SA teachers to strike today

Half-day strike in SA schools over pay.

Some South Australian public schools will be closed this morning as teachers rally for a pay increase from the State Government.

Teachers unanimously knocked back the Government's pay offer of a 12.5 per cent rise over three years, and are still demanding 21 per cent.

More than 400 schools and preschools will close until a 12.15pm, while nearly 360 will operate as normal.

Anne Crawford from the Education Union says teachers are insulted by the Government's offer.

"The wage rise they have offered is fundamentally less than the cost of living, less than the CPI and the Government has completely forgotten about school leaders, preschool directors, TAFE employees and non-teaching staff," she said.

The Union's state president, Correna Haythorpe, says teachers voted unanimously to strike for a bigger rise.

"We know that over 80 per cent of our members have voted in favour for the stop-work action and parents are advised to make contact with their local schools," she said.

Jan Andrews from the Education Department says parents should already know if their children will be affected by today's strike.

She says year 12 students will not be disadvantaged.

"Schools are prioritising the needs of those students and I'm told that the AEU has had some regard to that as well," she said.

"But the programs in schools that have been affected have been tailored around the year 12s so that their work won't be interrupted even if those children are working at home."

Prison union blocks inmate transfers

The Public Service Association (PSA) says it will not allow any more prisoner transfers until the Correctional Services Department acknowledges overcrowding in South Australia's prisons system.

Representatives from each of the state's jails have had talks in Adelaide, just days after unrest at Port Augusta prison.

Jan McMahon from the PSA says overcrowding is at crisis levels and prisoner transfers will not be supported until the issue has been addressed by authorities.

But SA Correctional Services Minister Carmel Zollo says the PSA must be willing to co-operate with the Government and prisoners need to be transferred.

For its part, the SA Opposition wants an independent inquiry into last week's Port Augusta prison unrest.

Liberal correctional services spokesman Stephen Wade says the Government has been denying prisons are overcrowded even though a Productivity Commission report put them at 22 per cent above capacity.

Mr Wade says the Government insists the trouble was not due to any overcrowding.

"We says that if a space was designed for one person then to put more than one person in there is overcrowding," he said.

"That to us is commonsense. The Productivity Commission, the independent arbiter, says that we are the most overcrowded prison system in the nation at 22 per cent."

Related:

SA prison stand-off inmates relocated
They have access to the oval only once a fortnight and that's the particular exercise that was cancelled for operational reasons.


Rioting reported at Pt Augusta prison
The latest banner sprawled in big black letters on a large white sheet says "Assault prisoners hey? No more".

'Strangers' convicted of incest

A father and his adult daughter, who told a court they met effectively as strangers eight years ago, have been convicted of incest.

The District Court at Mount Gambier in South Australia heard they have had two children, but the first died of a heart defect.

The man, 61, and his daughter, 39, were charged with incest after the birth of the second child at Port Pirie in SA last year.

Both pleaded guilty and told the court that when they met in 2000 they were effectively strangers after years of little contact.

Judge Steven Millsteed agreed the case was unusual, as both were consenting adults.

But he said the sentence must deter the birth of children from such relationships to avoid congenital defects and possible psychological harm.

The pair signed a three-year good behaviour bond.

While they can have contact with each other, they will be monitored to ensure that the sexual relationship is over.