Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I bring the House's attention to a well-written article I read this morning in the Financial Review from Julie Hare, the education editor. The headline is 'Principals deal with abuse and violence every week'. I was taken back:

School principals are 11 times more likely to be subjected to physical violence than the average Australian, and nearly half have reported being assaulted by parents or students …

It's appalling to have those statistics here in Australia. When I look at the Australian Principal Occupational, Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey, conducted by the Australian Catholic University, the allegations were absolutely correct. Just on half of principals had reported threats of violence and physical violence against them, and in some cases up to 32 per cent being persecuted by parents. It's an appalling state of affairs.

Isaac Newton said that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. Guess what? If you're a parent, you're going in and you're having a crack at a teacher, 1) they retire earlier; 2) it dissuades the next level of teachers or talent coming through; and 3) the gene pool of talent for our teachers becomes shallower. It's not on. Cut it out, because I've had enough of it.

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