Wednesday, 17 May 2023

Motions

Safe Schools

Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Education, Minister for Women) (12:02): I move:

That this house affirms its support for the Safe Schools program and acknowledges that it critically:

(1) supports the well-being of all young people; and

(2) provides valuable resources and support for teachers to foster an inclusive learning environment where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential.

I would like to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land that we are meeting on and pay my respects to their elders past and present and extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders listening in today. I recognise the resistance and the resilience of the LGBTI community within the Aboriginal and Torres Strait peoples, who have always been present on unceded Aboriginal land. This includes the leadership of the Victorian commissioner for LGBTIQ+ communities Todd Fernando, a strong advocate for the rights and wellbeing of these communities. I want to especially thank Todd for his work in co-chairing the Department of Education’s LGBTI education reference group along with the member for Eltham, Vicki Ward. Your advice and leadership are deeply appreciated.

Every day, but especially today, 17 May, IDAHOBIT, the international day against LGBTIQ+ discrimination, we stand with all Victorians for the LGBTI community. Equality, inclusivity and safety are not negotiable here in Victoria. Today is also my niece’s birthday – 16-year-old Tara. She is a warrior defender of the LGBTI community in her school, and I could not be prouder of her.

This day also falls during Education Week, when we are celebrating Victoria’s students, teachers and educators, so a big shout-out to all the LGBTI students, staff and families. As Minister for Education, it is a priority to ensure that you feel heard, safe, respected and seen in celebrating Victoria’s education system this week.

IDAHOBIT is the anniversary of 17 May 1990, when the World Health Organization removed homosexuality from the classifications of diseases, and it is hard to think that it was only in 1990 that that changed. We celebrate and remember these advancements towards LGBTIQ+ equality, but it is also a day for us to reflect on what we need to do better to support our communities. I am not sure if they are capable of doing so, but I hope those opposite are using today as an opportunity to consider the serious harm their back-bending to bigots does to the Victorian community. I know as Minister for Education and I know that every time –

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, considering the importance of this issue, I would ask you to bring the minister back to the debate before the house. This is an important issue, and I am sure that the whole house supports the sentiment of it. Disgracing herself by talking otherwise is disappointing.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The point of order is no point of order. The minister to continue on the motion before us, and all will have chances to make their contributions.

Natalie HUTCHINS: I have had the opportunity to visit close to 200 schools since coming into this role. I know that every time those in the other place raise issues of absolute hatred and discrimination against this community, there is so much work that our Safe Schools teams across our schools need to do. They need to step up to ensure that schools are prepared to wrap around our students and our teachers who are experiencing negativity in their communities. Simply because those opposite cannot show some human leadership and stand up for the LGBTI community and our staff, we must constantly be vigilant in making sure we are supporting students to deal with unfortunate events of political football-making and media circuses that go on in commentary around diversity in our community.

Whilst the Leader of the Opposition would like to think that divisions are now a thing of the past, they are real and live issues that are carried on and being talked about today. Really what we need to do is make sure that our kids feel safe in their education. Some of those in the other place, as recently as June last year, said:

We need the three Rs, not affirmation …

That is a real sign of absolute disrespect. There are some in the other place who are espousing and supporting the views of Ron DeSantis and his legislation regarding state indoctrination. Any assertion that making our classrooms safer for our children and our teachers is indoctrination, one would assume, is not just a political line for those who aspire to be in government.

Not just today but every day our government is proud to stand with the LGBTI community. To our students, our teachers and our staff, all Victorian students have a right to equitableness and excellence in their education. I know students cannot learn effectively if they are being bullied or harassed or they feel unsafe. That is why we continue to invest in the evidence-based Safe Schools program. Delivered by the Department of Education, Safe Schools helps teachers, educators and school leaders respond to children and young people within their care with compassion and the respect that they deserve in their school environments. I am very proud of the teams that deliver this program across our school system.

Safe Schools was borne out of the need identified by school communities, by parents and by teachers for greater support for LGBTIQ+ students, who are statistically at higher risk of being bullied and of suffering poor mental health, and who are at much higher risk of suicide. A safe and inclusive environment is key to tackling bullying and harassment and preventing suicide and self-harm. The Safe Schools team provides schools with professional learning for school staff about creating more inclusive classrooms; support to prevent and respond to bullying incidents impacting LGBTIQ+ students; adopting a whole-school approach to preventing discrimination, harassment and bullying; support to review school policies and practices; development of school-led activities to create positive and inclusive change, which I have seen as I have walked around schools; consultation, advice and resources to support individual students; networking and linkages to evidence-based information resources; and local support for kids to be able to reach out where they need it, even outside the school environment. Schools determine what their needs are, what their resources should be and how best to meet them in their community. Huge thanks go out to that Safe Schools team and all of the teachers who are helping to implement this absolutely game-changing program. On any visit to a school, I can see it on obvious display, whether it be my old high school of Buckley Park, where Safe Schools posters were displayed across the school with pride, or Copperfield secondary college in my own electorate, where Safe Schools has become a part of the school agenda, with posters, support for students, professional training and of course the big day that they have every year celebrating Wear it Purple Day.

The Andrews government is investing in evidence-based school mental health and wellbeing programs and supports to ensure kids have access to the mental health tools they need to thrive at school and as they go through life’s changes and choices. The full schools mental health menu is online, and it is a list of 56 evidence-based programs and initiatives designed to give schools confidence to identify programs, staff and resources to improve mental health and wellbeing for all of their students. It also enables schools to select mental health tools that best match the unique needs of their student cohorts. This is the first such program out of any state or territory in this country. And these evidence-based programs include Minus18, the LGBTIQ+ inclusion workshop for students. Schools can fund general student workshops for all secondary school students covering diversity and respect for peers, exploring ways and actions to safely support the LGBTI community in their school. Additionally, schools can organise events, such as Pride events, to support young people to explore the challenges, access support and stay connected within their own school community.

Over $600 million has been invested in our children’s and young people’s mental health in schools, the single biggest investment in Australia’s history. This includes $200 million invested that delivers on the key recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System across all government primary and secondary schools, and the Andrews Labor government is making sure that kids from foundation year through to year 12 have access to a full suite of mental health tools and thrive at school. It is such important work, and our investment in supporting inclusive and safe environments for LGBTI students does not stop there.

The $51 million mental health practitioners initiative provides funding for all government schools and specialist schools to employ a practitioner between one and five days a week based on their size and their requirements at that school. It has been fully rolled out since 2021. The practitioners are often counsellors and offer early intervention services. They support students with complex needs and deliver whole-of-school mental health promotion and prevention activities. These are the sorts of investments that this government is making that will continue to bloom for many years. We will see fantastic, outstanding results in the improvement of the wellbeing of our students.

The mental health in primary schools program is also central to the government’s investment in supporting wellbeing and inclusion, and a $200 million investment is bringing this program to life by expanding it to all government schools and low fee-paying non-government primary schools in Victoria. It will be across every school by 2026. Building on a successful pilot in 100 primary schools, every school will employ a mental health and wellbeing leader to implement a whole-of-school approach to wellbeing. This will support individual students and help teachers identify and support those kids at risk. Unfortunately, suicide amongst our young people is still such a significant issue and, quite frankly, is affecting so many families and regions across our state. We know that a child’s mental health and wellbeing is crucial to their learning and development, and good mental health means children have a positive sense of identity and belonging and can cope with challenges as they arise. Mental health and wellbeing leaders are important in embedding these principles, programs and initiatives across our schools.

I cannot stand here and talk about the need for respect for the LGBTI community without touching on Respectful Relationships and the support that is rolling out across our schools and early childhood settings in regard to a model that is based on respect, positive attitudes and behaviours and teaches how to build healthy relationships, resilience and confidence through a whole-of-school approach. When we embed a culture of respect and gender equity across our entire school community, all students benefit, including through positive impacts on their academic outcomes and their general engagement at school.

Over 1950 Victorian schools, including Catholic and independent schools, are signed onto the Respectful Relationships program, and that includes all government schools, acquitting a key recommendation of the Royal Commission into Family Violence. I have got to say that 13 years ago when I came into this place it was very obvious that we needed such a program in our schools and in our communities, and it is an absolute pleasure of mine to be able to see this program being embedded in schools and making a difference. At every single school I go to I ask them how Respectful Relationships is rolling out, and the answer is always ‘absolutely fantastic’. I think the only challenge we still have left in this space is the feedback that I get from teachers and leaders in schools who say, ‘If only we could apply this to some of our parents.’ That in itself is an ongoing challenge that we may need to face as a government.

Lastly, I have gotten a lot of negative attention on my social media in the last week as I stood up in this place and said that I stand for all women across this state, including trans women. I was attacked and my office was bombarded, unfortunately, with negativity. But I am not going to be deterred by hate or bigotry, and neither will my staff. Hear me again as I say as Minister for Women that I am proud to represent and advocate for the rights and interests of all Victorian women – that includes non-binary people, that includes black women, that includes women of all different ages, backgrounds and abilities and that includes trans women.

Safe Schools is an integral part of Victoria’s education system. I have heard from teachers, students and principals. As long as we see the sort of unconsidered hate that we have seen from those in the other place, who have spread bigotry and continue to attack our LGBTIQ+ children and young people, we will continue to invest in supports and we will continue to help children and young people get the education that they deserve in place. We will help support our educators, who are themselves from very diverse backgrounds, with some from the LGBTI community. We will help them to continue to work in safe environments and to teach in safe environments and for kids to learn in safe environments so they continue to succeed.

Cindy McLEISH (Eildon) (12:18): I rise to make a contribution to the notice of motion that was popped on the notice paper yesterday by the Minister for Education and that we are discussing today. I would expect that that is because today is IDAHOBIT. I want to begin by giving a bit of a shout-out to all my friends and extended family who belong in those categories and really to those who have found their place in society and a lot of younger members who are finding their place in society and in the world. Things are quite different now, and I think people are starting to find their voice, find their confidence and stand up and be who they are and be happy and proud of who they are rather than hiding it for decades, which is probably what happened to people of my parents’ era. Things have changed a lot, and schools are doing their bit to help out with removing and fighting against discrimination, certainly against those in the LGBTQIA+ communities.

We know that if people are a little bit different or people think they are a little bit different, the schoolyard can be a difficult place. I guess a lot of us have seen that and a lot of us have experienced how difficult kids can be and how nasty kids can be. Some of the things that they do and say can really live with somebody forever. People do remember. You have people speak to you, and regardless of whether they have come from a background overseas and moved to Australia and do not speak the language properly or whether their sexual orientation is a bit different, it can be difficult. Kids are pretty ruthless and can attack fairly quickly, but I see now that there is a lot of work done in schools by the schools and by the school community to really help kids find their confidence and be a lot more comfortable in themselves but also respect those who are different from themselves. I think we all need to take a bit of a look at ourselves and make sure that we are respectful of each other all the time. I know sometimes in this house the debate is anything but respectful and the way some people behave at times is not. Hopefully the generation coming after us may be a little bit more so.

We know that schools need to be safe places; we know schools need to be inclusive. Kids spend the vast majority of their youth in school. If kids have got a lousy life at home for whatever reason, school should be a really safe place. It is like a sporting club – it should be somewhere they are safe and happy to go if life is bad at home. You do not want kids who do not have a great home life coming to school and having a really lousy experience there as well. So there is a lot of work that is being done with schools to really help build and promote safety.

I have just had a look at the Department of Education’s website on school staff and what they might do to get support and advice on matters in relation to a whole host of things about how to satisfy the policies on sexual and gender diversity and both the Victorian and the Australian anti-discrimination legislation. Teachers are having a look at what they need to do and how they need to do it, but they need to have the resources that are there to do it. There is also information about preventing and responding to bullying of LGBTIQ+ students and looking at a whole-school approach to preventing discrimination, harassment and bullying. I see a lot of this in practice when I go to schools, and I will talk about that a little bit later. They need to be working to create supportive and inclusive school policies, and I see evidence of that. There is advice on how to train staff on creating supportive spaces for LGBTIQA+ students – and that would look a little bit different at primary schools and secondary schools no doubt; how to develop student-led activities to create positive, inclusive change; and how to equip other staff with the skills and ideas to create inclusive environments.

All of this is part of the efforts to create safe and inclusive environments, because as I said, students spend the vast majority of their time – they get pretty good holidays, mind you – and the majority of each day within the classroom and within the schoolyard and being subjected to kids who are not always open to different people. Sometimes they just repeat things and say things that they have heard, and they do not actually feel this deep-seated hatred or bigotry or anything like that. They just repeat things, which may not be a good thing in the longer term certainly.

We know kids need to be safe, so I have had a look at what sorts of messages the schools are sending. If we have a look at Healesville Primary School, for example, they inspire students to be curious, creative and engaged lifelong learners, but they want to develop resilient, confident and respectful students who have the necessary skills to be valuable members of the community. If we look at that – respectful students – this says a lot about Safe Schools: to be respectful of people who are different from you.

As I was having a look at these different schools I thought there must be a Department of Education issued template, because a lot of them had very similar policy statements. Mansfield Primary School is committed to providing a safe, supportive and inclusive environment for all students, staff and members of their community. The school recognises the importance of the partnership between schools and parents and carers to support learning, engagement and wellbeing. But this is the important bit: they have a commitment to and a responsibility for creating an inclusive and safe school environment for students. And their vision at Mansfield Primary is to inspire, challenge, support and make a difference. When we have those words embedded – ‘inclusive’, ‘respectful’, ‘support’ – I think we are setting the foundation for children to grow up with those as part of their core being.

Panton Hill Primary School are looking to a working partnership between parents and staff, a safe and well-maintained working environment and a well-balanced and challenging curriculum. Their values, which they celebrate at monthly morning assemblies, are respect, cooperation, determination, enthusiasm and honesty. I think the respect and honesty are about kids having a look at themselves and the core of their own character and values, and I continue to see this embedded.

I have just got a couple more that I want to have a look at. Launching Place Primary School’s five core values make the word ‘carer’: curiosity – they ask questions to learn; achievement – they persist and try their best; responsibility – they are in control of their learning and actions; empathy – they treat others with care and compassion; respect – they show care and compassion for others and their environment. It does not matter where in my electorate you go, from the Mansfield shire to the Murrindindi shire, Nillumbik or the Yarra Ranges, all of the schools have this embedded now in their values.

I go to a lot of school assemblies. I have some 50 schools in my electorate. The vast majority are primary schools; there are only about six or seven secondary schools. When I go to these schools and I see what the children are being celebrated for, it is that inclusion, it is that diversity and it is that respectful nature that they have with other people. It does not discriminate based on where they have come from or what their background is. And if they are trying to find their path in life and whether that is as part of the LGBTIQ+ community, that is included in the respect for, understanding of and support for those children. It is a little bit different at primary school than at secondary school. I had a look at Yea High School, the school that I went to, and again the whole school has developed their three keys to supporting a harmonious learning environment – respect, trust and acceptance – and they underpin the school’s motto ‘Strive to excel’. I think that schools are generally doing a really good job out there of trying to create a very safe environment for their students.

I have, as I said, loads of schools. I have loads of conversations with principals, with teachers and with families, and there have been a number of elements I do feel compelled to raise where schools have had a bit of a change and the safety of students has been jeopardised. While the motion today about Safe Schools is really about IDAHOBIT, we do have issues post COVID. COVID did enormous damage to our students and to our kids who were not at school yet, the preps in primary schools and kids transitioning to secondary schools. I spoke to a principal who has always been chipper, really looking forward to every day and really taking on the challenges of being school principal. They are not always easy jobs –

Michaela Settle: Well, they give us a holiday each year.

Cindy McLEISH: Having been a teacher myself, I do know that you appreciated the school holidays, let me tell you, and I was usually sick for the first week of the holidays because I was so exhausted. But one of the things that this principal said to me was, ‘I’ve never had knives at my school, and post COVID, teenage boys that had been away for two years have come back with knives.’ He was devastated. I could just see the difference in his demeanour in discussing with me the seriousness and the concerns he felt about why the kids had knives, how they were using them at the school and how that would be a threat to the safety of other students. I have had a primary school contact me about a child with a knife ready to take it to his mother. The principal was able to calm him. She is a principal I have an enormous amount of respect for. We had to get the minister and the department to help in that instance to deal with it. But knives at school is something that I am gravely concerned about.

I have a friend who teaches in the south-eastern suburbs. Deb has been a teacher for a very long time, and she now feels defeated. She feels defeated because of COVID and what has happened to the students. She is a primary school teacher. She is energetic, happy and bubbly, and I know she would be a great teacher just from her personality. The discipline, the way that kids do not always respect each other, how they behave and how they treat the teachers are really quite difficult. But what she said to me broke her heart. Post COVID saw primary school children returning having watched porn, and she thought that was so out of place. What is this doing to these children? What are they telling other people, and how endangering is it for them to talk to other students? These are primary school students; this is not safe. When they are talking to other students about what they have seen, this is a big concern.

We have also had parents and families raising concerns about bullying and how bullying is handled, and I know it is a really tough thing. I have been at schools being principal for a day where they have had welfare meetings with the leadership team and their welfare officers to talk about some of these issues, and they are hard; they are difficult. What they find is they just do not have enough support; they do not have the mental health practitioner support. In country areas it is much harder to find people to fill these positions. We have workforce shortages in so many areas. We cannot all have psychologists and social workers there. We have counsellors and we have chaplains all trying to help fill this space, to help kids fit in and to help kids understand how you respect each other and what you can do.

We have had parents talk to us about vaping and chroming and some of these things that happen in the toilets at schools. When you get one group doing it and others are interested, and if they are at vulnerable ages, this is terrible. And there is chroming as well and things that happen on the school buses, not just in the toilets. And I do want to just briefly mention the 13-year-old year 8 Lilydale High School student Esra Haynes, who went into cardiac arrest minutes after inhaling deodorant. She spent a week on life support and died on 8 April, and her parents Paul and Andrea and her three siblings are doing it very tough. They just are broken-hearted, obviously, about this, but they want to see action in this space, because some of these activities that happen at school, that go into the schoolyard, that go onto the school bus, are really dangerous for children. We saw that Nine News published that there was a 161 per cent increase in inhalant presentations last year at Victoria’s Austin Hospital. Post that incident, the Department of Education sent out an updated drug education resource to all government schools to provide students with a clear understanding of the dangers associated with chroming and inhalant abuse, and they have online modules and learning activities. So they have been very quick to respond, but again, we have seen the tragedy of a young 13-year-old’s life being taken.

As we are working to create safe schools I think we really need to have a good look at how far and wide we extend that. A number of people in this place have met with Matt Cronin, the father of 19-year-old Pat, who was punched in the back of the head, a coward’s punch. A brawl broke out at a Diamond Creek hotel and he stepped in to pull somebody away. The Pat Cronin Foundation is doing a lot of work with school-aged children to raise awareness of the coward punch and to try and bring this to an end. I know when Matt spoke to me he talked about how the department said the work around this really fits in the Safe Schools environment space, and that is why am raising it now, because there is a lot that can fit into this Safe Schools space. Regardless of where kids are when they are growing up, they need to have support to be themselves. If they are of the LGBTQIA+ community – and let us be frank, as kids are young, that is when they are first trying to work out their direction in life and how they will cope with it and what supports they need – it is most important at that school age that people are aware of what that looks like, what sort of support people need and what they do not need, what support looks like and what support does not look like, what bullying looks like and what it does not look like and what discrimination looks like and what it does not look like. As kids move into the workforce they should be having exactly those same experiences, and that is not necessarily the case. We know that there are some workplaces that still have a lot to learn in this bullying space, and we do know still that people of different sexual orientation are at times subject to discrimination. I think we have made a lot of movement in this space, particularly you notice that unisex toilets and things like that are now being rolled out very broadly and accepted as the norm, and it should be the norm that people are comfortable to be who they are and where they are.

Lastly, I do want to mention that students in the LGBTIQA+ category are at higher risk of bullying and of suicide. We have way too much suicide in our community and way too much youth suicide. A couple of years ago one of my cousins began work with the coroner and the first thing she said to me was ‘This suicide is awful’. She did say it was across all ages, but when kids are younger we should have the resources around them while they are at school to help them to deal with it. As people get older and they move in various things they are not always around the supports and do not always have them. But at school they should have those supports, and we need to make sure that they are respected and not discriminated against.

One suicide has been quite highly promoted through Dolly’s Dream across the Northern Territory and Queensland. Her parents did not see it coming. I have friends who are principals of schools in Victoria where kids have suicided who did not see it coming and said they would never have picked those kids that have taken their own lives. There was a spate down in Geelong a few years ago. In the whole region I think there may have been six school-aged students who took their lives, and that is tragic. That is something that we need to prevent regardless of what faith they are, what sexual orientation they are, where they grew up, whatever. We need to make sure that everyone is not subjected to discrimination. We have still got a little way to go, but we certainly need our schools to be playing their role in that.

Michaela SETTLE (Eureka) (12:37): I am really pleased to rise to speak on this motion that the house affirms support for the Safe Schools program. I would like to comment on the contribution from the member for Eildon. It was a fairly interesting and meandering contribution which really avoided facing the fact that Safe Schools is a program. What we heard there in that contribution was some sort of idea that it was around safety in schools. We heard about things like vaping and bullying, all sorts of things, but the member completely avoided acknowledging the very purpose behind the Safe Schools program, and I will tell you why –

Cindy McLeish: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the member on her feet is trying to rewrite history and missed the point completely.

Members interjecting.

Cindy McLeish: You are impugning me.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! I do not need assistance from the member. There is no point of order. It is a matter of debate.

Michaela SETTLE: As I was saying, the reason, I think, that we had a contribution like that is because those on the other side need to remember that they went to the 2018 election with a commitment to get rid of Safe Schools. The member for Eildon sat in this chamber, sat in that party room and supported the member for Bulleen’s commitment to get rid of Safe Schools. Let us not forget that. Let us not forget that those on the other side of the house wanted to get rid of this incredibly important program.

I would also like to acknowledge the extraordinary work of the Minister for Education, and I am delighted to follow her in speaking about this. Her commitment to kids in schools and the education system and to protecting everyone in that system has been extraordinary, and that is really clear in all the work that has been done. While those on the other side would like to equate the Safe Schools program with vaping and issues around vaping, for me it is very clear that this program is about protecting our LGBTI kids.

I grew up in Castlemaine in the 1970s – in 1977 I moved to Castlemaine – and I became instant and firm friends with Michael. Michael and I are lifelong friends, and he still lives around the corner from me today in Ballarat. Michael and I spent our entire childhood running from him being beaten up and bullied because he was a young gay man in the 1970s in regional Victoria and it was a really, really rough time. He and I still talk about some of those experiences that we went through.

While those on the other side sought to get rid of the Safe Schools program in 2018 – they kind of thought that it would just all work itself out – what I would say to them is that having gone through that experience, we need firm and clear action to protect those people in our community and particularly in our schools. It is something that this government has never, ever shied away from. My heart beats a little faster every time I hear our Premier say loud and clear that in this state it is not negotiable – equality is not negotiable. It is one thing that this government has stood firm and clear on.

Before we go into the wonders of the Safe Schools program, we are discussing this today because it is an incredibly important day, IDAHOBIT. I am really delighted to stand as an ally with my LGBTQI+ communities on such an important day as this. This morning at 10 o’clock the Moorabool council raised the IDAHOBIT flag, the rainbow flag, for the first time, and that means that we had every local government across Victoria raising that flag today. Every local government in Victoria showed the support that this government has always shown for our LGBTI communities.

It is an incredibly important program, Safe Schools. It works to support staff and teachers to understand the issues that kids are facing. I know that often if you are not from a community like that it is hard to see through the lens, if you like, of those experiences. I know that our wonderful teachers are always there for all of their kids – unlike the member for Eildon, who seems to think they take a lot of holidays. I know that the teachers that I deal with work very, very hard. Having said that, it is really good to have resources and supportive resources around them so that they can make sure that they are really offering the best support for kids in those communities.

This government has done some really extraordinary things in this space, and I am incredibly proud. I love it when Minister Shing, the Minister for Equality, comes to visit Ballarat. She lights up the world that she walks into, and we were really delighted to have her just last year come and announce regional safe spaces. This is yet another thing. We can do it within schools, but we also need to make sure that young people in the broader community also have those safe spaces. It is incredibly important funding that is working with Child and Family Services in Ballarat to make sure we have those safe spaces for young people.

But of course it is always about being seen. You have got to see to know and recognise, and so I think things like the Victoria’s Pride program are incredibly important. Pride has been a big part of Melbourne’s life, but I live in the regions; I want to make sure that those kids that are out there like my best buddy Michael can look out amongst their community and see support there. Victoria’s Pride was an extraordinary announcement this year which really guaranteed that some of those Pride festivals could be rolled out across regional Victoria, not just here in Melbourne.

IDAHOBIT really is a day to reflect on how far we have come. It was 1969 when Stonewall first happened, an extraordinary event. I would say that it was in many ways led by a lot of people in the trans community. They stood up for the first time and said, ‘We’re not going to take this oppression anymore.’ Stonewall was a fundamental moment in our history and in the history of the LGBTQI community. As many people know, I had the absolute honour of working for the Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras in the late 1980s and early 90s, and it was a fundamental experience for me. I often say it is what politicised me, and it politicised me because I saw a community come together to really create change. We learned a lot of things, I learned a lot of things throughout that. It was about, for example, language and the different ways that language can affect people. But there is one lesson I did learn which to this day kind of fills me with horror. I remember going to a discussion group about people who were being bashed, and they were still being bashed in Sydney in the 1990s. There was a lesson around how to deal with that. What they said is that you should identify someone – for example, you might say, ‘You in the pink suit, please help me’ – because you had to make that direct ask for someone to come to your help and your assistance.

When I think back on those sort of moments and having to listen to those sorts of things, Safe Schools to me is really such an incredibly important program, because it is teaching not just the LGBTI kids but all of the school community and teachers alike to understand and to stand as allies. We know that LGBTQI kids have a much higher risk of bullying and suicide, so this program is important for them.

I was absolutely delighted to go to the story time reading at 10:30 today here in Parliament. We had some wonderful people from our transgender community come and read stories for us. It was open to all members, but it was largely this side of the house; I do not remember seeing anyone from the other side of the house there. But it was really delightful to stand by those communities, to stand by transgender people in our community.

James Newbury: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, I would put to you that the motion before the house is quite specific, and the member misled the house. The opposition were not invited, disappointingly. I did personally go to the Premier’s office and raise my disappointment that the government would play politics in not providing an invitation to the whole house, and on that point I would ask you to bring the member back to the question.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: On the point of order, that is a matter for debate that the member will have his chance to respond to. There is no point of order. The member’s time has expired.

Emma KEALY (Lowan) (12:47): I rise today to speak on the motion put by the Minister for Education, which is around affirming support for the Safe Schools program, acknowledging that it critically supports the wellbeing of all young people and provides valuable resources and support for teachers to foster an inclusive learning environment where everyone has the opportunity to reach their full potential. These are things that I absolutely agree with. We want to make sure that we support the mental health and wellbeing of all young people. We also want to make sure that every school student in Victoria is provided with sufficient resources and supports to make sure that they feel safe and they have got the opportunity to learn and to grow and to become those fabulous adults they will be in the future. They are our bright future, and that is where we need to invest.

I would like to take up the comments by the member for Eureka around the drag queen story time today. I just want to make it really clear that none of the members of the opposition were actually invited to that event, and in terms of –

Members interjecting.

Steve Dimopoulos: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the member for Lowan is misleading the house. The Minister for Equality spoke to the member for Kew and extended an invitation to the entire opposition.

James Newbury: On the point of order, Deputy Speaker, in the conversation that occurred there were no details of when, where or the time of the event. The shadow minister was not invited. That is absolutely true. That is outrageous.

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Members, come to order. This is the same point of order that the member for Brighton raised before, that he mentioned. This is a matter for debate. Let us all try and be civil. The member for Lowan has the call.

Emma KEALY: As I was saying, I was not invited. No members over here were invited. Certainly I would expect if you are seeking to have and show and demonstrate true inclusivity, then please, like we do for many other events in this place, do not politicise events. We make sure that everybody is at least extended the courtesy of an invitation to attend such an event. As for this being misportrayed by Labor members saying ‘You didn’t go’, I would encourage them to in fact look at putting out those wider invitations. That is very important.

Michaela Settle interjected.

Emma KEALY: I will take on the interjections, which I know is not parliamentary of me. I will take up the interjection from the member for Eureka because she seems to not understand that I am a National Party member, and there is a process that we look at when we are considering different ways for all sides of the Parliament to be able to engage with these sort of activities.

Now, if there are going to be parliamentary ‘friends of’ events and if there are going to be parliamentary events where we are looking at supporting people in our community who are doing different things, and if the government are truly supportive of that and want to make a difference and show that unity of support of the Parliament in Victoria, then the very least the government could do would be to send a simple calendar invitation – an email – out to every single member of this chamber. To not do that is actually incredibly divisive, and it caused an immense amount of harm to the communities that they purport to represent. By being able to –

Members interjecting.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Emma KEALY: It is interesting that Labor MPs are so quick to get vicious about this and make this a personal attack. They could come from the high ground if they had made the effort to simply circulate an email to all MPs. It is not a very difficult thing to do. There is even a shortcut email address that would have been easy for them to use. In fact I am sure that they had their own calendar item and could have just added us to it. It is not a difficult thing to do. If they are truly supportive of communities that are often marginalised and not included, then surely they should have taken the moral high ground and ensured that we were invited, because I would have been delighted to attend. I would have been absolutely delighted to attend. I want to make sure that that is on the record. Maybe courtesy and respect for not just me but also the community that are looking to do story time should have been shown by the government rather than trying to do this very, very disappointing pointscoring exercise that we saw earlier today.

I would also like to recognise that today is IDAHOBIT, and for our communities in far western Victoria, that is something that we do take very seriously. I am very, very proud of the fact that our communities are very supportive of people with all sorts of differences. We are proud that what brings us together is that we live in country Victoria, a long way from Melbourne, which is a really good way to unite us all, I must admit – that we can look at what makes us different in that regard. We do not really care much about your gender identity. We do not care about your sexuality. We do not care about your religion or where you grew up. We do not care if your family were here six generations ago – if you have that history in our region – or whether you go back hundreds of thousands of years. We do not care whether you arrived by boat. We do not care if you arrived by plane. We all value every single person we have in our community. That is why we also see enormous support for the LGBTIQ+ community.

I know there are events in my community today. I know that there will be many rainbow flags out today. I just want to make it really clear that while country people are sometimes persecuted and put in this box saying that they are rednecks and that they do not support any differences, that is absolutely not my experience as a local member of Parliament. It is not my experience, having lived in the area for 40-plus years. I absolutely commend our community and how they support everybody to be their very, very best. That even goes as far as our education system, which of course this is around. I certainly know of a transgender child who is well supported by a Catholic primary school in the local area. It should never be a matter of making this an issue of division or of debate about religious bodies being against people who are transgender. I am not seeing that in my own community. I think, again, it is unfair and divisive for this to be translated into a religious argument, because in my experience religious communities are very supportive of individuals who have gender dysmorphia. Certainly, as this school well knows, I have always given them full credit for their treatment of that student but also of their family, which is something we can be very, very proud of.

It is so important that we do have good supports for the wellbeing of all of our young people. We know that access to mental health support is absolutely essential, particularly after what we have seen over the past three or so years with the COVID pandemic. It has hit our young people the hardest, and we have seen perhaps the impact of some of that just today with reports that the literacy results for grade 4 students in Victoria has actually fallen well behind those in other states. There is a push at the moment, and there has been for a number of years, to make sure Victoria pushes ahead more strongly with phonics education. It is something that is delivered in my son’s school, and as a result he is an excellent reader, to his credit. But there are other students who have fallen well behind over COVID. I do urge the government to make sure that there is appropriate educational support so the teachers can deliver that support in the best way possible but also that we can have the infrastructure for schools too.

Something referred to in the second part of this motion is around making sure that we have the resources and support for teachers to foster an inclusive learning environment, and that includes making sure that we have schools that are up to scratch. We have seen funding delivered for Minyip Primary School for works done, but we have basically got a whole building which has been irreparably damaged. It is nearly nine months after the works were done, and the building has been deemed unsafe. The government are not taking action to fix the Minyip Primary School. I urge them to urgently intervene. Casterton Primary School was issued some funding over a year ago now, and the project has just grown and grown through the Victorian School Building Authority – to the point where now they will be lucky if they are going to get a new lick of paint and some carpet. The money is just being chewed up through consultant fees. We need to see more money allocated in this budget to make sure they can finish that project in full. At Stawell Primary School it is exactly the same. They were allocated money for their oval upgrade a number of years ago. There are now basically massive potholes in the oval, which are a real danger to the kids. There are other areas of that school that need a desperate injection of money, and I urge the government to attend to that in this year’s budget.

Rainbow P–12 College is in a very similar situation to that of Casterton Primary School, where the promise was for a really impressive upgrade of their building, but money has just been chewed up by consultancy fees. I urge the government to deliver a full amount of money for those projects but also to fund the Dunmunkle early years centre in Murtoa. It was the one commitment for the Lowan electorate in the last year, and I urge for the funding to be in this budget.

Vicki WARD (Eltham) (12:57): I stand here feeling both pretty angry but also incredibly joyful because of the things that are happening in my community right now. Before anybody on the other side wants to interject and say that I am going off topic, let me start by saying that my magnificent Eltham High School was one of the first pilot schools for Safe Schools in 2010 and has shown extraordinary leadership when it comes to inclusion. The work that they do is phenomenal, and I shout out to principal Vincent Sicari and all in that community for the phenomenal work that they do. As a parent at Eltham High School I could not be prouder of my school and the work that they do – just as today I am incredibly proud of my community in standing up for the bigots that descended down in Eltham and were thwarted. My community stood up, and they stood up with friends, to say that bigotry and hatred have no place in the community. My community stood up in 2016 and stared the racists down with butterflies, and we did it again today with rainbow butterflies, with song and with joy.

Drag reading time did go ahead in Eltham today. It was successful and it was beautiful, because people are beautiful. The joy that comes with the rainbow community and that comes with our drag queens is extraordinary, and for these bigots, these Nazis, these haters to try and shut people down for being who they are – for celebrating who they are, for being inclusive, for having the generosity to come to us and everybody in our community and say ‘Let us share our love with you. Let us share our stories’ – and to want to threaten to shut them down with violence and with aggression is absolutely disgraceful. I am so proud of the people who went to Eltham Library today and stood out there in their angel wings, who stood out there in their rainbows of colours and who sang songs, listened to stories and celebrated who they are and the joy of who they are. I am incredibly grateful. I know it is lunchtime. Do you want me to stop?

A member: Yes, please.

Vicki WARD: That is not called for. That is really not called for. I am really emotional about what happened in my community. That is not called for.

Sitting suspended 1:00 pm until 2:02 pm.

Business interrupted under sessional orders.