Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to talk about education and the power of education. I spent last week doing my SRC forums in the electorate where I spend half the day with primary school students and half the day with secondary school students. These are students who are leaders in their schools, who come together to share their stories across the electorate, to share the way that their schools work in student leadership, to share the stories from their schools about the values that they learn in their school environment and to plan work that they might do back in their schools to change or shape the way their school operates or to change or shape student attitudes to issues of the day.

I rise also to put on record my support for all children in all schools, and that all children in all schools be supported by their communities. I rise to support the Safe Schools program because I know that, on the ground, teachers, principals and school communities choose to opt into that program and to use the parts of that program that they think will assist in getting students to work collaboratively and cooperatively together in creating a safe environment for all students, including students of LGBTIQ, to make sure that they feel safe in their environment, welcome and warm— (Time expired)

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