Page 520 - Week 02 - Wednesday, 20 February 2019
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Predictably, any time the Canberra Liberals raise concerns with this government, those opposite immediately pretend that we are somehow criticising the good women and men who work hard to deliver excellence in their professions. It is important, therefore, that I repeat what the parents of this family shared with me about the teachers at their son’s school. They said these teachers are fantastic, hardworking and skilled. This is not a failure in any way of teachers, teaching assistants or other front-line workers. They, like the kids themselves, are the real victims of this government’s failure to keep our schools safe.
Every student and teacher deserves to be safe in ACT schools. I say that as a mother whose five children have all attended these schools. The sad reality, however, is that kids in more than one school are not safe, and the appalling lack of data kept by this government means that we currently have only a vague sense of this problem based upon the personal experiences of the families that are now coming forward. As parents choose to speak out, I have no doubt that others will find the courage to join them, and the extent of the problem will become clearer.
The real solution is to first acknowledge that the problem exists. Those opposite frequently talk about the impacts of trauma on children and young people, and the need to intervene early and provide the supports necessary to stop and reverse the impacts of this trauma. If they are serious, they will agree to establish an independent inquiry to assess the trauma-causing violence that is occurring in our schools. The family whose story I shared today no longer have any faith that this government will take this important step. I hope that this Assembly will today prove them wrong.
MR WALL (Brindabella) (4.56), in reply: We have heard some powerful stories this afternoon of experiences that kids and parents are having to deal with on a daily basis in a number of schools. The minister stated in her initial speech that she has never refused to take action, but for those who are living through this on a daily basis, nothing seems to be changing.
The minister painted a picture of a school system that sounds like an educational utopia, but this is not the lived reality of those parents or those children that are confronting serious violence, bullying and harassment in their classrooms on a frequent basis. We heard the minister in her prepared speech, very well rehearsed and versed in the statistics and the philosophy of how things should be changing and how they should be improving. That does not measure up to what is happening in the classrooms in our schools.
The philosophy that the minister highlights is to put children in charge of their learning, but this is not delivering us well-rounded individuals. We are talking about primary-school-age children—children as young as five. I am a parent, as many members here are. Our daughter started kindergarten this year. I can tell you for a fact that if I put her in charge of her own destiny on a daily basis I would struggle to get her to school with underpants on, most days. Our job as parents is, first and foremost, to make sure that we are preparing our children to be capable and competent adults by the time they finish school.
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