The federal Education Minister's comments criticising Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews' approach to schools was an extraordinary blowing up of the national cabinet process, Andrew Barr says.
The ACT Chief Minister said he was "stunned" to watch Dan Tehan's comments on ABC's Insiders program on Sunday, where the Education Minister accused the Victorian Premier of taking a "sledgehammer" to the state's schools.
Mr Tehan also accused Mr Andrews of a failure of leadership over the Victorian government's cautious approach to reopening schools to students in the wake of coronavirus.
The comments were later walked back on Sunday afternoon, following criticism of his remarks.
Mr Barr labelled the remarks as "unbelievable".
"I didn't see it coming ... but the comments had to be walked back, otherwise the national cabinet wouldn't have worked," Mr Barr told ABC radio on Monday.
"Frankly, when I watched it on Insiders, I was stunned.
"All I will say is that I was pleased it was walked back."
Classes at ACT schools will be carried out online for Term 2, with discussions under way between the government, schools and unions as to when to return to face-to-face learning.
Mr Barr said ACT schools would not be following the approach of NSW schools, where students will be staggered in going back to the classrooms.
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NSW students will from next week go back to school for one day a week.
"[Reopening of schools] will be in line with the broader easing of restrictions across the entire community so there will be consistency," Mr Barr said.
"We won't be having adults not do a range of things but [be able to] huddle around the gates for drop off and pick up. We have to have appropriate measures in place and consistency is important."
The Chief Minister did not say when the government was looking to get students back into the classroom.
Any changes to the current schooling measures would be outlined several days in advance, Mr Barr said.
"It's not a race, we're in this for the long term," he said
"We have to have sustainable solutions where we live with the virus while getting kids back to school and we want them to be back to school, hopefully sooner rather than later."
While the ACT is the only jurisdiction without any active coronavirus cases, Mr Barr said it would be a miracle if there were no further cases in Canberra.
"If we don't stay 1.5 metres apart, then we run the risk of a second wave, and the history of pandemics shows that's inevitable," he said.
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