It comes as no surprise a recent report has found that ACT principals were exposed to the highest rates of physical violence in the country last year, following constant inaction from the Labor-Greens government.

Shadow Minister for Education Jeremy Hanson has called on the government to stop dragging their feet and finally implement recommendations put forward by an Assembly Inquiry to prevent violence in our schools.

“The Government rejected the Canberra Liberals’ call for an independent inquiry in 2019 and has since failed to implement half of the recommendations put forward by an Assembly inquiry,” said Mr Hanson.

“This is not a new issue and was initially raised two years ago following a significant increase of violent incidents in our schools and yet there has been no real progress.

“It is clear the government is not taking this matter seriously and it is now time for all recommendations to be implemented to keep our teachers and students safe.

“Instead of addressing the problem, the Education Minister has now blamed the high number of ACT principles exposed to physical violence by parents and students on a ‘strong reporting culture’.

“Our teachers and students deserve much better and I don’t know what it will take for the government to finally address these very serious concerns,” Mr Hanson concluded.

This is yet another example of the government failing the education system with half of ACT government schools identified as containing hazardous materials including asbestos and lead paint.

The ACT Government’s recurrent expenditure for each student has also decreased since 2008 and many schools have exceeded maximum capacity numbers requiring 148 temporary buildings to cope.