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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1996 Week 13 Hansard (4 December) . . Page.. 4353 ..

MR MOORE (continuing):

This is an important step which effectively legitimises a practice that is already largely in place, and I think it will make a major contribution to a move to ensure that we have less violence in our society.

Debate (on motion by Mr Stefaniak) adjourned.

MR MOORE (10.43): I present the Education (Amendment) Bill 1996.

Title read by Clerk.

MR MOORE: I move:

That this Bill be agreed to in principle.

The speech I made on the Schools Authority (Amendment) Bill applies equally to this legislation. There is a difference, in that the Schools Authority (Amendment) Bill applies basically to government schools; whereas the Education (Amendment) Bill 1996 applies primarily to private schools, but it does have an impact on government schools, in that it removes the protection of in loco parentis as it applies to somebody who uses corporal punishment as a method of discipline. It also seeks to ensure that schools have a disciplinary policy implemented which precludes corporal punishment, using a similar technique to that implemented in New South Wales.

It will mean that schools will not be able either to get provisional registration or to be registered if they do not have a disciplinary policy implemented at the school which precludes corporal punishment. The prime method we have of dealing with private schools in Canberra is through the registration procedure, and I think this is an appropriate way to deal with it. Similarly, even apart from the registration process, in terms of setting a tone in schools, we also have the ability to ensure that, if staff have used corporal punishment, they cannot use as a defence that they were acting in loco parentis.

There is one other factor in the legislation that I would like to draw to members' attention. A staff member who uses physical effort to defend themselves from an attack will not be covered by this legislation. It will still be legitimate for a teacher to defend themselves, and I think that is entirely appropriate. This legislation is really about setting a tone that violence is unacceptable in our society, that it is an unacceptable way of resolving problems, that it is an unacceptable way of people dealing with each other. I commend it to the Assembly.

Debate (on motion by Mr Stefaniak) adjourned.

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