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Speaker 1: Territory, children and families are being warned after two incidents

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Speaker 1: of a vehicle approaching school students walking home and the

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Speaker 1: occupants three adult men, trying to entice them into a car.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line is the Department of

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Speaker 1: Education and Training's Deputy Chief Executive of Schools, Paul Van Holstein.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you, Paul.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Paul. Firstly,

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Speaker 1: can you tell me what happened in each of these incidents?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, thanks Katie. So last week Thursday, after school, there

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Speaker 2: were two incidents where students were approached by people in

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Speaker 2: a gray or a silver car. Those young people realized

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Speaker 2: the situation and made their way home as quickly as

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Speaker 2: possible and reported that to the and reported that to

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Speaker 2: their parents, who then reported that situation to the police.

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Speaker 2: On Friday, through our government schools across the Darwin region,

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Speaker 2: we did send something out to all families because I

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Speaker 2: think this is a really important time that we again

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Speaker 2: have that conversation with our young people around how is

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Speaker 2: it we're making sure we're safe in our environment. We

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Speaker 2: talked about three hours and the information we sent home

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Speaker 2: the first are recognize make sure our young people can

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Speaker 2: recognize and be aware of the surroundings and trust their instincts.

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Speaker 2: Second hour as react if something feels wrong, take action

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Speaker 2: to ensure your safety, move away, quickly, run, find your

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Speaker 2: way to a trusted adult, and then the report informed

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Speaker 2: a trusted adult about any situations where you might feel unsafe.

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Speaker 2: So I think it's a really important message in conversation

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Speaker 2: for families to have with their young people, with their children,

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Speaker 2: because the safety of their young people is obviously.

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Speaker 1: Paramount absolutely, and I mean a lot of us trust

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Speaker 1: that we're able to send our kids to school walking

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Speaker 1: or riding their bike, and then to think that somebody's

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Speaker 1: trying to entice them into a vehicle is pretty worrying. Indeed, now,

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Speaker 1: are you able to say which school these happened at

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Speaker 1: or what area.

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Speaker 2: It was in the Northern Suburbs cadem I'm not going

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Speaker 2: to identify the specific schools because I don't want to

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Speaker 2: risk identifying the young people that were involved in the situation.

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Speaker 2: And the other thing about the Northern Suburbs is it's

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Speaker 2: less than five minute drive between many about schools, So

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Speaker 2: at risks or a danger that some students were affected by,

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Speaker 2: I think we need to consider as a risk right

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Speaker 2: across the suburbs.

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Speaker 1: Yes, spot on. I mean, in terms of both of

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Speaker 1: these incidents, is the concern here that they are linked?

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Speaker 1: I mean, do we have much of an idea in

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Speaker 1: terms of the description of the vehicle involved.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, We've made sure the police have that information so

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Speaker 2: they can look at whatever mechanisms and measures that they

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Speaker 2: can responding to the incident and ensuring safety moving forwards.

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Speaker 2: I think the opportunity now is for all of our

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Speaker 2: families to think about, you know, talk with their children

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Speaker 2: about how they get to school or what their safety

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Speaker 2: mechanisms are. As I said that record react to report

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Speaker 2: and also can things like you know, is there other

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Speaker 2: children on the same street where you can walk to

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Speaker 2: school together? Going together? Thinking about whether you know pick

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Speaker 2: up or drop off arrangements are in place in a

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Speaker 2: really safe way to protect our young people.

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Speaker 1: Paul, We've also been contacted about another well additional incidents

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Speaker 1: in the northern suburbs involving a tan colored car. Are

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Speaker 1: you aware of any further incidents.

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Speaker 2: I haven't had that reported to me, Katie. I think

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Speaker 2: maybe offline it would be great if you could pass

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Speaker 2: that information onto the department. Yeah, make sure police have

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Speaker 2: been contacted and that we can understand what might be

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Speaker 2: the situation there.

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Speaker 1: Now, I understand that you have obviously as you've touched on,

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Speaker 1: you've sent that letter home, you've already given some of

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Speaker 1: that advice. But what reassurance can you give two concerned

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Speaker 1: parents that are listening this morning, that are thinking, goodness,

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Speaker 1: may you know this is a worry and and you

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Speaker 1: know I need my kids to be able to get

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Speaker 1: to and from school independently without having to worry about

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Speaker 1: something like these.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely and that independence. You know, we don't also don't

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Speaker 2: want to resort to a situation where we don't allow

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Speaker 2: our students, to young people to develop skills and independence

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Speaker 2: to move around our community. So we don't want to

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Speaker 2: be in a knee jerk space. I can absolutely assure

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Speaker 2: families that schools do talk with students around this, and

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Speaker 2: I know on Friday again, coming out of the incidents

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Speaker 2: on Thursday, schools had those conversations with students just to

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Speaker 2: be aware of their surroundings. If something doesn't feel right,

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Speaker 2: you know, take action to ensure safety and report any

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Speaker 2: incidence that's wort to come up. So schools do talk

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Speaker 2: with and help young people understand their safety and mechanisms

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Speaker 2: they can take or things they can do to keep

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Speaker 2: themselves safe. We do our parents also consider it and

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Speaker 2: have that same conversation with children so that you can

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Speaker 2: have assurance in terms of how your young person gets

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Speaker 2: to them from school.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's like, did schools then have a duty of

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Speaker 1: care when it comes to kids getting home safe?

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Speaker 2: So schools are traveling through you know, the school bus

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Speaker 2: service for instance, and that's something that we're keenly aware

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Speaker 2: of their duty of care. We can't extend the duty

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Speaker 2: of care to students as they travel through the community.

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Speaker 2: We do ask parents to consider how it is your

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Speaker 2: young person gets to and from school and ensure that

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Speaker 2: there's a good plan in place for the young person

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Speaker 2: to make their way safely to them from school.

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Speaker 1: Now, just in terms of anybody listening this morning, any

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Speaker 1: parents listening this morning that are sort of seriously worried,

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Speaker 1: you know, I know you've already spoken about that advice

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Speaker 1: for people, but you know, if they have got concerns,

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Speaker 1: if they've seen something, if you know, if there is

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Speaker 1: something that they feel the Education Department needs to know about,

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Speaker 1: what's the best way for them to raise that should

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Speaker 1: they get in contact with the school.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I think there's actually two things that we'd ask Katie.

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Speaker 2: So the first piece is if something's not right, we

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Speaker 2: actually need to actually those reports are made to the

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Speaker 2: police so the police have a full picture of any

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Speaker 2: concerns around safety for our young people in the community.

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Speaker 2: The second thing I would ask them to do is

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Speaker 2: to talk to their school leadership, so the principal and

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Speaker 2: the school so that you know, the school can be

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Speaker 2: aware of that and consider and whether additional information is

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Speaker 2: to go out to families or to consider actions the

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Speaker 2: school can take around those safety messages and safety aspects well.

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Speaker 1: Paul Van Holstein, Department of Education and Training's Deputy Chief

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Speaker 1: Executive of Schools, really appreciate your time this morning. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for joining us.

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Speaker 2: No worries, Katie, have a great day you too.

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Speaker 1: Thank you