Over one hundred WA schools were closed as thousands of teachers took their anger to the streets this week.

Teachers, parents and students marched through the Perth CBD to the front steps of State Parliament, demanding a better deal from Prime Minister Tony Abbott, WA Premier Colin Barnett and state education minister Dr Kim Hames.

Crowd estimates depending on who was asked; union organisers said 25,000 people rallied across WA – 20,000 of which were at the Perth demonstration. Premier Colin Barnett had some different figures though, saying he was told 8600 teachers took off work but less than 5000 attended the rally.

Unions and supporters argue that over $180 million has been cut from school budgets. The state government says 500 education jobs will be cut, but the union for teachers say it expects that number to increase.

The job cuts are coming from support services many teachers say are vital to functional classrooms. Roles expected to be cut include education assistants (EAs) to help students with disabilities or medical conditions. New hiring of teachers will be halted as well, despite class sizes increasing.

Federal opposition leader Bill Shorten was on hand in Perth, travelling west to campaign in the upcoming state senate election.

Mr Shorten says more should be done.

“Our children have to compete with the rest of the world. How dare the Barnett government, how dare the Abbott government say that that the average is good enough.”

“The average is never good enough for our children.”

The Prime Minister was in Perth campaigning as well, but told 6PR radio he did not know exactly what was going on.

Tony Abbott said he was “not familiar with the particular grievance today” but was sure that “the place for teachers is in the classroom with their students.”

He praised the state’s independent schools model, which is likely to be carried over to the federal level by education minister Christopher Pyne.

“So I know that there are lots of good things happening in WA schools,” PM Abbot said.

Unions of WA secretary Meredith Hammat told the crowd; “this is an important day. Today is all about sending a message to the Barnett Government who have so far refused to listen to us. We don’t want any more job cuts.”

“We are here today because we believe in public education.”

One special needs education assistant told reporters she was “fighting for the kids”.

“As a parent of a child with special needs, it’s vital to have EAs [education assistants] at schools,” she said.

“It doesn’t only affect school, it affects the home life.”

Primary school teacher Jenni Bannani told local news outlet PerthNow that she needed the expertise of aides to help with a diverse array of students.

“One year I had five anaphylactics, two diabetics, and an Aspergers in the class,” she said.

“I’m not trained in medical things. The aides are vital. We’ve got more special needs kids than ever before.”

Education Minister Peter Collier last week slammed the action as “political”, “unnecessary”, a “complete disruption”, “political opportunism” by unions and generally “irresponsible”.

Ill-will against WA’s government is boiling over in some sectors, with many waiting to see what effect it may have on the result of the upcoming senate re-election.

As protesters held signs mocking the LNP state government, a plane flew overhead with a banner reading: “Let’s fix this mess - vote 1 Liberal”.