One teacher’s loaded question caught Australia’s attention on Monday’s  Q&A  episode, leaving Education Minister Dan Tehan scrambling for an answer.

“Why are we so expendable?”

High school teacher Karla Owen from Victoria had an army of supporters behind her on social media as several educators highlighted just how “conflicting” the government’s information is regarding schools returning from the holidays, while the rest of the country remains in lockdown.

While the focus remains on getting kids back into the classroom, in particular year 12 students facing the HSC, the sheer contradiction regarding schools returning versus public lockdowns continuing was laid bare on last night’s episode, which saw a flood of support for teachers.

But it was one teacher’s plea for consideration which stood out the most.

Pointing out Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s original plan that parliament would postpone sitting until August, while teachers, students and school staff members have been mostly forced to stay at school, Karla Owen asked: “What makes parliamentarians more important than me?”

“I’m a high school teacher and have been following all the conflicting information about schools in the media,” she said.

“Parliament originally stated they would sit in August but it’s been brought forward to mid-May.

“Part of the reason for this was due to issues surrounding social distancing, but ScoMo has said all along (schools) are a safe place to be. What makes parliamentarians more important than me? They can social distance more easily than I can and they probably will, but in schools this is certainly not the case,” she said.

“Where Mr Morrison came out last week and essentially berated teachers, this was a slap in the face to all teachers. Why is Mr Morrison putting teachers – one of the country’s most important resources – in harm’s way? Why are we so expendable?”

Responding to the pointed question, education minister Dan Tehan said: “Can I say to you, Karla, the Federal Government and all state and territory governments have been very conscious about the health and welfare of teachers and principals and teachers aides right across this nation.”

He continued: “Both my sisters are teachers. So this is something that we have paid attention to and given great consideration to. But what we’ve done consistently right throughout this pandemic is taken the advice of the medical expert panel. Now that medical expert panel is made up of the chief medical officers from all state and territories and the Commonwealth chief medical officer.”

He reiterated that advice has been “consistent”.

“It’s been safe for students to go to school and with the right protocols in place, it’s safe for teachers to go to school and teach students. And that’s why it’s been the consistent approach that the federal government has taken right throughout this pandemic and it will continue to be,” he repeated.

Host Hamish Macdonald interjected and said the inconsistencies was due to federal leaders holding different views on the matter.

“Karla Owen is in Melbourne, Victoria, your home state, where there is different guidance from the state government and it’s created an enormous amount of dismay from what we can tell from all the teachers who have written to us because the prime minister is saying one thing, you’re saying the same thing and their state government is saying another thing altogether,” he pointed out.

Victorian schools have been open since April 14, and the Victorian government has been firm in its stance that students must learn from home if at all possible.

Responding to Macdonald’s statement, Mr Tehan repeated that the government has taken “a very consistent approach”.

He later added: “We think every state should aim to set a goal and the goal should be to have all students back in the classroom with teachers teaching in the by the end of May. And we think that would be a terrific national goal for us to be able to achieve.”