Page 518 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 2019
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I am very distressed to hear some of the stories that Mr Parton has told in the Assembly today. Some of them I had not been aware of, and I ask him to please direct these people to my office so that I can understand the issues and make sure that they are supported. Bringing them into the chamber and describing them here is not doing those families, or those children, any good. I will absolutely meet with the individuals in these circumstances; I am happy to. To suggest that I would not is unfair. Again it is grandstanding in this place over such a serious issue.
Bullying and violence in schools absolutely should not happen. It upsets me greatly every time I hear about an individual, whether they have been the victim or whether they have been the perpetrator. For the victim, for those families, with respect to the distress that they feel and the fear that they have for their children, I completely understand it. For the perpetrator of that violence, those parents, too, are tearing themselves up inside for what their children have done.
Ensuring that the supports in schools exist is absolutely what I am focused on. I am very sorry to hear that students are still experiencing bullying and violence in our schools. Unfortunately, it is something that our community needs to tackle. It is a big issue. We are experiencing violence, bullying and intimidating behaviour across our community. Yesterday I had an email from a parent who was being intimidated, bullied and threatened with violence on a sports field, with young children playing sport.
This is not an issue that is confined to schools. It should not be happening everywhere, and I take every one of those complaints very carefully. I consider them, I ask for a great amount of detail on them and I ask the directorate to respond.
The appropriate place for those to be elevated if the parents are unsatisfied with that response is to my office, and I ask them to please do that. I ask the opposition, if they hear from people who have not been in touch with my office or the directorate, to tell them to please get in touch so that we can find out what is going on and address it, rather than doing so after it is raised here in the chamber.
I am, as I said, absolutely committed to getting to the bottom of what happened at Theodore. If there are issues in other schools then I would like to understand what has happened in those places as well, and make sure that families of all children—perpetrators of violence, children who have been victims of violence, and families and teachers as well—are properly supported, and to ensure that that support happens in an ongoing and consistent way that changes the culture in our school communities so that they are safe and inclusive communities for everybody who attends: young people, schoolteachers, parents, carers, grandparents, and everyone. They absolutely should be safe places.
I thank members for giving me the chance to speak again on this motion. Many people in this place are parents and have had children, or have children still, attending school. It is very important that we work closely together to address this matter so that we have happy, safe and inclusive school communities in the ACT.
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