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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4351 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

The National Association for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect, NAPCAN, advised the National Committee on Violence that the effect of corporal punishment on students can remain with them into their adult life, when violence can be used against their own children as a disciplinary measure or as a means of resolving conflicts with other adults. Recommendation 33 of the report states:

Corporal punishment in all schools, public and private, should be prohibited by law.

This legislation deals with government schools and the second piece of legislation to be introduced deals with private schools. Violence is not the way to solve problems, and the fact that we sit here in this chamber is testimony to our society and the fact that we appreciate non-violent ways of resolving problems. Contrast that with so many nations in the world that do resort to violent measures to resolve differences.

Remember that often in schools the inappropriate behaviour of a student is inappropriate only because of laws or rules imposed by the principal or staff to keep control and to maintain what those people see as compulsory respect. We all know that respect is earned, never gained simply because of someone being a teacher or a principal. The behaviour is often bad because a staff member sees it as bad, often because it is annoying, distracting or takes away from what should be done in the class at that time. This does not warrant a punishment of physical violence under any circumstances. I am sure that everyone has experienced in their lives at school the situation where students have been dealt with with excessive punishment. In those olden days, canes and straps were commonplace. Some here will say, "It did me no harm", to which I can reply, "Are you sure?".

Mr Osborne: Look at Mr Osborne.

MR MOORE: Mr Osborne takes the next few words of my speech: "Look at you now"; but Mr Osborne interjects and says, "Look at Mr Osborne". Indeed, that is a good example; but I cannot apply that to Mr Osborne without applying it equally to myself as being a recipient of a significant amount of corporal punishment. I think it is important to draw attention to the fact that we do not even allow corporal punishment of adults after a full process of the legal system, with appeal. Why, then, would we allow corporal punishment as a summary measure in any of our schools?

We need adult role models capable of providing non-violent ways of dealing with problems. To achieve this, we may need more support in schools and in general society to enable people to feel confident with non-violent forms of punishment. This does not mean that we need less discipline in our schools. I am very comfortable with the notion of some schools saying that they want to have more discipline. Indeed, they can do that, and the vast majority of schools in the ACT are achieving quite significant improvements in discipline processes without using corporal punishment. The Education Minister, Mr Stefaniak, obviously agrees with this. He said in a recent press release relating to the safe schools policy framework:

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