Bills

Education and Children's Services (Inclusive Education) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 3 September 2025.)

Mr DIGHTON (Black) (17:06): I rise to speak on the Education and Children's Services (Inclusive Education) Amendment Bill. The bill implements part of the government's response to recommendations of the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability.

In particular, the bill responds to recommendation 7.1—Provide equal access to mainstream education and enrolment, and recommendation 7.2—Prevent the inappropriate use of exclusionary discipline against students with disability. The disability royal commission found that students with a disability face multiple barriers to inclusive education, including gatekeeping practices that informally discourage their enrolment and the inappropriate use of exclusionary responses.

It was pleasing to hear that the bill was subject to significant public consultation and that the response to the royal commission reforms was announced jointly by the Department for Education, Catholic Education South Australia and the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia. I think the collaboration between our three sectors is really important in ensuring that for all students and all students with a disability, human dignity is supported. The main changes in this legislation are:

inserting a new object of the act to ensure that the provision of education and children's services in the state is inclusive by enabling the participation of children and students with a disability and supporting them to reach their full potential;

providing that schools must not refuse enrolment on the basis of a disability unless this would impose an unjustifiable hardship on the school—this obligation is already set out in the commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act and including it in state legislation affirms that important spirit and intent;

requiring all government and non-government schools to report annually on the number of children with a disability who had their enrolment refused on the basis of unjustifiable hardship, the number of children with a disability whose enrolments were cancelled, measures taken to reduce refusals or cancellations, and the number of students with a disability who were suspended or excluded and for what reason and for how long; and

requiring the minister to publish a report on the information provided that aggregates the data for government schools and non-government schools—this means that individual schools will not be identified and neither will individual students be identified.

There is a provision that applies to the non-government sector, and that is that the policy regarding exclusions and discipline must be a published policy. This does not apply to government schools because that information is already published online. In my experience, it is pretty standard certainly across Catholic schools—and, I would assume, most independent schools—that the suspension and exclusion policy is already published, but it is really important that it is, so that families have that sense of transparency and understanding about the school's approach in that regard. Again, in my experience, it is absolutely the aim of schools to support students not to exclude them, but it is important that there are processes identified.

While these changes are modest, they are very important and I want to talk about why that is, and I want to talk a bit about the importance of providing more inclusive education for students with disability in South Australian schools. The Disability Royal Commission's final report makes it clear that inclusive education is a human right. It is not a privilege to be granted, it is a right to be upheld. Every child, regardless of ability, deserves the opportunity to learn, grow and thrive in a school environment that welcomes and supports them.

According to the commission's report, students with a disability achieve better academic, social and emotional outcomes when educated alongside their peers, and their peers benefit too, learning empathy, collaboration and respect for diversity. It was certainly my experience, both as a student and educator, that there were benefits to students and the school community having students with a disability attend that school.

I attended Cabra Dominican College and I formed an appreciation and understanding for the dignity of all through my interaction with students who were part of the St Mary's Unit. Cabra has a long history of embracing a diversity of learning and teaching with an inclusive education environment, which reaches back to the inception of the St Mary's Unit in the 1980s. The St Mary's Unit provides specific support and education for students with an intellectual disability through an individualised timetable and a range of general and specialist subjects.

The interactions that I had with students from the St Mary's Unit helped to provide me with a greater understanding that though different and challenged by their disability, they were my fellow students, fellow humans, and they had a right to dignity and respect.

More recently, through my work at Sacred Heart College, there were a number of students who attended with intellectual and physical disabilities. These students and their families continually made it clear to me how beneficial it was to be part of a school environment, to be part of a community, to be part of a family (as it has been described at Sacred Heart College), and the benefits of the mainstream environment. The same was true for the community, for the students within that community who were able to develop that sense of empathy and that opportunity to form a greater respect for human dignity.

It is important that we recognise the increase in the number of students with a disability. According to the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA), in 2024, 25.7 per cent of school students received educational adjustment due to disability. This is up from 18 per cent in 2015. As a former teacher and educator, I certainly noticed those increases and the changes that it had on the teaching and on the learning of our students. It was significant, so more and more teachers provided adjustments and differentiated curriculum to support students with a disability.

It is very important work and remains really crucial work for our teachers and for our schools, but we should recognise that it does create a greater workload for our teachers; that that is an impact that we need to be aware of, and schools and our system need to be able to support it. Again, my experience is that schools were changing their structures to better support students with a disability. In my experience, we went from having no specialist leader in inclusive education to having a model where we had a senior leader, a team of middle leaders and then lead teachers to support the needs of students with a disability. It is really important that we are catering and making sure that students with a disability have that access to education and to a school community.

I want to highlight a key initiative of the Malinauskas government, and that is the implementation of autism inclusion teachers in every public primary school. It is a great example of the importance of having well-trained lead teachers who can support the practice of our teachers and the improvements in the practice of teachers. I have already seen that in the primary schools in my electorate that I have visited, and I have asked the question, 'What difference has it made?'

I want to particularly highlight the work that I have seen go on at Hallett Cove South Primary School. They are providing really high-quality education to a significantly large number of students with disabilities, and they are doing it whilst creating a very nurturing and a very inclusive school environment. This bill provides a modest but important change to help all our schools in South Australia to be inclusive and supportive and uphold the right to human dignity of all South Australian students, particularly those with a disability.

The Hon. N.F. COOK (Hurtle Vale—Minister for Human Services, Minister for Seniors and Ageing Well) (17:15): I rise to speak in support of the Education and Children's Services (Inclusive Education) Amendment Bill 2025. This bill represents a really meaningful step, ensuring our children and young people in South Australia, especially and particularly those with disability, have access to inclusive, safe and supportive education.

The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability in recommendation 7.1 calls for equal access to mainstream education and enrolment, and recommendation 7.2 seeks to prevent the inappropriate use of exclusionary discipline against students with disability, so these are quite prescriptive. In our government's response to the royal commission we accepted these recommendations and this legislation is the first step towards delivering them.

The disability royal commission found that students with disability continue to face multiple and compounding barriers to inclusive education. If I get the chance near the end, because I have some comprehensive notes, I will talk about how important that word 'barrier' is when we discuss disability. Rather than diagnosis and impairment in the medical model, we talk about barriers to social inclusion, and that is very important.

Some of these barriers include gatekeeping practices, discouraging or preventing enrolment, the misuse of exclusionary discipline and a lack of appropriate adjustments and supports to enable students full participation in school life. Sadly, we know such barriers can be underpinned by negative attitude, low expectations and systemic practices that exclude students with disability from classrooms and the broader school community.

The disability royal commission made clear that a safe, quality and inclusive education system must be grounded in a rights-based approach where all students are supported to achieve their individual education goals, also positive social outcomes both during and beyond their school years. The commission also highlighted the increasing number and proportion of students with disability in our schools and the growing demand for higher levels of adjustment. These must be met with improved procedures, stronger oversight and a transformation in school culture, capability and practice.

The State Disability Inclusion Plan intersects with these findings. Education is critical not only to a child's economic future but also to their social and emotional development, their sense of identity and their place in the world. The state plan affirms that all people with disability have the right to inclusive education and meaningful employment. Too many are still not experiencing the full benefits of these opportunities due to persistent barriers at every stage of the education and employment journey, but we also know change must occur, with the perspectives of those with lived experience at the heart of that change. That is why this bill underwent extensive public consultation via YourSAy and engagement with key stakeholders, and we know from this feedback that there has been strong support for increased transparency and accountability in how schools support students with disability.

It is also important to acknowledge the work of my colleague, Minister Blair Boyer, in bringing Catholic Education South Australia and the Association of Independent Schools of South Australia to the table on this bill. The bill introduces a new object into the Education and Children's Services Act to ensure that education and children's services in South Australia are inclusive, enabling the participation of children and students with disability and supporting them to reach their fullest potential.

It affirms schools must not refuse enrolment on the basis of disability unless doing so would impose an unjustifiable hardship on the school, aligning with the commonwealth Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and reinforcing its intent within state legislation. These are really important things.

It also introduces new annual reporting requirements for all government and non-government schools, requiring them to report on the number of children with disability who were refused enrolment due to unjustifiable hardship, the number whose enrolments were cancelled, the measures taken to reduce such refusals or cancellations, and the number of students with disability who were suspended or excluded (this must also include the reasons for and the duration of). This is really transparent, really informative data that drive these decisions.

The minister will be required to publish an annual report aggregating this data for government and non-government schools, ensuring transparency while protecting the privacy of individual students and schools. Look, we know the challenges of data collection, de-identified data publishing, and when I was having a conversation with a mum who had a child who had been subject to such exclusion she said to me, 'You know, this is no different than having your NAPLAN scores published. This, for me, provides me with a way to look at how schools are going and make those informed choices about what community I want my child to be part of.' I think that is really important.

This reporting framework will help track progress across all education sectors and support continuous improvement in inclusive education practises. The bill also introduces a requirement for non-government schools to publish a policy on the use of exclusionary discipline, ensuring consistency and clarity across the education system while recognising that government schools are already subject to detailed procedures under the act and under departmental guidelines.

These changes, while modest in scope, represent a significant cultural shift in how we approach inclusive education, and lay the groundwork for broader reform by embedding transparency, accountability, and a commitment to equity in the legislative framework. The intent of this bill and the broader work surrounding it also responds directly to the royal commission's call for legislative policy reform, improved data collection and use, enhanced workforce training, and a coordinated approach to embedding inclusive practises in schools.

This bill is a step toward a future where students with disability are no longer excluded. It is a really coordinated approach to embedding inclusive practises in schools, and is a step towards a future where students with disability are no longer excluded or marginalised but are welcomed, supported and celebrated as full members of their school communities. It supports broader work to change attitudes and not let a diagnosis or ability define what you should and should not have access to. The barrier is not the diagnosis but instead the environment, and our government continues to take action to remove barriers. We are doing that through so many pathways.

This work is reflected in our State Disability Inclusion Plan under Domain 1, education and employment, where we have established six priority areas and 14 measures, some of which include the following: proportion of teachers and educators who have completed training for supporting students with disability, including disability standards for education training; total number of children with disability accessing early intervention services, including children's out-of-home care; proportion of government school students receiving an adjustment to access education; total number of initiatives taken to improve transition support from secondary school to tertiary education and/or employment for people with disability; and proportion of state government agencies enhancing data collection and reporting systems. All of this provides some assurance and some transparency.

The state Autism Strategy has also been a driver to supporting positive educational experiences for autistic and autism communities, including commitments to improve environments to support the inclusion of autistic children and young people in our preschools, primary and secondary school settings. I think it is really important that we consider the preschool environment. Ever since I was elected as a member of parliament, early childhood educators have been saying to me that it is a gap, it is an area where there is limited education, limited resources, and it is a barrier for success for children entering the school system. Well, by golly, we have three-year-old preschool coming and we are on it.

We are focused on ensuring that we make the most inclusive environment but also the most educated and aware environment that we have ever had. It also includes: improving the knowledge and understanding of autism amongst our educators; supporting support staff and those connected to our education and care settings; identifying ways to improve transition pathways between educational settings and beyond school; and implementing neurodiversity affirming supports and strategies tailored to individuals to ensure autistic children and students receive the right supports for them—the child at the centre of everything we do.

We have already acted on some of these commitments, including $28.8 million for autism inclusion teachers in public primary schools, and $50 million for 100 mental health and learning support specialists in schools and trialling autism inclusion teachers in nine secondary schools, a natural progression on a successful rollout of primary school teachers. Again, we know we have to be agile, and every environment is different. We will be watching that pilot closely to see where we go in the future and how that rollout looks. We also are establishing a unit on autism to be delivered to all students undertaking the Certificate III in School Based Education Support at TAFE SA, an Australian first, and that is because we believe in TAFE. TAFE is the learning environment for these advanced practices; it is so good.

These tangible actions show the intent of this bill and that this bill does not sit in isolation. It is backed by our government's commitment to a South Australia where no-one is left behind. With a laser focus now on our thinking and our language around making sure that people are aware of the social framework and diagnosis or social definition of disability, we know that we can make a difference. We removed the focus on the medical model of barriers that are being put in place through diagnosis, and we know that we can make huge steps into the future improving what is available and what is offered for people with disability in our community.

This bill spells this out. It sits along alongside our state Disability Inclusion Act, it sits alongside the state plan, it sits alongside the work we are doing with our Autism Strategy. We are bringing people with lived experience to the table. We have ministerial advisory councils across a number of our ministerial portfolios doing different things. We have our Disability Minister's Advisory Council, we have the autism advisory councils, we have the autism strategy team advising us. They work hand in hand with the Office for Autism and the inclusion unit in the Department of Human Services. It is absolutely work that we are so proud of as a government. It is enabling us to move forward in our community in a way that is positive. This bill is setting a standard. I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Mr Odenwalder.