Labor has stooped to a new low exploiting students at a government school and showing absolutely no regard for the victim.
Labor chose the same day that the Tasmanian Government released draft legislation to address bullying to leak a month old video of a school brawl to selected media.
This incident was dealt with by the school and police in November when it occurred – for Labor to try and get a headline weeks later shows a new level of desperation by Labor.
Labor didn’t bother to contact the school community to find out what happened in the lead up to the incident, or the action taken afterwards, nor did they contact the parents of the victim.
The affected students and staff were provided with support at the time and appropriate disciplinary action was taken. Tasmanian Police have indicated this was an isolated incident.
Bullying is never tolerated.
Neither should using victims to push a political agenda. It’s this sort of attention seeking behaviour by Labor that has the potential to re-traumatise people involved and stigmatise the school.
If Labor had visited the school concerned recently they would know it is providing education that is meaningful, relevant and improving employment opportunities. It has about 90 students enrolled in Years 11-12 and 15 enrolled in School Based Apprenticeships.
The Tasmanian Government is investing record amounts into education and we’ve committed $3 million over four years for anti-bullying programs run in consultation with highly regarded organisations such as the Alannah and Madeline Foundation.
This year for the first time the Department of Education also released a Wellbeing Strategy that places young Tasmanians at the forefront of our efforts to improve wellbeing for students, and this investment builds on our commitment to combat bullying and cyber bullying.
We will continue to work positively with schools on ways to deal with bullying. It’s time Labor did the same.
More Media Releases from Jeremy Rockliff
More Media Releases from the Minister for Education and Training