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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 10 Hansard (5 September) . . Page.. 3118 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

I was very surprised that the Government response was quite critical of the committee's work for what appears to be a rather inconsistent rationale. On the one hand they accept the committee's acknowledgment that violence is a complex issue and there are no quick fix solutions, but on the other hand they seem to criticise the committee for going too broadly. Mr Stefaniak said in his presentation speech that the committee seemed confused. He implied that this confusion arose because the committee did not understand the complex factors that lead to violence in schools, and that violence in schools cannot be separated from the broader issues of violence; but a bit later in his speech he went on to say that the Government agreed with the committee on the breadth and the diversity of factors leading to violence in schools. Mr Speaker, the committee went to great pains to examine the issue of violence in a broad fashion. It appears to be the Government that is taking the more simplistic approach by failing to acknowledge the importance of issues such as equity, the need for a comprehensive strategy for the provision and publicity of family support services and parent education, the need for more alternative models of education and the need for increased teacher training and support.

The fact is that a number of the recommendations in this report are consistent with the reports of other committees that have looked at violence, including the House of Representatives report on violence in Australian schools entitled Sticks and Stones. That committee did a lot of work, as did ours, and it is a credit to the secretary, Judith Henderson, that our report was so thorough. The Sticks and Stones report highlighted the need for intervention strategies at the earliest levels of schooling. It also contained a large section on the role of the family and the need for adequate family support services, in particular, preventative support services.

The National Committee on Violence also directed several recommendations towards assisting parents in developing non-violent means of discipline. The National Committee on Violence also recommended that corporal punishment should be banned by law in all schools, public and private. I am not only disappointed in the Government's response to this issue; I am also surprised at Labor's reaction as well, particularly as it was a recommendation of the prevention of violence in schools report. The Government quite strongly criticises the committee for acknowledging the links between equity and violence. I have to say again that the National Committee on Violence report stated explicitly that both victims and offenders of violence are drawn from the most disadvantaged socioeconomic groups. If school-based management can lead to a two-tiered schooling system, and it certainly has in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, it is quite legitimate for this committee to have asked the Government to examine very clearly its own proposals for school-based management and to identify any concerns there might be for equity implications in their model.

I would also like to say that the committee does acknowledge the important work that is taking place in some schools and in some areas of the department. In particular, we acknowledge that the Government is piloting a package of materials to address the issue of gender and violence in schools, and programs such as SCOPE - safe cooperative play environments. However, I have to comment about that. It is good resource material, but if that is not supported by a whole school approach with training it is not going to be a lot of use to teachers who are already very stretched. It was quite clear in the evidence we received that a whole school approach is really important. In fact, a systemic approach that is consistent is very important too. When you have students

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