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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 9 Hansard (27 August) . . Page.. 2625 ..

MR STEFANIAK (continuing):

In line with the committee's recommendations, we will provide training for our school staff. This training will aim to develop and raise awareness about strong leadership, teacher competencies and curriculum issues. In fact, we are already providing programs which support teachers facing violent behaviour among students and specific training which helps teachers to manage violent behaviour. Skills in these areas are essential in providing safe school environments and in ensuring that our school staff feel as safe as our students at school. As well, the Government will emphasise to students, staff and the wider community the critical importance of maintaining safe school environments. The safe schools policy framework will soon be published. It will provide clear support and direction from the Government, the school boards, principals and staff. The framework emphasises positive student management and minimises violence and all forms of harassment. These are enhancements, provided in response and parallel to the committee's recommendations, to the many strategies we already have in place in schools to reduce the incidence of violence.

The Government supports the report on the inquiry into the prevention of violence in schools, but the emphasis, from the Government's point of view, is definitely on prevention, and we remain to some extent disappointed at the lack of specific emphasis given by the standing committee to this, the most effective tool available to address violence in schools. The many programs we already have in place and the strategies we have added and will continue to pursue in response to the report are designed to intervene early in the prevention of the difficulties that lead to violence in schools. I commend to the Assembly the Government's response to the report of the inquiry into prevention of violence in schools.

Debate (on motion by Ms Tucker) adjourned.

MR HUMPHRIES (Attorney-General) (4.11): Mr Speaker, for the information of members, I present "An Evaluation of the Proposed Trial of Restricted Liquor Trading Hours in the ACT - Stage 1: Literature Review and Scoping Study". I move:

That the Assembly takes note of the paper.

In the Assembly debate in March this year on the restricted liquor trading hours trial, the Government undertook to carry out a review of the research and literature on liquor trading hours. We also advised the Assembly that the proposed protocols for measuring the effectiveness of the trial would be tabled before such a trial went ahead, and that is what I am doing today.

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