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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2011-02-22 Daily Xml
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SCHOOL VIOLENCE AND BULLYING

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL (Cheltenham—Minister for Education, Minister for Early Childhood Development, Minister for Science and Information Economy) (15:20): I seek leave to make a ministerial statement.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.W. WEATHERILL: We all viewed with shock and disgust the vision we saw just over a week ago of a young student being savagely assaulted at one of our northern schools. Our sense of outrage was compounded by the knowledge that this young man had a disability and that the assault was filmed and posted on the internet in a way which could only have been calculated to add to his distress.

The assailant was immediately suspended from school and has been excluded. This student has been charged by police with the offence of assault causing harm. As a result of investigations into this incident, three other students were also excluded. Of these students, one has been charged with assault and threaten harm and another has been reported for cause harm.

Violence can be a sad reality of our daily lives. It is in our streets, our workplaces, in social settings and in our homes. It is not learned in our schools but brought into our schools. It is inconsistent with the values of tolerance, non-violence and respect taught in our schools, but our schools have an obligation to deal decisively and assertively with violence and bullying when it presents itself. It is vital that the community has confidence that this is indeed happening.

I have therefore asked Mr Bill Cossey AM, former chief executive of the Courts Administration Authority and former acting chief executive of the Department of Education and Children's Services, to undertake an independent review of the circumstances of this incident, with particular reference to the following matters: violence and bullying policies and practices in government schools and their application in this case; the reporting relationship between schools and the department's regional and state offices; and the reporting relationship between schools, the department and SAPOL.

The review will also take into account the Queensland Schools Alliance Against Violence report, which is the most recent Australian work on this issue. I look forward to receiving Mr Cossey's report and considering its recommendation.

Despite the fact that each act of violence or bullying carries with it its own personal story of loss and suffering, South Australia is an acknowledged leader in tackling these issues in our schools. Drawing on research from Professor Donna Cross, the most recent report from the Council for the Care and Protection of Children notes that South Australia has the lowest rates of all forms of bullying across Australia and the lowest rate of covert bullying for public schools.

South Australia has provided much of the academic thinking behind school responses to bullying and violence, with Dr Ken Rigby from the University of South Australia the foremost Australian authority. In 2005, we created the Coalition to decrease bullying, harassment and violence, bringing government and non-government school leaders, eminent researchers (including Dr Rigby) and police together to provide expert advice on tackling violence and bullying in schools. Others have copied our initiative.

The coalition work has helped our schools meet the requirement that each school have its own written bullying policy. The coalition has also assisted in developing the principles underlying our Keeping Safe child protection curriculum, which teaches respectful relationships from preschool onwards. Its work led to South Australia being the first jurisdiction to assist schools to address the new menace of cyber bullying, including by explicitly bringing conduct taking place outside of school into school disciplinary policies and convening forums for parents and school staff on strategies to limit and address cyber bullying that has contributed to this.

This work was built on last year, with 45 schools receiving South Australian government grants to help them develop innovative practices to tackle cyber bullying. The results of this work will be shared with all schools this year. Dr Rigby's work has also informed the Queensland's October 2010 extensive report into violence and bullying, Working Together: the Queensland Schools Alliance Against Violence report.

It is appropriate we now review our policies and practices to see what lessons can be learnt from this incident and to consider what can be learnt from recent thinking on this issue. Our overriding aim is to ensure that our schools are places where the values of respect and non-violence are paramount and places where young people can focus on their learning.

I have visited over 100 schools in the last 10 months. I have seen the diversity of our schools and I have also seen excellence in our schools. I have seen both the commitment of teachers and staff and the enthusiasm and respect of students. I want all South Australians to have the confidence in our schools that I do.

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