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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, First Session (54-1)
2018-10-23 Daily Xml
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Bills

Education and Children's Services Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading (resumed on motion).

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (15:39): I rise to commend the Education and Children's Services Bill 2018 to the house, and I observe at the outset the support of the opposition. I had the opportunity to listen closely to the remarks earlier today of the member for Port Adelaide in supporting a bill that indeed did come to the house in the dying days of the 53rd parliament.

I was not going to dwell too much on it, but it pays to note, if only briefly, that this new bill comes before the house in the first months of the new Marshall government and will have the significant effect of providing a long overdue reform of the legislation in this area—indeed, repealing and replacing the Education Act 1972 and the Children's Services Act 1985—and has been, in my humble observation, far too long coming.

It may be that those opposite in indicating their general support for the reform also referred to the fact that some work was done in the dying days of the previous government. However, the fact is that these steps, these attempts to modernise the bill, have been raised over many years but apparently suffered from a significant amount of half-heartedness in the past, particularly over the last 16 years of the former government.

That prefaces my delight and my words of congratulation and endorsement to our new Minister for Education, who will now take forward this new piece of legislation, which will lead the way insofar as the experience of our children in this state in the very important and formative experiences they will have in the course of their schooling in South Australia is concerned.

In the short time available for me today in debating the bill, I wish to focus my attention on one broad aspect of the key improvements that this bill introduces and the way it differs from the bill previously brought before the house, and that is as it relates to the independence of governing councils, the removal of central control of the minister of governing councils and the important decisions and deliberations they will participate in as far as their important role in leading school communities is concerned.

It is important to emphasise that this bill of the new government removes central controls, which were proposed under the previous bill and which would have left the minister empowered to direct, to suspend and also to dissolve and establish a new governing council under disciplinary circumstances. We have done away with all those aspects in a concerted endeavour to ensure that what we are doing is empowering governing councils and ensuring that school communities can act so as far as possible on their own initiative and according to their own commitments.

Those provisions that were contained in part 4, division 4 of the 2017 bill, which was brought before the house by the previous government and which were set out in clauses 28, 30 and 31 respectively, are no more. In their place, we find—in part 4, division 2, which deals with governing councils—provisions that will ensure that there is a degree of ministerial oversight. That is important, but we as a new government are taking deliberate steps to ensure that there is autonomy.

Where the rubber hits the road in this regard is all the more borne out by the fact that we are not only saying to governing councils that the minister will not be looking over their shoulder and enforcing measures such as directing, suspending or dissolving them but, more than that, in line with recommendations of the Debelle royal commission, we are taking it a step further and establishing a legal fund, to be administered by the Attorney-General's Department, which will be accessible by governing councils to ensure that they have access to funds for independent legal advice when they find themselves in disputation with the department. So we are committed to empowering, to independence and to ensuring that we reward community engagement.

I have had the honour and privilege on many occasions to represent the best part of our great state of South Australia in the seat of Heysen. It is an area that is uniquely blessed with a wide variety of community schools spread throughout the Hills that benefit from a very high degree of commitment and engagement by members of school communities, whether they be parents, staff, friends, old scholars or those in the neighbourhood. People in the Hills recognise the contribution to the fabric of community life that strong and healthy schools provide.

I will give a few examples. On this Saturday just past, I had the honour and privilege of representing the Minister for Education at Crafers Primary School to officially open stage 1 of the nature playground at the school. It is an excellent example of what a school community can achieve when acting together. I had the opportunity to thank and to recognise the key individuals, who, unsurprisingly, include the school principal, Garry North; the chair of the school's governing council, Colin Koch; and leaders of the school community, from parents to those who offer their services professionally and those who participated in working bee activities to bring the playground to fruition.

It was a particular pleasure to see the school community come together to celebrate exactly the sort of thing that we want to see happen more and more under an independent and empowered governing council structure under this new legislation. I had the pleasure, also on this weekend just past, to attend the 125th anniversary celebrations of Scott Creek Primary School. It is an example of the diversity of the schools within Heysen. Just a small number of students who presently attend at Scott Creek Primary School were joined by old scholars, many of whom are still residents of the near surrounds, going all the way back through the history of Scott Creek Primary School.

I encourage those who were not there but who want to see an example to look at my Facebook page, where I have put up a photograph of old scholars of Scott Creek Primary School who gathered for one of those unique photo opportunities that perhaps comes along only every 125 years or so, amply illustrating what a marvellous contribution a school in a district can provide to the fabric of the community.

I have already had the opportunity, in these first few months of this new government, to visit Mylor Primary School together with our Minister for Education. It is another example of a wonderful, creative, innovative and committed group at a Hills school. I point out in particular their commitment to an innovative science program, led by the principal and backed by parents, friends and those involved in the governing council.

There are two examples of outstanding high schools that I will take the opportunity to mention in this light. Firstly, Eastern Fleurieu School at Strathalbyn, including associated campuses, is a unique R-12 school model that is flourishing in the south of Heysen. The campuses at Ashbourne and Milang have been brought to a great fruitful result by their association with Eastern Fleurieu School. A new principal commences this year who, with the support of a governing council appropriately empowered in accordance with the provisions of this new legislation, will have the opportunity to build on, in this case, the really extraordinary steps that have been taken over recent years, in particular under the leadership of the recently retired principal, Mr Trevor Fletcher.

It is a large multicampus model that further illustrates the diversity of the school environment in the area of Heysen. Sitting alongside it is the equally successful private model of Tyndale School. Together, Eastern Fleurieu and Tyndale in Strathalbyn are creating a campus atmosphere, and both teachers and students are deliberately looking to be nearby so that they can participate in the environment of those two marvellous schools.

I have also had the opportunity to visit Bridgewater Primary School with minister Gardner. It is yet another example of a school that benefits from not only the tremendous commitment of its principal but the support of a committed governing council. Whether it be the educational experience of the students or the infrastructure within which they are educated, those responsible for the school are committed to ensuring that the life of the school is as vibrant and successful as it possibly can be.

There are many other examples through Heysen. I could go on to catalogue the range of schools I have had the opportunity to visit. One thing that characterises each of them is their diversity. The provisions of new part 5, division 2, of the bill are therefore important, as they will further encourage their independence and their vibrancy. Meadows Primary School, Kangarilla Primary School, Heathfield Primary School and Aldgate Primary School are all wonderful learning environments for the students who are fortunate to attend there.

Heathfield High School is another fine example of the sort of great outcome that can be achieved where there is a commitment to creativity and opportunities for students. I have spoken before about the wonderful efforts of DaDux at Generations in Jazz at Mount Gambier. It is well known that Heathfield High School enjoys a wonderful reputation for its volleyball program. So the strengths and activities of schools throughout Heysen are indeed varied and diverse.

At this time of the year, and in the context of the commitments made by staff and school communities, it would be remiss of me not to mention one activity that unites the bulk of our schools not only in Heysen but throughout the state, and that is the Festival of Music. The festival recently concluded at the end of term 3, immediately prior to the holidays. We all know that the Festival of Music is a great tradition in this state. It has been running successfully for a very long time, but never more so than now. It is an opportunity for schools throughout the state to unite in a combined performance. I emphasise that we see on display the wonderful efforts of students in that wonderful Festival of Music week.

However, in the many months leading up to the Festival of Music we see extraordinary volunteer efforts over and above the call from the staff of all those schools, who give up their time to contribute to the unique and wonderful experience gained by students when the Festival of Music comes around. It is another great example of why, wherever we can, we look to promote and empower the initiatives of school communities in all their diversity.

In the short time that is still available to me, I wish to acknowledge—and it could not be more appropriate than in the context of a great commitment to the life and success of a school—the service of Gail Stewart of Stirling East Primary School. Gail was an office administrator at Stirling East who, very sadly, died in recent days. I wish to extend my condolences to her family and to the wider community of Stirling East Primary School. I commend the bill to the house.

Mr BELL (Mount Gambier) (15:59): I rise to make a brief contribution to the Education and Children's Services Bill. It is pleasing to see this bill before our house; it replaces previous acts from 1985 as well as 1972, so it has been quite a while in its making. I would like to refer to a couple of points in the bill, which will, of course, be teased out more in the committee stage as this bill progresses.

I commend the government for the increase in attendance officers by 50 per cent. Back in the early 2000s, I took up a role as an attendance officer, and I would like to talk a little bit about that to give the minister some perspective on issues around attendance. Whilst increases of 50 per cent are definable, I suppose, and perhaps desirable from a government's point of view, there are complexities around attendance that the government needs to be aware of.

Non-attendance can be for a whole range of reasons. It could be neglectful parenting; I have certainly seen that, and I cautiously endorse the increased fines for those who are wilfully neglectful. However, non-attendance can also be a result of family situations that I would not categorise as wilful indifference or deliberate neglect on the part of the parent, and I will give an example shortly.

Sometimes non-attendance is due to issues going on for a student that the school may or may not be aware of and that the parent or parents or caregiver may not even be aware of. I have seen lots of examples of extreme bullying and harassment, particularly in a digital form, now more than it was perhaps in the early 2000s, when I was an attendance officer. We need to empower schools and parents to come together and work through solutions around those issues as they present themselves.

Until you have a child who experiences bullying—and I do not want to categorise it from the female point of view, which I have certainly experienced—it is very difficult to put a finger on a solution and a way forward. It is constantly evolving and, in some instances, moving school or changing circumstances for either the perpetrator or the victim needs to be considered among the strategies that could be looked at. I would hate to see that ruled out.

Regarding the difficulties associated with being an attendance officer, the first is the number in your caseload. I had around 150 to 200 students where the school could not re-engage the student back into their school. The second relates to the geographical location. As it was a country area, my boundaries went from Murray Bridge right down to Port MacDonnell. Think about 200 cases; taking out weekends, you could do one a day in an intense fashion. So caseloads need to be looked at and a reasonable caseload apportioned to these attendance officers.

I had a young family where the young dad was probably not coping too well with three very young children. That popped up on my case list and I went and did a home visit. People would probably shake their head now at many of the things we did in the early 2000s; I am not advocating these, just talking about a real-life example. This young dad was unemployed; there was no electricity, no gas, a large number of cats (if there were not eight cats in the household I would be very surprised), a large number of dogs and three great kids. I would pick those three kids up in my government car every day and take them to McDonald Park Primary School where Bronwyn, who was the front office lady, would have a spare set of clothes. They would be showered and given new clothes. The kids had lice and health problems.

These were early primary school students, so the first thing was to get them out of the house and get them to school. They were not going to go on a bus or any other transport because of the condition they were in. There was no electricity, so that meant no hot water; no washing facilities meant clothes did not get washed. So Bronwyn would take the clothes home, wash them and then the next day there would be a fresh set of clothes for the students.

This continued while I engaged Families SA to provide some support for this young dad around how to look after young children. It included nutrition because the kids were pretty much eating either fish and chips, if they were lucky, or packets of chips more regularly. That continued for about three or four weeks. We got to the point—at Families SA there was a fantastic caseworker who worked alongside me to work with the dad—where it was a very unsustainable model because you cannot have a government worker picking kids up when I had another 199 cases on my list spread from Murray Bridge down.

In about week 4, these kids just disappeared with their dad. We do not know to this day where they went. We went around and knocked on the door; they were not at home. We called the police. The police came and opened the door and, whilst most of their possessions were still there, they clearly were no longer living in the house. They did not pop up at any other school and we suspect that they went back to New South Wales, where the family originally came from. Because of departments working in silos, there was no way of passing on information to any New South Wales school to say that there would be three young people, two girls and a boy, probably aged 6 to 9, who would be lobbing up with a father who was not coping and needed some assistance.

When you get into the issues of attendance and non-attendance, it is not as cut and dried as politicians or people who have come from a background like many of us here might think to understand why a family is not sending their kids to school or why a student is not rocking up to school. I firmly believe schools have the greatest ability to change people's lives, not just through education but through care and compassion and modelling different behaviours that may not be modelled at the home environment or within the nucleus of their existing family.

I believe support needs to be given to the schools wherever possible because there are great people in schools who will work beyond what is clock-on and clock-off time to support vulnerable people. That extends all the way through. I applaud the government and this bill for increasing attendance officers by 50 per cent, but I caution that it is not an easy road and there is not one solution that is going to satisfy everybody.

In terms of clause 74, I want to point out to the government something that does concern me. Clause 74—Employment of children of compulsory school age or compulsory education age, makes it an offence for a person to employ a child of compulsory school age or compulsory education age during school hours or in labour or an occupation that renders, or is likely to render, that child unfit to attend school, etc., or obtain the proper benefit from doing so.

On first reading that clause, you would think that is fair and reasonable, and in many, many cases I support that clause 100 per cent. However, I want to point out that there is a difference between 'compulsory school age' and 'compulsory education age'. If you read the clause quickly, you may not pick up the subtleties. Compulsory school age in South Australia is between six years of age and 16 years of age. Compulsory education age, which this clause refers to as well, is students aged 16 and 17. Normally, for ages 16 and 17, compulsory education age means that you need to be in approved learning.

One of the issues I have with this is that I know a number of 16 and 17 year olds whose approved learning also involves some form of work, whether that is through a VET and SACE program or a school-based apprenticeship, in which case they would need an exemption for that level. For disengaged kids and for kids who have perhaps dropped out of school and are re-entering education through an independent learning centre or some form of alternative curriculum, employment is one of the key aspects for achieving their SACE.

I would like to see in that clause an exemption or some mechanism where the principal of the enrolling school can apply to the minister for an exemption so that those students are not caught up in what I think is a very sound and reasonable set of circumstances but may encapsulate a group that it was not intended to encapsulate.

Obviously, governing councils are very important, and I fully support any strengthening and autonomous moves for governing councils. Andrew Hunter, from Reidy Park Primary School, has been on the governing council for as long as I can remember when my kids were students at Reidy Park Primary School. The number of working bees and the number of decisions where the governing council assisted the principal in arriving at very sound conclusions needs to be commended. In fact, if a principal has a functioning and supportive governing council, schools can achieve far more than without them.

In terms of positions related to this bill, I would like to talk about suspension from school. I do not think this bill goes far enough. We have certain situations where a student who is suspended from school, particularly after numerous suspensions, perhaps without parental support at home—in fact, in some cases parents condone the behaviour—sees it as a reward for the student and a cop-out for the school. The easiest thing for a school to do is to remove the problem or a problem that a student is creating. It sets up a reverse reward for that student, particularly if they like Fortnite or some computer game at home. Four or five days of sitting at home, with your parent or caregiver not at home because they might be working, sets up a reverse incentive for some students.

I agree that this is a minority of students, but I believe we should be empowering schools to cater and care for every student in their cohort. That, unfortunately, goes as far as students who are, or potentially can be, disruptive. Of course, I agree that they need to be removed from certain situations and classrooms if they are affecting the learning of others, but we cannot set up a situation where schools can wipe their hands of their responsibility, particularly in some secondary schools where they might be waiting until that student turns 16 or 17 and is no longer an issue for that school.

That needs funding and specialist intervention. In an ideal world, I do not think any school should be able to suspend a student. I think there should be programs, support and assistance. Removal from a class is definitely an option, but the school needs to work with that student, their family and their support until their behaviour can be modified and they can re-enter the school.

I would like to see the bill go further in terms of NAPLAN. I would like to see it mandated that any student who fails NAPLAN has intervention and support mandated under a bill, under an act of parliament, because all NAPLAN does is identify that there may be an issue with a young person's learning: reading, writing, arithmetic or comprehension, etc., NAPLAN does not mandate anywhere that the school has to do anything about it. I am not saying that schools do not. In fact, many schools do an outstanding job of identifying issues and then putting programs into place, but I would like to see it actually mandated through the Education and Children's Services Bill.

In terms of the quality of our teachers, we have 35,000 teachers registered with the Teachers Registration Board. If we are serious about raising the standard of teaching and wanting to set a minimum Tertiary Entrance Rank (TER), we as employers, as a state government, can mandate what TER level we want our teachers to achieve. There is no reason why we, as employers, cannot set what that level should be.

That might be a step too far just now, but the power we have as an employer of thousands and thousands of teachers—in fact, about 1,500 per year come into the system—is immense. We can set the standard for our public education and we can set that by having a minimum TER score for our teachers to achieve.

In closing, I acknowledge Scott Maxwell, a music teacher at Grant High School. Scott Maxwell came from Reidy Park Primary School, where my kids went to school. Grant High School is a school at which I taught for a number of years. Scott Maxwell has been nominated by ARIA as one of the country's most outstanding music teachers in Australia and he is in the finals. Guy Sebastian attended Grant High School a week ago to inform Scott Maxwell that he was nominated; if he is successful, he will attend the ARIAs in the coming weeks.

This is an outstanding achievement for an outstanding music teacher—you only have to go to one of his musicals, which he writes himself. The music program at Grant High School would be the envy of many public schools. I give due recognition to Scott Maxwell and the music curriculum he has developed at Grant High School.

The Hon. A. PICCOLO (Light) (16:19): I would like to make a small contribution to the debate in support of the bill. I would like to take this opportunity to emphasise that bills like this are very important because they set up the framework for schools in our community. The reality is that schools in our community play an important part in the lives of the people in our community.

All of us can remember a very good teacher and the positive impact they had on our lives. Equally, we can remember those teachers who perhaps were not so positive as well. It just shows how important schools are to our lives, and that is why we need to make sure that schools and schoolteachers have the resources and tools to do the job the best they can. It is a little bit cliché, but what we invest in young people today, we will reap tomorrow, and the reverse is true: if we do not invest today, we will reap all the negative rewards later.

As a local MP, I am fortunate and blessed to have a very close and positive working relationship with all the schools in my electorate. I certainly enjoy visiting my schools when they have a number of activities and events. It is quite enjoyable, particularly when I visit my old school, which is now called Gawler and District College, and also my children's preschool. My primary school is no longer there; unfortunately, it is now houses. I remember that, when I was campaigning, I was telling people how their house was actually my year 7 class and things like that.

In addition to attending various events in schools like every other member here, I also make time at least once a year to meet with principals to sit down and have quite a lengthy discussion with them about the issues they face, the challenges facing their community and also the wonderful things they are doing and some of the innovations they are performing.

Because we are on school holidays on 5 October, unlike the rest of the world we celebrate World Teachers' Day this Friday. I would like to pay tribute to all the teachers in the schools in my area and also the teachers who teach students who come from my area. I would like to provide a small overview of some of the issues that the schools in my area confront and also some of the wonderful things they do.

The first school I would like to talk about briefly is St Patrick's Technical College. It is not physically in my electorate. It is actually in the member for Taylor's seat. It is a regional school and a number of the students who attend come from my electorate. St Patrick's excels in vocational education. In addition to providing what you might call traditional trades, like construction, etc., they also excel in the areas of defence and electronics. They are raising the standard of vocational education to make sure that the graduates from this college meet the requirements of the industries of tomorrow. I am very fortunate to have been invited to their school on a number of occasions to see their good work in practice.

Another school that is not physically in my electorate but serves my community is Northern Adelaide Senior College. It is what you might traditionally call a re-entry college for adult students. This college plays a very important role in the area because it gives young people a second chance. This school is for those young people who, for whatever reason, have left school at an early age but understand that obtaining their SACE is very important for them to go on to post-secondary education and also university education.

In addition to providing an opportunity for young people to re-enter, it also provides opportunities for young mums—and I mean quite young mums—who can bring their children with them while they are taught. If we are to avoid the constant cycle of poverty in our communities, we need to make sure that these young parents get the skills and education required to fulfil a meaningful life and work life and for their children as well. This school does a wonderful job in what you might call the creative industries. When it comes to music and other creative arts, this school does very well with their students. It does serve that student body very well.

Mark Oliphant College is one of the newer schools in my electorate. This school has a high influx of young people from Africa and the Middle East. The school works very hard, as the student body works very hard, to make sure that these young people are integrated into the school and also that their education does not suffer because of any racism or any other issue. I was fortunate enough recently to attend an event at the school which was run by its student representative council and which talked about the life and experiences of refugees and what they have gone through. I think that those sorts of stories help those students born in Australia understand those experiences and also help to integrate these students.

One of the things, though, I recently found out about the school was that this school, like other schools, likes to go on school excursions but, because of some rule within the Department of Transport, if you get on a train—and most school excursions go by train—before 9.30 you have to pay a fee. If you get on the train after 9.30, you do not pay. This school, because of its location, cannot get its students onto the train after a 9.30 service because they then cannot get back in time.

So you have a school which has quite a few students disadvantaged economically, which is further disadvantaged by government policy which actually makes them pay more. The inner city schools, which generally are wealthier, get free transport, and those schools in the peri-urban areas actually have to pay more. I am now in constant discussion with the department and the minister's office to change that policy because it actually further disadvantages a school community that is already disadvantaged.

The adjacent children's centre, the MOC (Mark Oliphant College), is doing a wonderful job in sometimes very difficult conditions. One of the things I have found when you talk to the various directors of the children's centres and the various community workers at community centres—and I have three children's centres in my electorate, that is, the Mark Oliphant College, the Gawler Children's Centre and also the LCI—is that they highlight a couple of things. It is not so much the difficulties but the challenges they face with young people who are part of the NDIS scheme, as well as the problems that families are experiencing trying to get appropriate funding throughout the NDIS to support the children.

In addition, there is an increasing number of young children who come to the preschools with language problems, and by that I do not mean that they speak a different language: they actually have problems with verbal skills. An increasing number of young people who are going to the preschools do not have verbal skills, and that is a real concern. That is why we need to make sure that we invest heavily in these early years to ensure that these young people get to a level where they do not always have to play catch-up later in life. Often a lack of language skills, and those other things, are associated with a whole range of traumas in the home.

I attended the spring fair of one of these schools on Sunday. Another school is the Munno Para Primary School. Over 30 per cent of this school's student body has either significant learning or behavioural issues, which pose quite a few challenges to the teachers in terms of providing a really good education, in the sense that children come in with a range of issues that need to be addressed even before they can start learning in the classroom.

One thing I admired when I visited the school was the dedication of these teachers to make sure that these young people get the best education possible. This school had to fight really hard to get some additional funding to actually reflect the student body and the disadvantage of the student body. I am also impressed by how hard the school has worked. I would also like to particularly mention Sandra Watherston. Sandra is the chairperson of the governing council and works very hard, as do other members of the governing council, to raise funds to invest in these young people.

Briefly, I would also like to mention the Trinity schools in my area. I have Trinity North, Trinity South and Trinity Senior. In fact, I should mention that I used to work at that school before I became an MP. I was a business manager at that school for six years, and also my children attend that school. Those schools continue to provide a broad range of academic, VET and extracurricular programs and are achieving some excellent results.

Yesterday, I was fortunate enough to attend their VET awards ceremony, where they recognised a number of young people who have excelled in their vocational education. This school does a really good job in providing a range of programs to meet the different needs of different students. One of the things I should also mention about VET education, particularly at St Patrick's but also at other schools, is that I think we need to stop seeing VET as a lesser program or as an inferior program to university study. It is just a different program.

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan: Hear, hear!

The Hon. A. PICCOLO: Yes. The VET option is a good option for some students, and it should be seen as that and not something that is not as good as university education. In fact, some young people who start off in VET programs start businesses and do very well, so we should make sure that young people, if that is their bent, are supported through the VET program. With the pathways that are available these days, you can start with a VET program today, literally work in that area and then, later on, do other studies as well. I think the VET program can provide a good grounding.

In fact, the guest speaker at the VET awards yesterday had done some VET programs herself. She went on to say how she did VET programs but now has gone on to other studies. She said that even though she is not working in a vocational education area, the VET program was a really good foundation for her later in life.

St Brigid's School places a huge emphasis on developing the whole student and the student's place in the world. For a number of years, they have been running a really strong program on environmental sustainability. They are trying to make sure that their young people understand that we all have a contribution to make to the environmental sustainability of our planet. In fact, to some extent it reflects Pope Francis's encyclical of recent times, where he refers to humankind as having an obligation to make sure that we care for the planet. That sort of philosophy goes not only through St Brigid's but also through Xavier College, which I will talk about in a moment.

At Gawler East Primary School, I met with the principal, whose main message was that they are focusing quite strongly on literacy and numeracy. They make sure that their programs are getting better and better to achieve better outcomes. It sounds like an old adage, but basic literacy and numeracy are the foundation blocks of a sound education. You need them for anything you study later in life.

Hewett Primary School is bursting at the seams and, as a result, often finds it difficult to run some programs. Apart from being a defence school, it is one of the few schools in the area that has a special allocation of funding to help defence families. That is a good thing, but it also offers challenges because defence families often move from community to community and, as a result, bring their own issues with young people having to attend numerous schools. Often, defence families lack family support because they move from state to state. The school is one of those with a disability learning unit and, like many other schools, it is facing an increasing number of students who present with a range of learning and behavioural issues. I do not think that we as a society have quite understood that, and it is certainly not reflected in terms of the funding we give those schools.

Gawler and District College is doing some wonderful things in its new programs around reading and literacy. One of the good things they have found is that their new program has not only resulted in better literacy skills but has also improved the behaviour of students. It is interesting to note that often we spend time trying to get kids to behave better, rather than doing the academic stuff. This is a school that said that by doing the academic stuff they were getting better behaviour.

On the day I visited, I met with Peta Tooley, one of the reception teachers. I am very proud to say that Peta Tooley recently won the early education teacher of the year award in South Australia. Clearly, the work she is doing in her classroom, and the work the school is doing, has been recognised at a state level. More recently, the school has also been keen to make baseball one of its strong sports and become one of the strongest baseball schools in this country. I wish them well in that area.

Gawler Primary School is one of our oldest schools, and last week I had the pleasure of attending its 140th anniversary celebrations. It continues to provide a sound education for students, and it is doing really well in the area. Xavier College was in my electorate; it is on the other side of the boundary now because of boundary changes, but it serves quite a few students in my area. It has been doing quite a bit of work in recent years with project-based learning, which is delivering really good results in helping to teach students about food sustainability—not only about how food is produced and food wastage but also about understanding the impact of unequal distribution of food in our society and the impact it has on people in our community and across the world.

I quickly read a report published in the last day or two that analyses the NAPLAN results. I think it was by the Grattan Institute, if I remember correctly. One of the findings of this study is that the biggest determinant of a student's success in education is their postcode, more so than whether they attended a Catholic, independent or public school. The message is that we need to ensure that, in those communities where there is a high level of economic and social disadvantage, there are resources in those schools to make sure that those children get a fair start.

It is not only in the schools, because schools can only do so much in the life of a young person, but also in those communities. The government has ceased some quite intensive programs that support families on a one-to-one basis to make sure that they are functioning well, which means that their children function well, which means that their children do well at school. I think it was called the 'family to family program'. It is one of many programs that have been cut, but it was also one of many programs, particularly in my area in northern Adelaide, that was doing great things to support those families to make sure that the next generation of young people is not lacking in literacy and numeracy skills.

We can talk about the economy and the importance of the economy but, unless we actually invest heavily in these communities and schools, the reality is that we will always be chasing our tails. The next generation over the next decades will have a whole range of behavioural issues and other issues that come from young people being frustrated by not having a sound education.

I hope that I have not painted too bleak a view, and I think I need to make it very clear that, despite some of the challenges facing the school communities, I have the utmost admiration for the hard work and contribution of schoolteachers in my area. They work really hard to make sure that the young people in their care get the best education possible. Schoolteachers work closely with SSOs and governing councils to ensure that every dollar is spent wisely for the maximum benefit of the young people in their communities. With those comments, I would like to take this opportunity to thank those teachers in my community and wish them a very happy World Teachers' Day this Friday.

Mr COWDREY (Colton) (16:39): I rise to indicate my support for the Education and Children's Services Bill 2018, as have many who have gone before me today. I also note the broad support for the bill and the indication that it is bipartisan in nature. I think that we all recognise the importance and the need to improve and update the legislation for education and children's services and to provide a modern framework for the delivery of high-quality children's services and compulsory education here in our state.

As has been mentioned many times, the bill is based upon a similar bill which was introduced by the previous government in 2017 but which unfortunately did not become law. However, it does incorporate a range of amendments on matters raised and flagged by the Liberal Party in opposition. In particular, the bill fulfils the Marshall government's election commitments to remove the previous government's proposed central controls over school governing councils and to entrench a legal fund for governing councils in dispute with the department, as proposed in the Debelle recommendations. It will also introduce legislation to increase fines to deter chronic truancy.

As already mentioned, the bill repeals and replaces the Education Act 1972 and the Children's Services Act 1985 to establish a contemporary legislative framework for the delivery of high-quality education. I think that members on both sides of the chamber would also agree that our children deserve access to the best schools, preschools and children's services, and this bill aims to establish the conditions necessary for teachers, parents, families and communities to work together to give our children the best start in life.

I am especially fortunate to be a community representative on a couple of school governing councils in the local area, namely, the Henley High and Henley Primary School governing councils. From current and prior personal experience, it is very fair to say that those who choose to dedicate themselves to the governing council are often passionate, engaged and well-informed servants of their school communities. As a collective, we certainly owe a debt of gratitude to those willing to put their hand up to serve their community and school in that way.

However, the issue has been raised that at times there has been a hamstringing by the central controls that are in place. The bill seeks to remove those controls over school and preschool governing councils that were proposed in the previous iteration of the bill by the former Labor government. We on this side certainly believe that empowering school communities will deliver better student outcomes and result in happier and more efficient school communities.

As has been noted on a couple of occasions, this is evidenced by the removal of the provision for the minister to direct to suspend, dissolve or establish a new governing council under disciplinary circumstances. We have also introduced changes to ensure that parents or other persons responsible for children, students at school or preschool and children's centres will form a majority of members of the governing councils of that school or service. The bill also includes provisions for governing councils to have access to funds for independent legal advice when they are in dispute with the department. As noted, this was again a specific recommendation by the Debelle inquiry.

I am very fortunate to serve in the western suburbs of Adelaide. We have a fantastic area surrounding Henley Beach, with Henley Beach South, Lockleys, Kidman Park, Fulham, Fulham Gardens, West Beach and Glenelg North. It is a fantastic part of South Australia. In fact, it is so fantastic that I think we were a hidden gem for a number of years, but the population has increased in our area over the last number of years. That has meant that there are now a number of young families in the area. They have reached that point in time where their children will soon enter school. That has been raised as a concern by a couple of people and a couple of schools in regard to primary schools in the area.

From my personal experience, that is why a number of schools and governing councils have raised their support for the Marshall Liberal government's commitment to transition year 7 to high school—purely because it will allow them some extra flexibility in their existing infrastructure and classroom arrangements and also deliver outcomes in terms of learning opportunities for those year 7 students in a middle school or senior school setting. I will talk in some detail about a number of the schools in my electorate, although I will not focus too strongly on the private schools, St Michael's and St Francis'. They are both fantastic schools in their own right; in fact, we had some visitors here from St Michael's just this morning during question time.

I want to touch on a couple of things raised just recently by the member for Light in regard to the importance of VET and vocational education here in South Australia. It has been identified as a key priority of the Marshall Liberal government and is also recognised, I think, by both sides as an important area for our state moving forward, particularly given future opportunities in defence and other sectors. That is why I was very happy to attend St Michael's just last week to present the Mary Colton Award for efforts in the VET area at the school.

A young man by the name of Marco Romano, who was awarded the Mary Colton Award at St Michael's, had completed a certificate in electronics, and the school made a significant point in calling out Marco's demeanour and work ethic as being two things that were integral to his success in both the VET sector and at school. I think that is something that is sometimes overlooked; a work ethic is an incredibly important skill for our young people to understand and to have in regard to their study, whether that is in the school setting or at university. The importance of a work ethic, of setting yourself a task and working to achieve it, is a skill that is perhaps overlooked at times. There are some fantastic schools in the Colton area within the suburbs I outlined just before.

The Hon. A. Piccolo interjecting:

Mr COWDREY: They are all fantastic, absolutely. One I want to specifically mention is Fulham Gardens Primary School, a school I have had the opportunity of visiting on a number of occasions, and their special education unit. The set-up at their special education unit is quite unique in that they teach conductive education. I have been involved in the disability sector for a long time, and have relatives involved in the education sector, but conductive education was not something I knew a lot about prior to visiting Fulham Gardens Primary School.

It is an excellent program, one that sees young children with severe disabilities have the opportunity to really focus on physical, cognitive and communication development—important skills for any young person but particularly for those with severe disabilities. They are able to come into a setting where they have a number of people with similar conditions and where together they are able to work on their journey around the physical nature of what they are developing in terms of skills and communication, two critically important things.

The value of that, not just for those students involved in the program but also for the whole school community, cannot be understated. I am an advocate for young students being able to see and be educated about disability from a young age, but for them to also have the opportunity to see these young children grow and develop in an absolutely inclusive setting is something to be congratulated. I am very grateful to have the conductive education conductors, as they are called, out there working every day with the great people from the Fulham Gardens Primary School.

We also have the West Beach Primary School and we are working through with the governing council a couple of improvements at the school. They do a fantastic job of integrating with the local community around a number of different things. It is also the home of the West Beach Neighbourhood Watch, which meets there quite regularly. It is a fantastic school. They had a Christmas break-up presentation late last year that involved a number of their students and was very well received by the local community. Their oval is also well utilised by a number of local sporting groups.

St Leonards in Glenelg North is a smaller primary school but nonetheless important to the local community of Glenelg North. I was recently at the sports day, which was a fantastic day, which culminated in a relay race between the four houses of the school, and it was a race I had never seen before. They are a reception to year 7 school and the relay race involved a girl and a boy from each of the year levels, progressing from reception right up to year 7. We had the receptions to the year 7s all in one team, which I think was quite a novel event, and I quite enjoyed watching that.

Henley Primary School: we have a fantastic school down there. The principal, Shane Misso, does a fantastic job. They have just recently had some new flags delivered, which I am sure they will be raising with pride at that school. Also, at Fulham North Primary School I want to recognise Steve Marshall, for his namesake as well, which is important to raise, who recently left as the principal of Fulham North. I want to acknowledge his contribution to the school community at Fulham North Primary School. Interestingly, it is also the primary school that my wife attended, so I have a soft spot for Fulham North. Henley High has its graduation ceremony later in the week, and I believe we have a graduate of that great institution here in the member for Enfield. It is certainly a fantastic school.

The Hon. J.R. Rau: There's about three of them, I think.

Mr COWDREY: There are a number of graduates, I believe, from Henley High in the parliament: the member for Cheltenham—

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan: Chaffey.

Mr COWDREY: The member for Chaffey.

The Hon. J.R. Rau interjecting:

The Hon. D.C. van Holst Pellekaan: There's one other somewhere.

Mr COWDREY: There are a number of Henley High graduates who have gone through the parliament over time. I would also like to recognise the former member for Colton in regard to his setting up of the Mary Colton Award. I think that was an absolutely fantastic idea to recognise the contribution of Mary Colton to our great state. It is something I am very happy to continue in our local area. It pays homage to a great South Australian and is something we should be happy about, considering the plight of women's suffrage and her contribution to that.

Kidman Park Primary School—I think I will just about cover the full gamut, as some have before me as well—celebrated its 50th anniversary last year. I was lucky enough to attend that celebration with the federal education minister at the time, Mr Simon Birmingham. It was a fantastic celebration. We also went back with the education minister earlier in the year in June when they had the Crows Growing with Gratitude program being launched with Paul Seedsman and Brodie Smith. I must admit that the education minister and I were not the most popular people in the room on that occasion. The Crows players were certainly better received than we were, but that is always going to be the case.

In regard to attendance, I wanted to make specific note of the provisions contained in the bill around attendance at school. It is something that I think everybody in this house sees as a critical part of ensuring the future of our children's education. It is ensuring that they are in the classroom, so I certainly welcome the strengthened provisions around attendance and chronic truancy, including the 50 per cent increase in truancy officers employed by the department.

In regard to protecting teachers, I know that this is something that has been raised in debate previously, and I know the member for Wright touched on it in some detail. The expansion of provisions to protect teachers from abuse, both verbal and physical, is a critically important part of this legislation, and I certainly support the member for Wright's comments in that regard. Like many in this place, I have a number of friends and relatives who are teachers, and the member for Wright's comments regarding the changing nature and treatment of teachers by parents and students alike certainly rang true with me. In a digital age, sometimes abuse is not seen by anyone and the impact often does not take a physical form. With forums online and commentary available, I certainly welcome these provisions, and I am glad that they have been included around eradicating offensive behaviour towards teachers.

I also want to touch on the provisions around improved information sharing between schools, which aims to improve student outcomes. Whether a child changes schools from the private sector to the public sector, moves between schools or goes to an interstate school, regardless of the changing circumstances, it is often one of the most difficult times in any child's life. Ensuring that a student experiences continuity within their learning, with the safety and wellbeing that that provides, is absolutely essential.

The provisions in this bill to allow for and improve information sharing between schools, whether public sector or non-government, preschools and children's service centres, and the department, is absolutely necessary. I note that there are obviously provisions and safeguards involved to ensure that privacy is respected but, where we can, shifting as much information as possible to help the development of a child in regard to their learning and where they are at as an individual is absolutely critical to ensuring that our children see a high level of continuity in the education they receive.

Finally, I want to touch very briefly on something that obviously both sides agree on, that is, that the importance of education is absolutely paramount, as is respect for our teachers, as they do an incredibly important job day to day. I look forward to the coming weeks, when all members of this house will attend graduation ceremonies, award ceremonies and end-of-year festivities at each of their schools. I look forward to getting out and attending those events.

I must say that it has been a privilege to represent the local community. Each and every day, it is an absolute privilege to have greater opportunities to engage with our schools and our local communities. I thank them very much for their open invitations to attend because the connection we have as local members to our community is often focused on those over the age of 18, but communicating with those young people is just as important as communicating with those over the age of 18.

I very much appreciate the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I certainly acknowledge the Minister for Education and the work that has been done on both sides of the chamber in previous years to get us to the point of introducing this bill to the house.

Mrs POWER (Elder) (16:58): I rise in support of the Education and Children's Services Bill. The bill will modernise legislation for education and children's services, providing a contemporary framework for the delivery of high-quality children's services and compulsory education within South Australia. It is similar to and based upon a bill that was introduced by the previous government in 2017, so I acknowledge them for their contribution in beginning this work.

However, it is important to highlight that this bill goes further and incorporates the amendments on a range of matters that the Liberal Party flagged in opposition. Importantly, it also fulfils our election commitments to remove the previous government's proposed central controls over school governing councils and entrench a legal fund for governing councils in dispute with the department, as proposed in the Debelle recommendations. It also introduces legislation to deter chronic truancy.

Our children deserve access to the best schools, preschools and children's services, and the bill aims to establish the conditions necessary for teachers, parents, families and communities to work together to give our children the best start in life. Creating the conditions for teachers, parents and families to work together to give our children the best start in life is absolutely crucial. This has been reinforced to me through my recent visits to meet with principals, teachers and governing council members of the early learning, primary and secondary schools within my electorate of Elder.

Our local schools play an important part in building and shaping our community. In the seat of Elder, I have been continually impressed and inspired by our school communities. I would like to share with you some of the highlights of just a few of my local schools and in doing so you will see how committed the leadership teams, governing councils and the wider school communities are in educating our younger generations and how the bill, by empowering our school communities, will only serve to help them to deliver better outcomes for our students and have happier and more efficient school communities.

Pasadena High School, soon to be known as Springbank Secondary College, is one school that has demonstrated its resilience and flexibility over time. Under the experienced and expert stewardship of principal, Wendy House, and its governing council, chaired by the capable Jody Moate, it is a vibrant school with a clear vision and multiple pathways leading to a future for all students. Everyone in my local community is aware that Pasadena High School has been through a period of transition, and soon they will realise that this period of transition could be more accurately described as a period of transformation.

Speaking with Wendy House, I have been advised that the school's curriculum and the school's culture have been reviewed and improved. Further, in the last 18 months, staff and students at Pasadena High School have worked extremely hard to redesign and create a new school on this site. New partnerships have recently either been formed or significantly strengthened with Flinders University, the Australian Science and Mathematics School, Daws Road Centre, Basketball SA and the Sturt basketball club.

Considerable cooperative work, professional learning and exploration of rich learning and task design have occurred, as the school has developed the state's first science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics—that is, STEAM as opposed to STEM—focused secondary school. Amazing outcomes have been achieved through innovation, collaboration and creativity. Whilst the new name and school, Springbank Secondary College, will take effect from term 4 this year, the official launch will occur at the commencement of the 2019 school year.

The name is a respectful acknowledgement of the Springbank RAAF camp that operated on the school site during World War II. Westbourne Park Primary School, under the leadership of—

Mr Picton interjecting:

Mrs POWER: —your old school—well, lucky you!—principal, Julie Gallaher, and its governing council, chaired by Ben Preston, has a wonderful sense of community, tucked away in the picturesque suburb of Westbourne Park. The school is focused on the development of the whole child and recognises that its students are individuals who have a variety of talents and skills. Its leadership team, governing council, staff and ancillary staff—that is, its student support officers—work tirelessly to ensure quality education and a collaborative approach to education with parents.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my visits to this school and attending their governing council meetings. I look forward to seeing the new build at the school, with its $5 million Building Better Schools funding. I have no doubt that a school like this will thrive under the proposed Education and Children's Services Bill.

St Bernadette's School in St Marys is a beautiful local Catholic parish school, with a strong focus on nurturing confident life learners. Originally in the Colonel Light Gardens parish, this school opened in February 1952 with a student base of only 24 children. It certainly has grown since then and now includes an incredible diversity of students from a range of different cultures and heritages.

The wonderful new principal, Mr Ray Higgins, supported by governing council chair, Mr Joshua Clayton, has maintained the school values of respect, truth, love, justice and hope and encourages students to actively support a variety of charitable groups, such as the St Vincent de Paul Society. I recently visited St Bernadette's to present them with a new state flag. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to meet with the lovely students, who were kind enough to share their learnings from Science Week with me.

St Therese School is another leading Catholic primary school in my electorate, spearheaded by the principal, Amanda. St Therese recognises the importance of additional learning intervention and last year introduced a series of measures in the classroom to assist students in their learning. St Therese is a fantastic example of a school that embraces its students and strives to give the best possible opportunities in the classroom and beyond.

Edwardstown Primary School is a dynamic and caring learning community that places a great value on fostering healthy well-rounded young minds. I recently hosted Edwardstown year 6 and 7 classes on a tour of Parliament House, and I was impressed by their thoughtful questions and the very interesting discussions we had. The principal, Kathy Papps, and the school governing chair, Michael Rodenberg, have been heavily involved in fostering the school's specialised performing arts program, which gives students the opportunity to express themselves creatively in areas including music, dance and drama.

I am especially looking forward to attending the school's annual Strawberry Fair on 4 November, which is always a treat. This year, I am excited to be volunteering on a stall for the day. On this fun day, the oval and courts at the Edwardstown Primary School are transformed into a sea of colour and activity. It is, without a doubt, a marvellous day with a fantastic community feel. My local community never fail to come together to enjoy this fabulous event with their families. I would encourage anyone in their local area to come along and have a delicious strawberry pancake or whatever other delights are on offer.

Clovelly Park Primary School is a vibrant local school with a strong community focus. The principal, Mr Michael Clark, supported by the governing council chair, Ms Hayley Parker, has brought so many positive and dynamic changes to the school in recent times. The school have recently undergone a rebranding exercise and updated their school logo to reflect their fantastic inclusive values. New school signs have just been erected at the school gate, and I congratulate all of those who were involved in this exciting undertaking.

Clovelly Park Primary School also affords those students the opportunity to participate in a national performing arts festival, where students and staff create a story/dance that reflects students' thoughts, ideas and aspirations. The students perform this at the Entertainment Centre each year, and it is a fabulous way for the children to express their creativity.

I have also spent time touring and visiting some of the local early learning centres and preschools within the seat of Elder. We know that the emotional, social and physical development of young children is linked with their growth and will help shape the adults they become. The effort and devotion of those who work in early learning with a whole child approach is commendable. It is hard work and often underappreciated. We know now that early learning is one of the most important factors in maximising children's future wellbeing, and I sincerely congratulate all the local educators on their excellent work in this area.

On all my school visits—and I have mentioned only a few of my local schools today, with others already being spoken about in this house at other times—I was so impressed by the teaching and support staff, who demonstrated their dedication to educating our children, not just focusing on the Australian Curriculum but also teaching our children and young people about respect, integrity, inclusiveness, creativity and caring for your community. These life skills help teach our students how they can contribute to their community. It helps develop strong and cohesive relationships and encourages our future generation to get involved within the broader school community.

I am proud to be part of a government that is making the educational needs of South Australian students a priority. The Marshall Liberal government is absolutely committed to improving the education outcomes for all students in South Australia, and we have demonstrated our commitment in terms of not only legislative reforms but also monetary terms, with the recent state budget showing a record investment in education. In fact, $515 million more will be spent on education in 2021-22 compared with last year.

We have committed to implementing a comprehensive program to improve literacy and numeracy outcomes for all students, and the benefit will be most profound for those students with dyslexia and other learning difficulties. The Marshall Liberal government has made the commitment to ensure that students across South Australia have the intercultural capability they need to succeed in the increasingly globalised world in which we all live by reinvigorating some of the languages in some of our South Australian schools.

We are also committed to ensuring the mental and emotional wellbeing of our children. We will protect our children by taking serious action to tackle bullying in our schools. As a government, we are also supportive of strong measures to protect students, teachers and other staff acting in the course of their duties from offensive behaviour or the use of abusive, threatening or insulting language, as this bill demonstrates.

Our teaching and school leadership staff do an absolutely incredible job in educating and shaping our younger generations, and they deserve safe learning and working environments. This bill specifically includes provisions to suspend, exclude or expel a student from a school if a student has perpetrated violence, acted illegally or persistently interfered with the ability of a teacher to conduct their lessons.

Other aspects of this bill worthy of note include employment provisions for staff. Staff employed within our schools, preschools and children's services are integral in providing high-quality education services to South Australian children. Staff work tirelessly to understand and respond to the learning, wellbeing and safety needs of all children in order to provide them with the best opportunity to succeed. This bill brings together and strengthens the employment provisions for teachers and support workers in government schools, preschools and children's services under a single act.

This bill also includes a number of provisions for improved information sharing between government and non-government schools, preschools, children's services centres and the department where necessary to support their education, health, safety, welfare or wellbeing of a child. Ensuring that a student experiences continuity with their learning, safety and wellbeing is vitally important in providing a high-quality education service and experience.

When a child is transferring between schools, this bill provides for the principle of the enrolling school to request information from the previous school about the child's academic progress and any support the child might require to be successful in their learning in the future. This bill also includes important safeguards to protect personal information from unauthorised disclosure or misuse.

In my electorate, I am committed to assisting all the local schools, students, parents and carers to help each student achieve their full potential. I believe that all South Australian children and teenagers deserve the opportunity to access high-quality education. I know that the dedicated and hardworking education staff in our local schools deserve proper investment and legislation, such as this bill, to help them deliver quality education outcomes.

I will continue to work hard over the coming months and years to ensure that these commitments are implemented in the best possible way for all the people living in the seat of Elder and across South Australia. Education and our local schools are two of the most important pillars of our community. I commend the schools in the seat of Elder and across our state. I commend the people who work and volunteer to make our school communities great. I commend our Minister for Education for bringing this important work to this house, and I commend this bill to the house.

Dr HARVEY (Newland) (17:15): Today, I am very pleased to rise in support of the Education and Children's Services Bill 2018. As many of us have reflected here in this place, education is incredibly important. It is really the basis for empowering the next generation to be able to take on the world and pursue whatever pathway they wish. They need those skills, and our schools are the places where the vast majority of those skills are acquired.

I would also like to say that one of my favourite community events to participate in is attending local school events and activities as a local MP. To be involved in local activities where you have students, sometimes quite young students, who have completely committed themselves to whatever activity it is—whether it is some kind of art show, a science exhibition or even a sports day—is very energising.

This bill ultimately seeks to modernise the legislation for education, children's services and compulsory education within South Australia. The bill is based on a similar bill introduced by the previous government in 2017, but it differs in that it incorporates amendments that relate to a range of proposals put forward by the Liberal Party when in opposition. In particular, the bill fulfils the Marshall Liberal government's election commitments to remove the previous government's controls over schools' governing councils. It entrenches a legal fund for governing councils in dispute with the department and will introduce legislation to increase fines to deter chronic truancy.

In addition to these, the other key areas of reform include the rules governing committee membership for promotions, reclassifications and amalgamations; some clarification around religious and cultural activities; changes to the rules to strengthen protections for the safety of students and staff at school; and improved information sharing. The bill repeals and replaces the Education Act 1972 and the Children's Services Act 1985, which have obviously been around for a very long time. Other members have reflected on how that relates to their own schooling. In my case, 1985 being the year that I was born, it suggests to me that these bills are well and truly in line and due for some updating.

We are establishing a contemporary legislative framework for the delivery of high-quality education and children's services in South Australia, and we will establish the right conditions to enable teachers, parents, families and communities to work together to give our children the best possible start in life. One of the key areas in which we are looking at change is in and around governing councils.

I have been fortunate to have visited and be part of the vast majority of governing councils in my electorate. I have really been impressed, in some cases, by the number of parents who have put themselves forward. The energy of those parents and the commitment that they have shown to their schools is really quite incredible. It is quite heartening, too, when you broadly see that a lot of community groups are often struggling for numbers, at least in the cases that I have seen, but there do seem to be very strong numbers of people in governing councils, which I think is very positive.

In particular, just recently, the hard work of the Modbury High School governing council was on show. They organised a bingo night to fundraise for the new community garden that they are constructing. The project is largely driven by the acting chair, Martin Crabb, who is working with the Friends of Anstey Hill to put this garden together. The fundraising event itself was driven by the secretary, Helen Checklin. It was a fantastic night with at least 70 people in attendance. I made it onto the teachers' table. It was quite interesting. I do not think that anyone on the table had actually played bingo before, so there was quite a lot of learning going on that night on the teachers' table in terms of how bingo works, but it was a fun night.

It occurred as a result of the hard work of the governing council, and I would certainly like to acknowledge their work. This goes for so many of the other governing councils as well. Not only is participation on governing councils important for the good community-driven governance of our local schools but, at the most basic level, it is another important opportunity for parents to show their children that they are interested in and value their schooling, which has an enormous impact on how those children succeed at school.

The Marshall Liberal government believes that by empowering school communities we will deliver better student outcomes and have happier and more efficient school communities. This bill removes the central controls over school and preschool governing councils as had been proposed in the previous iteration of this bill by the former government. We have removed the provision for the minister to direct, suspend, dissolve and establish a new governing council under disciplinary circumstances, and we have introduced changes to ensure that parents and other persons responsible for children and students at schools, preschools and children's centres will form the majority of the members of the governing councils of those schools and services.

The bill also includes a provision for governing councils to access funds for independent legal advice when they are in dispute with the department, which was a specific recommendation of the Debelle royal commission. The Crown Solicitor, or a nominee of the Crown Solicitor, will make a decision as to whether a governing council's request meets the necessary requirements to be funded.

Another important proposal within the bill relates to some of the changes we are making around certain committee memberships. The Marshall government believes that the needs of schools, preschools and children's services are not best served by restricting staff membership on decision-making groups to only members of the Australian Education Union. The bill removes the exclusive rights of the Australian Education Union to nominate members of the relevant committees, as was the case in the former iteration of this bill.

This includes selection committees for promotional level positions in the teaching service, reclassifications and review committees considering the amalgamation of schools. The members of selection committees will now be appointed by the department's chief executive, and at least one member will be a person elected from the teaching service to represent them on such committees. For the purposes of the amalgamation and closure of schools, review committees will include a staff member of each school to be nominated by their respective staff.

Importantly, the bill also retains the opportunity for schools and preschools to participate in religious and cultural activities. Such activities could include, for example, a pastor coming to a school to talk about Easter, an imam explaining Ramadan or a group of students attending a community prayer breakfast. This is dealt with within the current legislation at section 102 of the Education Act; however, the bill before us today provides greater clarity around how the provision for permission to be granted exemption from religious education should work in practice.

Firstly, the bill clarifies that if a religious or cultural activity is to take place, then parents should be notified. Moreover, the bill proposes retaining the opt-out principle for families seeking that their children should be exempted. The government believes, as do I, that this opt-out mechanism is sufficient in cases where parents are concerned or object to their children being exposed to any religious or cultural activity. There is sufficient scope for them to opt out without the opposite situation occurring, which could instead make it unreasonably difficult for schools to carry out such activities.

Another key area that I touched on earlier, and a major part of our election platform in education, is in regard to school attendance and truancy. The Nyland royal commission found truancy to be a significant risk factor in child protection concerns. Moreover, there is an enormous body of work that consistently highlights a strong connection between chronic non-attendance at school and ongoing social and economic disadvantage that occurs throughout a person's life. The bill addresses the issue of truancy through multiple measures, including:

increased penalties for the parents of children who are chronically absent from school;

a broader range of measures to deal with non-attendance, including the provision for family conferencing to enable school staff and families to work in partnership to improve school attendance;

increasing the number of truancy officers by 50 per cent;

auditing attendance policies at all government schools; and

taking steps to ensure that children in out-of-home care are engaged in education.

Importantly, the bill does not include provision for the issuing of expiation notices for non-attendance as proposed by the previous government, as such expiation notices for these kinds of offences will ultimately undermine the benefits of early intervention through family conferences and support work.

As a number of others have touched on, it is absolutely essential that schools are a safe working environment and a safe environment for our students. There is absolutely no excuse or any reason at all why anyone should behave in an abusive, offensive or threatening manner at a school, regardless of who they are. It is essential that we make sure that there are strong measures in place to protect students, teachers and other staff acting in the course of their duties from such behaviour.

The bill includes the provision to suspend, exclude or expel a student from a school if the student has perpetrated violence, acted illegally or persistently interfered with the ability of a teacher to conduct their lessons. I would also like to echo some other points and indicate in my view the abhorrence of parents who likewise behave in an offensive and abusive manner towards teachers and other office staff at school.

I have heard of many examples, not necessarily in my electorate but going back over many years throughout schools right across the state. The kind of behaviour that some teachers are subjected to is quite horrifying. Ultimately, their job and what they are seeking to do is to try to help create a better future for that child. Sometimes parents do not like to hear bad news or hear of some areas that need to be addressed, but it is important for parents to listen and to try to work with teachers to ensure the best possible outcome. Other measures aimed at promoting safe learning and work environments include:

providing power for the chief executive to terminate employment of an officer of the teaching service if the officer is not a registered teacher within the meaning of the Teachers Registration and Standards Act 2004 and the Child Safety (Prohibited Persons) Act 2016;

the provision for a person to be barred from a school, preschool or children's service if that person has behaved in an offensive manner while on the premises, or threatened or insulted staff, or committed or threatened to commit any other offences on or in relation to the premises;

dealing with trespass on all schools, preschools and children's services sites;

strengthened provisions for authorised persons to deal with people behaving in an unacceptable manner on premises;

mandating working with children checks for adults returning to study at schools;

prohibiting the use of corporal punishment in all preschools and schools; and

providing a power for the chief executive to direct a child who may pose a risk to the health, safety or welfare of other students or staff to be enrolled at or attend a specific government school or program after taking reasonable steps to consult with their parent or caregiver.

Another important area I would like to raise is information sharing, particularly in the 21st century now that the means for this are a lot easier. We have also seen many examples where this information sharing could have quite significant beneficial impacts. We are ensuring that a student experiences continuity with their learning and that safety and wellbeing are important in providing a high-quality education service.

This bill includes provisions to improve information sharing between government and non-government schools, preschools, children's services and the department where necessary to support the education, health, safety, welfare and wellbeing of a child. When a child is in the process of being transferred from one school to another, the bill provides for the principal of the enrolling school to request information from the previous school about the child's academic progress and any support the child might require to be successful in their learning. The bill also includes important safeguards to protect personal information from unauthorised disclosure or misuse.

I would like to take this opportunity to commend the schools in my electorate for the outstanding work they do in educating our children. Our job in here is to back them up with a modern legislative framework that ensures that principals, teachers, parents and the community are best placed to work together to deliver the best possible education for our children into the future. In these last remaining minutes, I would like to speak more on particular examples and commend local schools.

Banksia Park International High School, for example, is a fantastic local high school that is doing a lot of really great work. It has a highly committed governing council and a very new principal, Roley Coulter, who has been at the school for quite a number of years—he started off as a music teacher, I learned earlier today. This is a school with a fantastic international program, which has enormous benefits for the local students within the school as well as visiting students. The school has worked very hard to put together a modern, state-of-the-art ICT facility that enables students to deal with quite complex graphic design projects as well as projects in photography.

Ridgehaven Primary School, which I spoke about earlier in this place, does fantastic work in a number of areas. In particular, they have a big commitment to the arts and the performing arts, and earlier this year they put together a fantastic production of Trolls. A very committed group of students, ranging from eight years of age right up to 11, did a fantastic job in the two-hour performance, remembering all their lines.

Tea Tree Gully Primary School is one of the oldest primary schools in the state, I believe, and will celebrate a 150-year anniversary in a couple of years' time. I am very much looking forward to visiting the school again soon to be a guest judge for their science show. The Modbury South Primary School and preschool, in collaboration with the Tea Tree Gully Men's Shed, recently replaced their pirate ship that had unfortunately been stolen. The Men's Shed, a fantastic local community group, built a brand-new, wooden pirate ship for the playground, which was recently opened.

I was also thrilled to be able to attend the Banksia Park primary school's dad's day a number of months ago. Those dads who could come along did come along and were part of an assembly, where I handed over some flags. It was going to be a flag-raising ceremony, but unfortunately it was raining, so it was more of a handing-over ceremony, but we got to talk about the Australian flag and the Aboriginal flag, what the symbols mean and how important the flags are to us. That was a fantastic day.

Fairview Park Primary School is right now participating in a Christmas card competition. Years 3 and 4 classes are putting together all sorts of different designs that will go on the Christmas cards I will be sending out later this year, and I look forward to seeing some fantastic examples of that work very soon.

I was also very pleased to visit the Redwood Park Primary School—not physically in my electorate but just across the road—a number of months ago during National Science Week. I had been invited by the science teacher to talk to the years 6 and 7 classes about my former career in science, the kind of work I used to do and the kind of work that scientists do. Perhaps one of the reasons I like going to schools is that, because you are only there for a short amount of time, they are engaged and listening. My own children do not tend to do that at home, but it is nice that other people's children tend to. It was a fantastic afternoon and we got to talk about science and all sorts of things.

St Agnes Primary School is another fantastic local school. I have had a bit to do with them for a number of years by presenting the Neighbourhood Watch Community Service Award. The Modbury Special School does a fantastic job supporting students who have varying degrees of disability. I am going to run out of time, so I will have to talk about these other schools on another day. I would like to commend the minister for the work that has been done on this very important bill and I commend the bill to the house.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. R. Sanderson.

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