Page 383 - Week 02 - Tuesday, 19 February 2019
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They are able to do this because of the work of our very hardworking Minister for Education and Childhood Development. It is this minister who fights for and delivers so much for our education sector.
The results speak for themselves. Our public education sector is first class and helps to prepare our students for the new world that is emerging. In my capacity as the Minister assisting the Chief Minister on Advanced Technology and Space Industries, I meet with academics across a range of fields and, time after time, I have heard stories of the inspirational things occurring in our public schools, how our students are some of the best prepared in STEM and other fields.
To all the hardworking teachers, I want to say thank you, and I commend this bill to the Assembly.
MS CHEYNE (Ginninderra) (11.26): I am also pleased to contribute to the debate on the Education (Child Safety in Schools) Legislation Amendment Bill 2018. While we will be hearing about the specifics of the amendments, I would like to speak about child safety more broadly, and I will also reflect on some of the important points raised in the explanatory statement.
As a human rights jurisdiction, the ACT is committed to protecting the rights of children and young people, including their right to special protection because of their vulnerability to exploitation and abuse. The issue has been highlighted with respect to family safety and child sexual abuse in a number of recent reports that my colleagues have touched on, including the Report of the inquiry: review into the system level responses to family violence in the ACT by Laurie Glanfield AM, the Review of domestic and family violence deaths in the ACT by the Domestic Violence Prevention Council, and, of course, the very important final report of the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
The ACT government has responded strongly to the royal commission, in particular, and committed to addressing each and every recommendation from the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse. As a provider of services to children and as a maker of public policy, the ACT government acknowledges its responsibility to ensure that children are properly cared for, and to protect them from violence, abuse and neglect by institutions who look after them.
The bill that was introduced by the Minister for Education and Early Childhood Development in November last year enhances the safety and protection of children and young people in our schools. I want to take a moment to acknowledge the minister for her strong leadership in this portfolio, for stepping up on important principles, and for taking mature, measured action, particularly in this area, where it is more than warranted.
When parents and carers send their children and young people to schools in the ACTÂ they want to know that they are protected and that they are safe. They want to know that our schools are doing everything they can to meet the child safe standards. They want to know that teachers meet the appropriate registration requirements to be working with their children. They want to know that those who register our teachers
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