Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – Honourable Speaker, I thank Ms Johnston, the member for Clark, for bringing this motion forward and working it through so comprehensively. We read it very closely and take a strong interest in this and for opportunities to improve this. I indicate upfront that we are very supportive of the motion as drafted and note also the comprehensive work she has done in terms of getting letters of support and endorsement from important stakeholders in this space. I thank the member and we will support the motion, because bullying is a significant problem in our schools.
In fact, to take it a little bit higher, tolerance and acceptance is a problem nationwide. We have just had a nationwide conversation about racism and whether Australia is or is not a racist country. The response to that, particularly from some conservative commentators and others, indicated that we absolutely are a racist country. We do have significant problems when it comes to tolerance and acceptance and more needs to be done to address it. More needs to be done to make sure that people who are different in any way, shape, or form are accepted.
We have had the tragic situation in the parliament just this morning where a petition has been tabled that supports an international student and his needs following an alleged racist motivated attack.
Tolerance and acceptance is a significant problem and certainly the research shows that in our schools there is no exception. I know it has been mentioned already, but the Australian Council for Educational Research demonstrates that of all students in OECD countries, only Latvia reports higher levels of bullying than Australia. Almost one in five, so that is about 18 per cent, of teenagers surveyed reported instances where other students had made fun of them and 10 per cent of students felt left out and had nasty rumours spread about them, while 5 per cent had been threatened.
We know that this has significant consequences. It has consequences in terms of the individuals involved with disengagement from the school system; dissatisfaction with their situation and indeed even, potentially, themselves; poor educational outcomes; poor mental health outcomes; and in some tragic situations that are being reported in the media, particularly when it comes to cyberbullying instances of suicide. If a student is feeling so bad as to take those steps, clearly this is a crisis that is unaddressed and needs further attention.
I note from the letter from the Commissioner for Children and Young People that bullying and discrimination in schools adversely effects the human rights of people, full stop. They are human rights that we as a country have signed up to protect – the right of all children to live free from discrimination, the right of all children to have their identity protected and preserved, and the right of all children to be protected from violence, abuse, neglect and more.
This is an incredibly significant issue for our schools and school students and I really welcome that fact that the motion extends to address staff as well and bullying of staff in a school and educational context, because in meeting with the Principals Association, unions and talking to teachers, we know that the instances of violence in schools is increasing, be it student-on-student violence, physical or emotional, or any other kind of violence such as student-on-staff violence, so it is incredibly important to make sure that the staff cohort is indeed included in this referral to Committee A and dealt with.
We need to promote an inclusive school culture. We need to make sure that schools are inclusive and I am really pleased that the Catholic Archbishop’s letter to his cohort has been raised already because that was a lamentable action from the Archbishop and was really an abuse of his position that increased the risk to a whole range of students and staff in his school system. It is an issue that is bigger than just schools.
We heard the minister reference the very good work being done in schools across the board, and I note the release last year of the Student Behaviour Management Policy, so a lot of good work and thinking is being done to look into this issue but as we see and as we hear, the problem continues. When it happens in schools, when we have a tolerance and acceptance problem, when we have a racism problem and as the other national conversation has indicated, when we have a domestic gendered violence and a broader male violence problem in this country, the solutions to those problems start very early. They start in schools, and I would suggest that unaddressed bullying and unaccountable students are in some instances a starting point of that ongoing gendered and family violence and that simply must end.
We need to see more investment in schools, not only in anti-bullying programs and so forth, but we know there is a dearth and a lack of support staff in the school system, whether it is speech pathologists, psychologists or other behavioural experts. We know that if these kids do not get the support they need to deal with the challenges they have in a learning environment, quite often their reaction is to mask it with inappropriate offensive, violent and unacceptable behaviour and that is bullying.
Speaker, I will leave it there to allow some time for the member for Braddon to have a say but I congratulate the member for bringing this motion on and we will certainly be supporting it.
