Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Henderson. I actually saw Minister Clare deal with this matter—I think it was in question time—in the House of Representatives, where he made very clear that his expectation, as the Minister for Education, is that students should be at school during school hours. He did that in probably the most public forum we have in this country. Ultimately, decisions about the operation of schools are matters for state and territory governments and the non-government school sector, but the minister's position on this was utterly clear.

More broadly, what we have also said is that we think it's important that all of these matters be put in a non-partisan and non-inflammatory manner. I'd encourage all senators, in approaching and discussing these issues, to recognise that there are members in all parts of our community who are extremely upset about the events that are going on at the moment. Of course, we recognise that the Jewish community is going through great pain in our community at the moment, as a result of events in the Middle East. Equally, members of our Islamic communities are going through great pain as well. I'd encourage all senators, again, to consider that in terms of their public contributions on this topic.