT government was not looking at extra funding for small group tutoring to help students catch up academically as the NSW government has promised.
“There’s a bit of uncertainty around our world and Canberra, and the future for young people. But generally our young people are incredibly resilient and they have done amazing stuff this year.
“So what they haven’t learned in a textbook, they have certainly learned through the experience of going through a national health pandemic.”
One of her major tasks for the next term as Minister for Early Childhood Development is to bring in universal access to preschool one day per week for three-year-olds by 2024.
She describes the early childhood strategy as one of her most challenging tasks to date, not least because of a clash of ideology with the current Coalition federal government.
“The journey is completely different for a child if they have that those two years in preschool before they start their formal education.
“So yes, I’ve been frustrated … we couldn’t get the agreement from the federal government to support us with funding or support us with a strategy that would implement that and that’s why I decided to do it ourselves.”
Ms Berry said she occasionally gets advice from her father, Wayne Berry, who was a member for Ginninderra from 1989 to 2008.
“His support for me is obviously backing me in when sometimes things aren’t as positive as you would like them to be and having somebody to reflect on decisions that you might make. But again, his time was a long time ago in politics and things were very different back then. We’re in a world now of 24 seven social media.”
While her own children are not showing much of an interest in politics, she said she wouldn’t encourage them to go down that path.
“At the end of the day it’s their decision, I wouldn’t sort of push them in that direction.”
