National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence

Ms HILDYARD (Reynell) (15:25): I rise today to express my support for the seventh National Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence, held on 17 March, and to particularly note the efforts of Christies Beach High School in our beautiful southern community in marking this day. This annual national day of action includes thousands of school communities and hundreds of thousands of students. I was inspired to see the enthusiasm and work put into the day by schools in partnership with their broader local communities.

To support this day, our state government gave 40 schools a share of over $20,000 to run activities or events that raise awareness and support school communities to take a stand against bullying and violence. Surveys are also being conducted within many participating schools to enable students to provide feedback on their experiences and understanding of bullying and violent behaviour. Listening to the voices of students will give us the tools to better target the causes of bullying and to identify the most effective strategies in creating safer spaces at schools.

In my electorate of Reynell, I was very happy to be part of the activities at the wonderful Christies Beach High School. A couple of weeks prior to the national day of action, this school community had been confronted with some difficult circumstances pertaining to violence. In response to those difficult circumstances, the school rightly immediately gathered our local community together to discuss whole of school and broader community solutions to these issues.

I also had the pleasure of 40-plus student leaders meeting with me in parliament to identify their solutions and their role in progressing them. These extraordinary and wise young leaders bravely shared their views and articulated some fine steps forward. They also demonstrated their deep knowledge that working together and finding their collective voice in the hardest of times will lead to the best moments. I thank each of these students for their big hearts, their open and wise minds and their courage.

Following these two events, the school came together for the national day of action. I had the privilege of speaking with the school community at the beginning of their program of activities and of spending time with students and school staff throughout the day. I saw students courageously performing in front of others, including a duo of the most incredible young rap artists. I saw students eating together, accessing various support programs, reaching out to sporting and other community groups and, most importantly, committing together to doing whatever they could to eradicate violence and bullying.

It was brilliant to see various groups support their day, including Pride of the South, Port Adelaide Football Club, Onkaparinga Rugby Union Football Club and the City of Onkaparinga. I congratulate each of these groups on their engagement with the national day of action and their ongoing work in support of the wellbeing and safety of all our young people. Positive wellbeing is essential to children and young people's learning. It is essential that our schools are places where everyone feels safe.

I applaud the Christies Beach High School community and all who support them for confronting the issues of violence and bullying head on and doing so in a way that puts the voices of students at the heart of the development of solutions. I look forward to continuing to support their efforts and to continuing to empower the voices of these wonderful young people. Bullying is a problem facing our children at schools across the nation.

Approximately one in four year 4 to year 9 Australian students reports being bullied every few weeks or more often, and about one in five young people under 18 reports experiencing online bullying in any one year. The national day of action seeks to turn these awful statistics around and also seeks to consider the impact of bystander behaviour. Peers are present as onlookers in 87 per cent of bullying interactions and play a central role in the bullying process. It is so important that our school community shares the message that bullying and violence are not acceptable anywhere and that, as school communities, together they take an active stand.

I extend my thanks to students, staff, caregivers and supporters for your courage, your resilience and your absolute commitment to working relentlessly together until violence and bullying is eradicated. Having a day of action provides communities with an opportunity to connect to a broad discussion about how we can all work together to address bullying and violence. By working together, we will always achieve more. As part of the Bullying. No Way! campaign and the day of action, schools and other parts of our communities can access activities, materials and information that can be used all year round to explore students' thoughts about bullying.

No single approach will meet the needs of every school in every situation but, by empowering the voice of students and other community members, we have the best possible chance of taking the best steps forward. I look forward to continuing to work with school communities, including the resilient and innovative community that is Christies Beach High School for as long as it takes to eradicate bullying. Taking a stand together, we will be able to reduce bullying and violence to make our children safer in their learning and all other environments.