Autism Inclusion Teachers

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (15:01): My questions are to the parliamentary secretary to the Premier regarding autism inclusion teachers. How many autism—

An honourable member interjecting:

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: These are important questions that I would like to ask on an important topic.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Girolamo, ask your questions.

An honourable member interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Interjections are out of order.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: This is a very important area.

The PRESIDENT: The Hon. Ms Girolamo, ask your questions, and you will be heard in silence.

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO: My questions are:

1. How many autism inclusion teacher roles in state schools have been filled in metropolitan areas?

2. How many autism inclusion teacher roles have been filled in regional schools?

3. What portion of current autism inclusion teachers were already employed in the public system, and what portion have come from the private sector?

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (15:02): I thank the honourable member for her question. There weren't any before this role started because the autism inclusion teacher is a new initiative.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order!

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE: This largest network of autism inclusion teachers was an announcement by the Malinauskas Labor government, something that we should all be very proud of. It has not happened anywhere else before on such a large scale. Before the start of this year, if you walked into a public primary school, there was not a single autism inclusion teacher in our public primary schools. If you walked into a school at the start of term 4 of this year, 99 per cent of our public primary schools had access to an autism inclusion teacher. That is a significant change in a very short period of time.

The autism inclusion teacher, as I have explained many a time in this chamber, is usually a teacher that has come from within the existing school community, because we know that we need to create knowledge in our school community, and this autism inclusion teacher has become that pillar of knowledge.

They have had face-to-face training and they have had online training provided to them but, most importantly, they are also coming together as a network to learn from each other and build their knowledge. I have been advised that, at the start of term 4 of this year, 99 per cent of our schools had an autism inclusion teacher.