Jason Clare (Blaxland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Education) Share this | Hansard source

They're not at school yet, Barnaby, but they will be soon.

If you're focused on your phone, then you're not focused on the teacher, and so you're not learning. Some states have banned phones in schools; others are thinking about it. At the next meeting with education ministers, I'll put on the table a proposal for a consistent national approach to the banning or restriction of mobile phone use by students in our schools.

On vaping: ask any parent with a child in high school—the member for McMahon tells me about this all the time—and they'll tell you they're worried about it. Catherine does, as well. Principals will tell you it's a behaviour issue. And it is blindingly obvious that the companies that make these things are targeting school students, with fancy flavours, like bubble gum. They're designed to look USBs and highlighters, so you can hide them in the pencil case. And remember: these things include the sorts of chemicals you'll find in weedkiller or bug spray. That's why parents are worried about it. That's why I want to thank the health minister for his leadership on this: getting rid of the flavours, getting them out of convenience stores—helping to get them out of our schools.

So we're focused on the things that teachers and parents and students are worried about, but also the big reforms that we need to make to build a better and a fairer education system. (Time expired)

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