Thursday, 23 June 2022

 Ms LOVELL (Northern Victoria) (17:32): (2011) My adjournment matter is directed to the Minister for Education, probably for the next 5 minutes, and details another example of ongoing bullying that is occurring at Greater Shepparton Secondary College. The action that I seek is for the minister to provide immediate funding to provide more wellbeing support for all students at Greater Shepparton Secondary College by appointing additional wellbeing officers at the school, including Koori welfare officers for Indigenous students. Since the amalgamation of Greater Shepparton’s four public secondary schools to create one campus at Greater Shepparton Secondary College, the new school has been plagued by many reports of bullying behaviour between students. Whether it has been while the school operated over three campuses or at the new school site that opened in January, many victims of relentless harassment and bullying and their families have contacted me unsatisfied with the school’s response to this disgusting behaviour.

A recent case of systemic bullying was reported to me by the mother of the victim, the details of which I forwarded to the minister for investigation. The mother of the victim informed me that in early March the victim endured daily racial abuse for three weeks. The victim reported the incidents to teaching staff, but no action was taken against the offender. The victim finally retaliated and was suspended for two days. Again, no action was taken against the perpetrator. The student’s mother wrote to the minister, and whilst waiting for the minister to respond, the same victim was being taunted daily by another offender, who told the victim to go and commit suicide. Again, these incidents were reported to teachers, who I am told took no action, and eventually the victim again retaliated and was again suspended, for one day. Once again, I am told, no action was taken against the offender. Heartbroken from observing their child being the victim of such disgusting behaviour, the mother was extremely distressed by the minister’s response to the bullying incident, which asserted that no such bullying had occurred.

Prior to the amalgamation of the four schools, many parents raised concerns about the probability of student bullying caused by the integration of four different student cohorts. School leaders dismissed these concerns at the time, claiming that the new Greater Shepparton Secondary College would have the resources required to support students and act decisively against bullying. This is not the case, with reports that the school employs just nine wellbeing officers to assist a cohort of 2135 students, a ratio of one wellbeing officer to approximately 300 students. Clearly the support network is completely inadequate and is not supporting victims of systemic bullying when they need it the most. There have been further reports that indicate that year 12 students are assisting in this area as peer support officers, and this is totally unacceptable. The students of Greater Shepparton college need support from the Andrews Labor government, and the minister must immediately ensure wellbeing officers are placed at the school. This includes designating welfare officers to help all students get assistance.