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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2025-09-18 Daily Xml
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Education and Children's Services (Inclusive Education) Amendment Bill

Second Reading

Adjourned debate on second reading.

(Continued from 17 September 2025.)

Mr TELFER (Flinders) (12:51): I rise and indicate I am the lead speaker on this on behalf of the shadow education minister in the other place. Can I just indicate that I am sure in the other place there will be some even more robust discussion and questions on this bill.

The Education and Children's Services (Inclusive Education) Amendment Bill 2025 really stems from responding to the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. It is a response, obviously, from an education perspective, which aims to improve inclusive education in South Australia and South Australian schools by, firstly, removing discriminatory enrolment practices and, secondly, increasing transparency in disciplinary actions.

I indicate that the opposition support the bill, but certainly there are some aspects we will be seeking some clarity on during the committee stage and in between the houses and then in the upper house, particularly on the implementation, privacy arrangements and support mechanisms within the bill.

I note that the purposes of the bill—to reflect on those key recommendations from the disability royal commission—are to strengthen protections for students with disability by ensuring they are not unfairly excluded from mainstream education; to promote inclusive education across government and non-government schools, aligning with national and international standards; to ensure accountability through mandatory annual reporting on enrolment, refusals, cancellations and disciplinary actions involving students with disability; and to increase transparency by requiring non-government schools to publish their suspension and expulsion policies and align them with government school standards.

Indeed we do on this side welcome the alignment with the Disability Discrimination Act and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. We also acknowledge the inclusion of non-government schools, and we think it is a really important aspect to ensure that there is consistency and transparency across all sectors of education in South Australia and the confidence which that brings.

We believe this bill is a positive step towards equity but we also recognise the need for there to be careful implementation and also to ensure that there is appropriate and adequate support for schools that will have to deal with this extra obligation which stems from this legislation in particular. I indicate that we will unpack a bit at the committee stage, and I would suggest that in the upper house there will be some areas where we have concerns but also considerations that we will ask questions about.

Firstly, it is around the administrative burden. This bill introduces some new reporting obligations for school principals and, without adequate support, this could potentially divert time and resources away from teaching and student support. We need to ensure, when making decisions in this place, that schools have streamlined systems, they have templates, and they have that lead time to be able to comply effectively with what they are being asked and obligated to do.

There are also some considerations we will be putting forward around behaviour versus disability. The differentiation between behavioural issues and disability-related behaviours is a challenge in this space in particular. It is complex and I reflect on some of the contributions that have already been made on this bill. It must be a focus and, once again, there need to be clear guidelines, and also the capacity to have professional development in this space to be able to avoid both the underaddressing of disruptive behaviour and also the unintentional discrimination against students with a disability.

We are reflecting on the importance of the capacity for independent schools to continue to have their autonomy, and operational autonomy in particular. As I said, we support the overall sector having the same sorts of guidelines in place and recognise that it is really important, but there does need to be consideration of flexibility in the implementation, I believe, to ensure that compliance does not compromise that independence or that educational philosophy.

There are questions both from the opposition but also from the sector around there being genuine capacity constraints when there are limitations in accepting students due to existing staffing, infrastructure or specialist support. As someone coming from a regional area, I know there are different resourcing challenges faced by regional schools as well.

There are also some questions that we have around privacy and data protection because this bill includes the requirement for pretty detailed reporting, but we need to ensure that student privacy is protected and that data is de-identified, and ensure that there are secure protocols in place, really, to be able to comply with privacy laws and maintain trust. So in indicating that the opposition supports the premise, the motivation, the basis for this bill, we certainly have some areas where I will be seeking some clarity from the minister as we unpack the different aspects in the committee stage, to ensure that there is not either a short-term or ongoing administrative burden on schools, and that there is clarity and transparency about the expectations that this legislation puts on schools.

I think, if we get the balance right, there is a really exciting opportunity for us to ensure that there is not a level of discrimination within our schools, something which should absolutely be avoided when it comes to ensuring that there is a safe place for children with disability in their learning. We know there are some real nuances and some challenges that come with that, but there are some really rewarding stories. In conversations with schools around my electorate, it is always encouraging and rewarding to see when this is done well in schools.

This legislation really does legislate some of the protections which I am sure we have been striving for forever when it comes to education, especially in this space. We need to make sure we get the balance right and I look forward to being able to unpack that a little bit through the committee stage of the consideration of this legislation.

Mrs PEARCE (King) (12:59): Today we take another step towards building a fairer, more inclusive education system, because when we remove barriers and provide the right supports, students with disabilities—I seek leave to continue my remarks.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.

Sitting suspended from 13:00 to 14:00.

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