Wednesday, 6 March 2024

COVID-19

David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (18:27): (763) My adjournment matter this evening is for the attention of the Minister for Education. Back in 2020, when former Minister for Education Mr Merlino appeared before the inquiry into the Victorian government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic, we had a bit of back-and-forth engagement regarding the balancing of risks, where I suggested that the consequences of school closures could be significant. I stated that this amounted to conducting an experiment on children. The impact was not known, but it was expected to create harms. Then, in a fit of panic and recklessness, the government spent over $100 million getting HEPA filters into every classroom, with no evidence that they would have any positive effect whatsoever. It was a great windfall for Samsung, but Victorian parents and Victorian students might wonder if this money could have been better spent. Some classrooms did not even have air conditioning. I am willing to bet that these students would have preferred air conditioning to a useless HEPA filter in the corner.

But where are we now? The coroner released a report a couple of weeks ago that last year Victoria recorded the highest number of deaths by suicide in our history, including an alarming uptick in suicide in under-18s. If you listen to one of the many segments on talkback radio about the difficulties parents are having with kids, the term ‘school refusers’ is now quite common. Not every kid struggled and not every kid continues to struggle, but of those who found remote learning and disruption to school life difficult, many still have challenges. One of the justifications for government-funded state schools is that they are supposed to provide an opportunity for kids from more disadvantaged backgrounds to get a decent education and have an opportunity to thrive through hard work and study, but the evidence is that the school closures have exacerbated these gaps.

One of the things that have prompted me to bring up this topic today was an in-depth analysis done by the Sydney Morning Herald of the school closures in New South Wales. This is really important reporting, with experts quoted and also the responses from many teachers. The story it tells is grim: emotional dysregulation; a massive spike in truancy; behavioural issues, including violence towards teachers; and massive rates of anxiety, depression and other issues. We should not have to wait for some decent journalist to step up though. The government conducted this experiment, and they should now understand the results. My request for the minister is to conduct a review of school closures during the pandemic and table a report in Parliament on the findings and recommendations so that we can learn and not make the same mistakes again.