Education and Children's Services (Barring Notices and Other Protections) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

The Hon. E.S. BOURKE (Minister for Emergency Services and Correctional Services, Minister for Autism, Minister for Recreation, Sport and Racing) (16:54): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading explanation and explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading them.

Leave granted.

The Education and Children's Services (Barring Notices and Other Protections) Amendment Bill 2024 will make some significant changes to Part 8 of the Education and Children's Services Act 2019, which grants powers to our school leaders, to respond to abusive behaviour from parents, and others, towards our school staff.

This is an important piece of legislation which seeks to address the increasingly unacceptable way that our teachers, school staff and principals, in preschools, primary schools and high schools, are being treated, primarily by parents, not just in the public system but across all sectors of our education system in South Australia—Catholic, independent and public.

Over the last five years we have seen an enormous increase in the number of cases of bad behaviour exhibited by parents towards school staff in South Australia. In fact, we have seen a 200% increase in the number of barring notices issued by public schools alone and a more than 250% increase in other operational responses, such as formal warning letters and reminders about expectations of respectful behaviour.

This is not something that is happening only in South Australia. In his second reading speech in the other place, the Minister for Education, Training and Skills noted that in all the meetings and conversations he has had with his interstate and territory colleagues and the federal Minister for Education, he has heard the same message about the same kinds of increases in the same bad behaviour from adults towards preschool, primary school and high school staff.

The Government's message to those people who have been responsible for that abusive behaviour is: enough is enough. We are not going to sit idly by and do nothing, especially at a time when it is harder to retain education staff and attract new people to the profession of teaching than it has perhaps ever been before.

We have seen unprecedented teacher vacancies interstate in the order of thousands in single states, particularly in the Eastern States. This means there are classes that do not have a qualified teacher in front of them.

We are not immune from those kinds of pressures here in South Australia, and we are doing everything we can to avoid being in the same kind of situation that those states have found themselves in. The Government has committed to increase permanency in the system by at least 10 percent, and is working very hard to meet that target. The Government has also committed to make the regional zone incentive ongoing for all regional teachers.

Of course, the other thing we need to do is to protect our workforce, and that is why this Bill is so important. We need to grow our workforce and to convince young people that teaching is not just a noble profession but a profession that they will enjoy and thrive in, in which their employer will protect them. We need to be taking action against the really unsavoury kind of behaviour that we are seeing increasingly directed towards our staff. Behaviour which includes physical violence from some parents. Behaviour which includes staff, regularly female staff, being physically hit by parents, being spat on, stalked, harassed, pursued and having their physical space encroached upon, and includes parents standing outside the school grounds and yelling and swearing. The toll that this kind of behaviour takes on school staff is profound. It directly results in them quitting. They just do not see the point in subjecting themselves to it anymore, especially in the current economy where there are other job opportunities for people, and they can choose to go elsewhere.

Of course, this does not only affect our existing staff. Increasingly, abuse has been occurring in online forums, where it can be witnessed by those who are studying teaching and those young people who are thinking that they might want to be a teacher when they are older. A young person who may have previously fancied themselves as a preschool teacher, primary school teacher or high school teacher, may well question whether it is the profession for them after reading the often totally unfounded and highly defamatory claims being made against schools, principals and other education staff online, and seeing the kind of abuse that the existing workforce is subjected to.

This Bill here today goes directly to the things that we can do to protect our education workforce. This Government wants South Australia to have the most modern, fit-for-purpose legislation in this area. That means it is not just about the penalties, although they are important and we are increasing the penalties here, but also making sure that our legislation is actually fit for purpose for the year 2025.

As I said earlier, we are not the only place in Australia or internationally dealing with this; it is a global trend. The latest Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey data report, published in March 2024, found that the behaviour of some parents and caregivers is a major contributor to the stresses faced by school leaders, with principal responses suggesting parents were the top source of issues that involved bullying, cyberbullying, gossip and slander and sexual harassment. Of those principals who reported being threatened with violence, two-thirds experienced this from parents and caregivers.

This Bill seeks to address these problems by building on, and improving, what we already have by way of protections in Part 8 of the Education and Children's Services Act 2019.

Part 8 sets out relevant offences for misbehaviour and trespass on the premises of schools, preschools, and education and care services, and for abuse and offensive behaviour directed towards teachers and other staff acting in the course of their duties, wherever that occurs.

Part 8 provides for designated persons in respect of premises, such as principals of schools and directors of preschools, to direct a person away from the premises in response to such behaviour, and / or issue a notice barring a person from the premises, or from other premises used or to be used by the school, preschool or service.

However, the specific terms of Part 8 have meant those powers have not been able to be leveraged in relation to some types of harmful behaviour. This includes, for example, vexatious communications with or about a member of staff, offensive behaviour targeted at students when involved in an education activity away from the premises of the relevant school, preschool or service, including but not limited to schools camps, excursions and sports days, or offensive behaviour that occurs just outside the boundary of the premises, such as yelling abuse from outside the school gate.

The Bill aims to address these issues and to improve the overall ability of leaders at schools, preschools, and education and care services to ensure safe learning and working environments.

The Bill will amend Part 8 of the Act to make it an offence to behave in a disorderly or intimidating manner on premises and increase the penalties for all offences under Part 8 from $2,500 to $7,500.

The Bill will also broaden the grounds on which a designated person can issue a barring notice in respect of the premises of a school, preschool, or education and care service to include where the designated person reasonably believes:

that the person, while on those premises poses, or would pose, a risk to the safety or wellbeing of any other person on the premises;

that the person, while on any related premises being used by, or for an activity or in connection with, the school, preschool, or education and care service, poses, or would pose, a risk to the safety or wellbeing of any other person on the related premises;

that the person poses, or would pose, a risk to the safety or wellbeing of any person related to a relevant school, preschool, or education and care service while the related person is in transit between relevant premises;

the person, while on premises, poses, or would pose, a risk of causing significant disruption to the learning or working environment;

that the person has engaged in vexatious communication with, or regarding, a member of staff or other person employed at the premises.

The Bill will provide for the Minister to publish guidelines in relation to barring notices and require a designated person, in issuing a barring notice, to comply with those guidelines.

The Bill will set out that a barring notice may:

bar a person from premises to which Part 8 applies, or a part of the premises, specified in the notice;

bar a person from any related premises for any period specified in the notice during which the related premises are being used by, or for an activity conducted by, or in connection with, the school, preschool, or education and care service;

prohibit a person from communicating with or otherwise contacting (whether electronically or by some other means) a member of staff or other person specified in the notice employed at the premises;

prohibit the person from communicating on any online platforms of the school, preschool, education and care service or department specified in the notice;

The Bill will also provide that, subject to any guidelines published by the Minister, a barring notice may, in specifying premises or related premises in relation to which a person is barred, include any area within 25 metres of a boundary of the premises.

Amendments made in the other place further provide for an authorised person in respect of premises to deal with imminent risks to the safety and wellbeing of persons on premises or related premises, or significant disruption to the learning or working environment, or vexatious communication with or regarding a member of staff, by directing a person to not enter the premises or related premises, in addition to being able to direct them to leave premises as currently provided for under section 95 of the Act. A direction may be given orally or by written notice. A person so directed would not be able to enter, or attempt to enter, the premises within 2 business days after the day on which the direction was given.

I note the State First Nations Voice to Parliament provided detailed and considered feedback on the Bill. I thank them for their engagement. While they were generally supportive of the Bill, the Voice provided suggestions to ensure the provisions operate in a culturally sensitive way and do not disproportionately impact on First Nations people. To this end, the Bill provides for guidelines to be published by the Minister in relation to the consideration of the particular needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, students and children and their families in the issuing of any barring notices.

The measures in this Bill, as with the current provisions in Part 8, will not prevent parents, caregivers, and other community members from raising reasonable complaints or advocating for their child's particular needs. They seek to promote positive interactions with the staff of schools, preschools and other services by improving safeguards against the worst kinds of misbehaviour.

There is no place in our schools, preschools or education and care services – regardless of whether they are public, Independent or Catholic services—for violent, abusive or threatening behaviour. Our teachers deserve a workplace in which they can feel safe and free from harassment and harm. For our children and students to thrive, we need to ensure our schools, preschools and education and care services can focus on providing the best education and care possible.

I commend the Bill to the house and I seek leave to have the explanation of clauses inserted in Hansard without my reading it.

Explanation of Clauses

Part 1—Preliminary

1—Short title

2—Commencement

These clauses are formal.

Part 2—Amendment of Education and Children's Services Act 2019

3—Amendment of section 90—Application of Part

This clause amends section 90 to extend the application of the Part to premises which are the premises of an approved learning program that has been prescribed by the regulations.

4—Insertion of section 90A

Section 90A is inserted.

90A—Interpretation

Proposed section 90A inserts several definitions for the purposes of the measure.

5—Amendment of section 91—Offensive or threatening behaviour

This clause extends the application of the offences in section 91(1) and (2)(b) to include disorderly and intimidating behaviour, which is consistent with other amendments made by the measure. The heading of the section is amended to reflect this change, and the maximum penalty for the offences is increased from $2,500 to $7,500.

6—Amendment of section 92—Trespassing on premises

This clause increases the maximum penalty for an offence against the section from $2,500 to $7,500.

7—Amendment of heading to Part 8 Division 3

This clause amends the heading of Part 8 Division 3 to reflect that the Division deals with the making of barring notices.

8—Substitution of section 93

Section 93 is proposed to be substituted as follows:

93—Power to bar person from premises, etc

Proposed section 93 gives a designated person in respect of premises to which Part 8 applies the power to issue a barring notice to a person if the designated person reasonably believes that person poses a risk to any other person on the premises, or on related premises, or to the learning and working environment or activities carried on at the premises or related premises. Subsection (3) provides a list of certain circumstances in which a person will be taken to pose a threat. A barring notice may also be issued to a person if the designated person reasonably believes that the person has engaged in vexatious communication with a member of staff or other person employed at the premises. A barring notice may prevent a person from entering premises, or engaging in conduct, specified in the notice. Provision is made in relation to the preconditions for the making of a barring notice, the form a barring notice must take, the premises and activities to which a barring notice can apply, and the consequences for the breach of a barring notice. The Minister may make guidelines in relation to barring notices, which must be followed when a designated person issues such a notice.

9—Amendment of section 94—Review of barring notice by Minister

This clause amends section 94 such that a person who is issued with a barring notice under section 93 that applies for at least 2 weeks may apply to the Minister for review of the barring notice, except to the extent that the notice applies to a non-Government school, preschool, approved education and care service or approved learning program.

10—Amendment of heading to Part 8 Division 4

The heading of Part 8 Division 4 is amended to reflect that barring notices may now also apply in respect of a related premises.

11—Amendment of section 95—Certain persons may restrain, remove from or refuse entry to premises

Amendments are made to section 95 such that an authorised person in respect of premises to which Part 8 of the Act applies may, in circumstances where the authorised person reasonably believes that a person poses an imminent risk, either to the safety and wellbeing of any other person on, or to the learning and working environment or activities carried on at, the premises or related premises, may direct that person to not enter the premises or related premises or to leave the premises or related premises. The authorised person may also direct a person to not enter the premises or to leave the premises if the person has engaged in vexatious communication with a member of staff or other person employed at the premises. Provision is made for certain circumstances in which a person will be taken to pose a risk.

12—Amendment of section 135—Proceedings for offences

Section 135 is amended to require that proceedings for an offence against the Act may only be commenced by the Chief Executive, or a person authorised by the Chief Executive, with the written consent of the Minister.

Schedule 1—Transitional and savings provisions

1—Barring notices

Provision is made such that a barring notice made under the Act prior to these amendments that is in effect as at the commencement of the amendments will continue in force as if it had been issued under section 93, as substituted by this measure.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. L.A. Henderson.