Tuesday, 3 March 2026

 Bev McARTHUR (Western Victoria) (21:30): (2367) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Education and concerns the school bus safety crisis in Greater Geelong. Weeks ago I raised concerns about overcrowded buses, students standing at highway speeds and suburbs like Fyansford with no workable service. Since then a year 8 student has fractured his jaw and damaged his teeth after falling when a high-speed bus braked suddenly. St Joseph’s College principal Tony Paatsch confirmed up to 20 students are standing in aisles when travelling at 80 to 100 kilometres an hour and said:

While that’s legal, we don’t believe that’s safe.

Parents report children sitting in stairwells. In Lara students are left stranded. In Fyansford families have no service. For over 10 days the department has ignored a proposed route adjustment to prevent students standing on buses travelling at 100 kilometres an hour. Both Mr Paatsch and Clonard College principal Luci Quinn are now calling for a full overhaul. Mayor of Greater Geelong Stretch Kontelj has written to the minister seeking immediate action, describing a ‘systematic failure’. Yet the Labor member for Geelong Christine Couzens responded by saying:

I think the mayor needs to focus on local government; there are plenty of issues he needs to deal with … let the state government get on with its processes of a review.

Meanwhile children are getting injured. That comment is astonishing and profoundly out of touch. At a time when a child has suffered a fractured jaw, when students are standing at highway speeds and when parents are pleading for urgent intervention, to tell the mayor to ‘focus on local government’ is dismissive and complacent. Worse still, schools do not appear to know about the review. Who is conducting it, who commissioned it and how is it taking place? Principal Paatsch has said:

The schools want to contribute … we would love to be able to have our voice heard in that debate.

The action I seek is for the minister to immediately direct the department to implement urgent interim capacity increases on the worst affected routes, prohibit standing on high-speed regional school buses and take his colleague the member for Geelong to meet principals and affected families within the next fortnight. He should then report back to this house with a clear timetable for change. Minister, our students are standing at 100 kilometres an hour. They cannot afford to wait for your department to sit on its hands.