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Speaker 1: We did, of course, just hear from Paul Grieves there

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Speaker 1: from Catholic Education about this situation yesterday at o'lachlan and

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Speaker 1: a thirteen year old child jumping over the fence, making

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Speaker 1: threats and assaulting for students, a terrible situation. Now joining

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Speaker 1: me on the line is the Opposition spokesperson for Education,

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Speaker 1: Joe Hersey. Good morning to you, Joe.

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Speaker 2: Good morning Katie, and good morning listeners.

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Speaker 1: Joh I'm not sure whether you heard that interview because

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Speaker 1: obviously you guys are sitting in Parliament at the moment, but.

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Speaker 2: Just appalling the last Katie.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, it's appalling, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: It is absolutely terrible and terrifying for the students. But

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Speaker 2: you know, for the parents that have been in contact

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Speaker 2: with us to think that they're now dropping their kids

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Speaker 2: to school because they're not sure whether they're going to

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Speaker 2: be safe to get there. It's not a good result

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Speaker 2: all round for the school or for the children that

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Speaker 2: go there.

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Speaker 1: Well, and the poor old school, you know, doing everything

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Speaker 1: that they can to try to keep kids safe, but

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Speaker 1: you know how on earth, dear stop, it's a thirteen

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Speaker 1: year old kid who's allegedly jumped the fence our listeners

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Speaker 1: are saying, and we have not had this verified, so

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Speaker 1: I'll make that very clear. But our listeners saying that

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Speaker 1: this kid had an ankle monitoring bracelet on, gone in

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Speaker 1: and punched for students. How are we in a situation

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Speaker 1: where we've got kids over the last few weeks running

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Speaker 1: a mark during school hours when they're meant to be

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Speaker 1: at bloody school.

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Speaker 2: Well, like I said, Katie, it's unacceptable and it gets

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Speaker 2: back to consequences. Kids in school know that when they

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Speaker 2: do the wrong thing in the school environment, there are

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Speaker 2: going to be consequences, and what we see out in

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Speaker 2: the community is there are no consequences from the government

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Speaker 2: and it just leads on to actions like this being

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Speaker 2: taken where this thirteen year old, whether they have an

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Speaker 2: ankle braces on or not, has jumped the fence and

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Speaker 2: assaulted the students, which is totally unacceptable.

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Speaker 1: Jo. I know that the government they keep giving you

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Speaker 1: a bit of stick because you're saying that you'd introduce

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Speaker 1: truancy officers if the COLP is elected in August. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what would the truancy officers do? Would they be able

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Speaker 1: to really go around and you know, make sure that

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Speaker 1: these kids who should actually be at school, are there?

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Speaker 2: So what we need Katie is yeah. And we have

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Speaker 2: said that we would bring back truancy officers, but what

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Speaker 2: these truancy officers would do is work with families and

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Speaker 2: work with the students to bring them back into school.

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Speaker 2: So you know, recently benez he was in town and

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Speaker 2: dropped a billion dollars for the education. But you know

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Speaker 2: he said that that's to increase enrollment. Increasing enrollments doesn't

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Speaker 2: necessarily mean to say that you're going to get kids

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Speaker 2: at school. So you need to work with those families

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Speaker 2: to make sure that these students do those for school

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Speaker 2: because more enrollments, as I said, doesn't necessarily mean more

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Speaker 2: kids at school.

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Speaker 1: Joe, I want to ask you before question time. Just

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Speaker 1: a couple of days ago, you presented a petition from

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Speaker 1: fifty seven petitioners praying for an independent investigation on levels

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Speaker 1: and impacts of bullying and violence in all public school

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Speaker 1: Can you tell me a little bit more about this

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Speaker 1: petition and why it was presented.

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Speaker 2: So, there had been some incidents out in the Murray

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Speaker 2: Claire Booth Street electorate of Brennan, and she had been

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Speaker 2: speaking with the lady that had brought the petition to her,

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Speaker 2: and I'd just like to say, Katie, it's not only

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Speaker 2: bullying out there in the Parmeston area. I have had

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Speaker 2: concerns of parents in Catherine of bullying that's been happening there,

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Speaker 2: whether it be on the bus or at the interchange

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Speaker 2: and whatever. So basically that goes to the Public Accounts

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Speaker 2: that will be debated if they decide, and sorry, if

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Speaker 2: the Public Accounts will decide whether that will be debated

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Speaker 2: and come back to the Parliament and we will have

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Speaker 2: a debate on it. But it is not acceptable that

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Speaker 2: kids at school do you get bullied? I mean, you know,

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Speaker 2: we've had the Dolly's Dream and there's all the information

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Speaker 2: out there around bullying in schools and he's absolutely not

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Speaker 2: accepted when it should be called out.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Look, I'll be really interesting to see whether there

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Speaker 1: is a situation where it does get debated or not.

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Speaker 1: But it's obviously a concern two parents. And I know,

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Speaker 1: you know, some people might think, oh, it's only fifty

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Speaker 1: seven people that have signed that petition, but I think

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Speaker 1: that if you know, if the word was out there

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Speaker 1: and it was it was broader that that petition was running,

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Speaker 1: you probably would have seen a situation where there were

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Speaker 1: a lot more people sign it because you know, parents

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Speaker 1: want to ensure that their kids are safe when they

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Speaker 1: go to school and that they're not in a position

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Speaker 1: where they're being bullied.

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Speaker 2: That's right, Katie. And also you know bullying, you know,

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Speaker 2: once upon a time, when you left school, it stops. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: but these days, with social media and all the rest

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Speaker 2: of it, it just goes on. And I've seen that

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Speaker 2: with my own children when they were at school, you know.

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Speaker 2: I mean my son actually came back from boarding school

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Speaker 2: after some bullying and went to Headspace in Katherine for

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Speaker 2: six months, Yeah, over bullying. And you know that's how

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Speaker 2: we had to deal with it in our family. So

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Speaker 2: I don't think anyone is immune from this, but it

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Speaker 2: is not acceptable and these people need to be called out.

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Speaker 2: But also, you know, stronger measures need to be put

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Speaker 2: in place. Last year, phones were removed from schools and

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Speaker 2: in Catherine High they had the Yonder pouches. And you know,

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Speaker 2: I know that that is a policy that there would

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Speaker 2: be no phones in schools, but maybe we need to

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Speaker 2: just go back and relook at that and make sure

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Speaker 2: that that's not happening in Katie.

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Speaker 1: And Joe, look I know there's not a lot we

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Speaker 1: can say about the other incident that had occurred earlier

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Speaker 1: this week where a teacher allegedly assaulted a student. But

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Speaker 1: you know, it's not been a great week really when

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Speaker 1: you talk about some of the incidents that were saying

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Speaker 1: across the Northern Territory in those schools, and I know

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Speaker 1: it's something that you were certainly asking questions about yesterday

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Speaker 1: in Parliament.

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Speaker 2: No, and what we've got to remember, Katie, is no

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Speaker 2: and not to be talking about that issue on hand,

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Speaker 2: because I'm sure there's an investigation going on, yes, But

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Speaker 2: when I bring my concerns of my constituents to the

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Speaker 2: Parliament about questions re education. You know last year in estimates,

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Speaker 2: the Chief or the now Chief Minister, who was the

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Speaker 2: Education Minister absolutely went on a rams and had to

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Speaker 2: have the estimates closed down. And then you know, I've

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Speaker 2: been called a racist, bigoted, homophobe by the Deputy Chief

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Speaker 2: Minister and our Chancey Pakes, which is absolutely unacceptable. It

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Speaker 2: should not be tolerated. It does not pass the pub

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Speaker 2: test out there in the broader community of the listeners,

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Speaker 2: and you know that is not what we are here

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Speaker 2: to do in opposition to be denigrated to name calling

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Speaker 2: in the parliament.

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Speaker 1: Well, and you know what Joe like to look at

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Speaker 1: it from a real sort of outside perspective for a second.

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Speaker 1: It should definitely not go to that low level. And

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Speaker 1: we're talking about education and we're then talking about bullying

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Speaker 1: and the last thing you want to see is that

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Speaker 1: kind of terrible language. You know, whoever is talking that

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Speaker 1: kind of language or those kinds of comments made. You know,

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Speaker 1: we're telling our kids not to behave in this way.

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Speaker 2: That's correct, Katie. You know it gets back to morals

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Speaker 2: and integrity. And I can tell you that this law

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Speaker 2: l Labor government, we're on our third chief minister. There

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Speaker 2: is no morals and integrity there and I called them

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Speaker 2: out for that yesterday in Parliament. Their behavior is just

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Speaker 2: a calling. And you know, I represent my community and

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Speaker 2: I hold myself to extremely high morals and integrity and

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Speaker 2: if it does, my community will let me know when

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Speaker 2: I have had a pub And if I get to

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Speaker 2: that point in time, Katie, I will not be here

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Speaker 2: representing my community. I will I will go, but I

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Speaker 2: will be making sure that my morals and integrity are

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Speaker 2: kept to a high standard and I will not be

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Speaker 2: integrating to name calling on whatever in the parliament. It

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Speaker 2: is absolutely unparliamentary and does not part the pub pit.

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Speaker 1: Joe, we are going to have to leave it there.

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Speaker 1: Thank you as always for joining us this morning.

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Speaker 2: No thanks Katie, thanks, thank you.

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Speaker 1: That is Joe Hersey there, the opposition spokesperson for Education