Page 924 - Week 03 - Thursday, 21 March 2019
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have signed that petition and parents across all our schools that I do not take this situation lightly and that I am taking it very seriously. That is why I have set up the advisory group to advise me on a constructive way forward and to ensure all the systems that we have in place have been informed by experts. These are systems that have been implemented all over the world. The research backs in that these are the best systems to have it place.
I understand that at the breakfast that Mr Coe and Ms Lee attended this morning, the independent schools agreed with the systems that we have in place as being the best trauma-informed approaches to our schools. Now, as I say that, I understand that there are incidences of bullying and violence in our schools. Overwhelmingly, they are safe and supportive places. However, violence and bullying do, of course, occur in our schools. It is unacceptable anywhere. It is unacceptable in our workplaces, it is unacceptable in our community and it is most definitely unacceptable in our schools. Our community should expect that when their children go to school they should be safe and they should be supported if violence or bullying does occur.
I understand how affected families feel when bullying or violence does occur in respect of their children and how helpless they feel during those situations. I also understand that for families whose children have been the bullies or who have perpetrated violence, they are also tearing themselves up inside at the decisions that their children have made to commit violence or bullying at school. That is why I have set up this group of experts to advise me about what is the best way forward. Are these systems that the experts tell me, that the independent and Catholic schools tell me, are the best systems to have in place working well enough and how can we make them better?
Unfortunately, Madam Speaker, I cannot imagine a world where bullying and violence will not occur. It is occurring across the world as we speak. But we need to work harder across our communities and I am committed to making sure that we do better within our school communities to continue to build a strong, supportive and inclusive culture so that every child and family feels safe, that every teacher and school leader is supported appropriately.
I have said that the advisory group will be under the reference group. This is all available online. I encourage people to have a look at the reference group and the eminent people who are on this advisory group who will advise me. They are able to, and they will, look at case studies of situations that have occurred. If they feel they need to interview individuals who have been affected by bullying and violence, I will leave it up to the group to decide whether that is appropriate and helps inform their work. But I have never thought that an independent inquiry was a constructive way forward, particularly in the public domain.
I accept that an inquiry of sorts should be conducted. It should be conducted respectfully and take into account what is appropriate in the public interest. It should not be, as Mr Parton says, a finger pointing, witch-hunting exercise. That is the last thing we want to see in our school communities because I know that parents, families and schools are enormously proud. The last thing they want is any kind of marks on their school or any suggestion that their school is anything other than great.
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