Paula Wriedt
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Paula Wriedt (born 11 December 1968, Hobart) is an Australian politician. She is an Australian Labor Party member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly, representing the outer suburban Hobart seat of Franklin. She was first elected to parliament in the 1996 election.
Wriedt was the state Education Minister and Tourism Minister in the Lennon government. As Education Minister, in December 2000, she launched "Learning Together", a major policy on education, training and information provision for the state of Tasmania. Learning Together promised a complete overhaul of the state's education system, introducing the Essential Learnings Curriculum as a trial way to assess and teach students. This has been hailed by some as being important reform, whilst the reporting-to-parents requirements have been derided by others as being too complicated. Learning Together also envisioned reforms to encourage participation in post-compulsory education, to engage schools more closely with their communities, and to promote lifelong learning by Tasmanians. Wriedt also funded the establishment of a number of child care centres co-located with government primary schools.
Wriedt is the daughter of former state Labor leader and Whitlam Government Primary Industry Minister Ken Wriedt.
In the 2006 Tasmanian state election Paula Wriedt suffered a decline in her primary vote, very nearly losing her seat to Liberal challenger Vanessa Goodwin, in what was touted as a backlash over the essential learnings curriculum. As a result, she was stripped of her education portfolio, which went to Denison MHA David Bartlett, but retained the tourism portfolio.
