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Herald Sun
7 days ago
- Herald Sun
Australia in grip of quiet, escalating crisis in education system
Don't miss out on the headlines from National. Followed categories will be added to My News. COMMENT Imagine this headline: '463 children protected from bullying in schools last month thanks to new safety measures.' They're thriving. Their classrooms are calm. Their teachers feel safe. But of course, you didn't read that headline — because when school systems work as they should, it doesn't make the news. What we see instead is a steady stream of disturbing accounts from Australian classrooms and schoolyards. Recent reports have revealed shocking abuse in early learning centres. At the same time, violence, bullying, and serious disruption are rising across schools. OECD data show that Australian students experience higher bullying exposure than the OECD average; none of the 24 comparison countries recorded more exposure. About one quarter of 15-year-olds report being bullied at least a few times a month, and many say they no longer feel safe at school. Discipline is also a concern. In PISA 2022, one quarter of Australian students said they could not work well in most or all lessons, and one third said students do not listen to the teacher. Overall, Australia ranked well below the OECD average for disciplinary climate, with 20 of the comparison countries recording a more favourable classroom environment. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese visits a school in NSW while on the campaign trail. Picture: Jason Edwards/NewsWire Teachers, too, are under growing threat. Safe Work Australia reports that serious workers' compensation claims for assault or occupational violence rose by 56% nationally between 2017–18 and 2021–22, with Education and Training one of the highest-risk industries. In Victoria's government schools, recorded incidents of work-related violence from student behaviour toward staff increased more than fivefold in less than a decade — from 2,279 incidents in 2014–15 to 11,858 in 2023–24 (Victorian Auditor-General, 2025). The national Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey (ACU, 2023) found that almost half of principals reported being physically attacked in the previous year — a rate that has risen by 78% since 2011. Parents are also responding — withdrawing their children. Homeschooling rates are rising across Australia, often not out of ideology but as a last resort. Education settings should be safe places for children and their teachers. Increasingly, they are not. Sadly, we are facing a simple, confronting truth: Australia is in the grip of a quiet but escalating crisis in school safety. The silence around this is deafening. Australia ranks near the bottom of the OECD for classroom discipline. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled Why are students who repeatedly bully, intimidate, or physically assault others allowed to remain in mainstream classrooms, placing peers and staff at ongoing risk? Too often, the answer lies in the muddled thinking that confuses an ideological preference with an effective pedagogical intervention. Schools are encouraged to prioritise inclusion, even when they lack the support to do so safely or effectively. Exclusion is discouraged, yet the resources needed for genuine intervention — therapeutic support, specialist settings, and follow-up — are scarce or inaccessible. This doesn't just fail the victims. It fails the perpetrators, too. Keeping students with serious behavioural issues in settings that clearly aren't working, without expert help, only deepens their disengagement and risk. We need more flexible, properly resourced options — including specialist settings, mobile intervention teams, and on-demand professional support that can be allocated where and when it's needed. These aren't punishments. Done properly, they are acts of educational justice. Failing to act does not protect these students from stigma. It denies them the tailored support they need to reset, re-engage, and grow. That's not inclusion. That's neglect. Education departments and even federal education ministers often respond to rising disorder with calls for better teacher training — especially in behaviour management. The implication is subtle but clear: that the problem lies not with policy or systems, but with individual teachers who just need to learn more strategies, manage classrooms more skilfully, or toughen up. It's an argument that's convenient, but unconvincing. As a former head of teacher education programs at two Australian universities, I wonder how I may have better prepared a young female teacher so that she wasn't taunted by rape jokes or deepfake images of herself on social media. Geoff Riordan is the former Dean of Education at the University of Canberra. Picture: Supplied The serious abuse incidents that are occurring in Australian schools and preschools are not fundamentally behaviour management problems. They are systemic problems that stem from broader cultural, structural and social forces. These subtle, cumulative changes have left many of our public institutions struggling to hold ground. There has been, over time, a quiet erosion of respect for authority — not just for teachers or principals, but for parents, carers, nurses, the police and public institutions more broadly. Boundaries that once offered clarity and safety are now frequently contested or ignored. Expectations of mutual respect have been replaced, in some quarters, by demands for unconditional validation. The norms of courtesy, patience, and collective responsibility — once seen as signs of maturity — are too often dismissed as weak or outdated. If a teacher or principal has the temerity to caution or discipline a child, they may need to prepare for the possibility that the parent will confront and abuse them. This is not confined to the usual suspects – the postcodes and demographics. In the past couple of years, the prestigious private school, a short walk from where I am writing this, introduced a code of conduct - for parents! Social media has supercharged many of these dynamics. Its platforms provide unlimited affordances for outrage, bullying, exclusion, and humiliation. It's in this broader setting that schools are trying to function — and, more importantly, trying to teach. They are being asked not just to deliver curriculum, but to help children build emotional regulation, social resilience, and an understanding of right and wrong. We need public acknowledgement of the problem — not euphemisms like 'we have zero tolerance for this' - because, demonstrably, you don't. Social media has supercharged the problem. Picture: AAP/Dan Peled We need transparency in incident reporting. We need investment in targeted interventions, wraparound services, and well-supported alternative programs. We may need to look seriously at new and emerging technologies that could support more effective interventions, or alert schools to subtle changes in behaviour that may indicate a child has been bullied, abused, or is at risk of harming themselves or others. We need to ensure that teachers and students are protected not just by policies, but in practice. We also need to take a harder look at the legal and regulatory frameworks that govern how schools can respond to violence, intimidation, and abuse – by students and parents. Too often, school leaders are left navigating grey zones — expected to contain serious behavioural risks without the tools or authority to act decisively. They're caught between competing duties: to de-escalate crises, preserve inclusion, avoid liability, and protect the wellbeing of their staff and students — all at once. It's an impossible balancing act. Federal Education Minister Jason Clare visits Cabramatta Public School in western Sydney, his old primary school. John Feder/The Australian. Somewhere, right now, a teacher is being assaulted in their own classroom. A student is sitting in fear because their bully has returned to school. A young child is attending a preschool where trust has already been broken. A teacher is submitting their letter of resignation. And a parent is filling out paperwork to withdraw their child from a system that once promised safety and belonging. None of this is inevitable. But we won't read about the children who were protected from bullying or the growing number of people attracted to teaching as a profession unless we act — with clarity, courage, imagination, and a renewed commitment to the core mission of schooling: to provide a safe place for children to learn, to grow, and to be. - Geoff Riordan is an emeritus professor, a former school teacher, high school assistant principal and the former Dean of Education at the University of Canberra. In the mid-2000s, with Andrew Gonczi, he conducted major reviews of student welfare and discipline policy for the New South Wales Government, covering both public and non-government schools. He has held senior academic leadership roles and continues to advise on education practice, policy and student wellbeing. Originally published as Australia in grip of quiet, escalating crisis in education system
Perth Now
06-08-2025
- Business
- Perth Now
ASX shrugs of Wall St for big gains
The sharemarket has hit a new record high on consolidated predictions of interest rate cuts. The S&P/ASX 200 index smashed past the untouched 8800 point mark before midday Wednesday, continuing the ascension until the close. The benchmark finished up 0.84 per cent, at 8843.7 points, despite lost territory on Wall Street overnight. The broader All Ordinaries closed up 0.9 per cent to 9111.10 while the Australian dollar was trading at 64.87 US cents at time of writing. Solidified hopes of a rate cut on August 12 ignited buyers' engines across the bourse, with share prices rising for 17 of the 20 largest firms. Big players who missed out include TPG Telecom (down 5.1 per cent at $5.22) after an ASX bungle and gaming company Light and Wonder (down 4.1 per cent at $136.48). Rail freighter Aurizon was down 3.7 per cent at $3.13, on the back of concerns over a major contract and a downgrade from Macquarie. The mining and energy sectors were the strongest performers on Wednesday. Jason Edwards / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia But ten of the 11 sectors made gains on Wednesday; materials, energy, discretionaries and real estate sectors all gained more than 1 per cent. Only utilities narrowly lost ground. The top performing stocks were IDP Education (up 11.7 per cent at $4.39) and Pinnacle Investment Management (up 9.5 per cent at $25.21). Investors were confident the tightening cycle was over, eToro analyst Farhan Badami said. 'That's acting as a green light for growth and smaller-cap stocks as a lower interest rate eases debt pressures,' Mr Badami said. 'We're also seeing it play out across financial and materials stocks.' Surging profits, interest rate predictions and a lift in listings produced a 'standout' day for REA Group, Mr Badami said. REA Group posted another year of double-digit earnings growth, making room for a $1.38 final dividend – $2.48 total for the year. Shares finished trading up 6.9 per cent to $254.50. Australia's top-seven real estate stocks are all up more than 8 per cent over the past year. NewsWire / Max Mason-Hubers Credit: News Corp Australia REA Group sits in the communications sector, but the group's cousins over in real estate made large gains Wednesday as well. Only three of the 20 largest real estate equities lost ground. Goodman Group gained 1.6 per cent to $35.47, and Charter Hall Long Wale REIT rose 2.1 per cent, finishing at $4.27. 'Australia has a well‑known obsession with house prices. The RBA is cutting interest rates, and the market is responding,' CBA economists Lucinda Jerogin and Luke Yeaman said in a note. 'Home price growth has outpaced our expectations to date in 2025, fuelled by the RBA's rate cutting cycle. 'Higher homebuyer sentiment, rising real incomes and constrained supply have also been tailwinds. 'Still, this rate cutting cycle is forecast to be shallow, so the market response will not be as strong as previous cycles.' Commonwealth Bank has tweaked its house price forecasts, now tipping a 6 per cent rise this year (previously 4 per cent), and 4 per cent in 2026 (previously 5 per cent). Amid a generally dour year for energy stocks, the sector was top of the table on Wednesday. Whitehaven Coal and New Hope Corp gained 2 per cent each. Mining shares defied a dip in iron ore futures, which slid 0.6 per cent to US$101.80 per tonne. *News Corp is majority owner of REA Group
The Australian
05-08-2025
- Sport
- The Australian
Exciting young Queensland filly being transferred to Peter Moody
One of Queensland's most exciting young horses is being transferred to a new home, bound for Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman in Victoria. Newly turned three-year-old filly Alpha Sofie has produced dynamic wins from back in the field at her last two starts at Eagle Farm, including a thumping victory last Saturday when jockey Cejay Graham set off around her rivals like they were standing still. Deagon horseman Jason Edwards has trained the young daughter of Capitalist, but part-owner Tosh Murphy told him privately before her last win that she would soon be heading to the Moody barn. READ: 'She is so humble': Proud mum revels in daughter's premiership feat Alpha Sofie is being transferred to Peter Moody's stable. Picture: Racing Photos via Getty Images. Edwards is disappointed to lose Alpha Sophie, a $150,000 yearling purchase which he says is clearly the best young horse he has ever trained. But he is certainly not sour, saying Murphy had always been upfront with him that if he had a horse good enough to race down south it would most likely be transferred to an interstate trainer. READ: Bookmaker reveals biggest winners and losers in 2024-25 Moody and Coleman are going to have some fun with Alpha Sofie, which could be a potential Group 1 Thousand Guineas contender in the Melbourne spring. 'She would be very easily the best young horse I've ever had,' Edwards said. 'I'm certainly not filthy on losing her, Tosh pays the bills and he has given me other horses to train. 'The way I look at it, I would rather say that I had her for three starts than to have never had her at all. 'After she won the previous start, Tosh said to me he was going to send her down to Peter Moody. 'The transport was booked but then I saw there was another race at the same track, the same distance and that she would probably be up against similar horses. 'I rang Tosh and said why don't we go to this race and he agreed. 'So I told Peter (Moody) she was having one more run up here and to cancel the transport. 'But I knew it would be her last run for me.' READ: English Premier League stars shooting for Golden Eagle bid Deagon trainer Jason Edwards, who has developed exciting filly Alpha Sofie. Picture: Grant Peters, Trackside Photography. Edwards feels Alpha Sofie is the 'real deal' and could measure up in the big league. 'If you look at her sectionals the other day, her best sectional was from the 400(m) to the 200(m),' Edwards said. 'Normally their first furlong from a standing start isn't their quickest, but normally the next furlong is and that's when they hit their top speed. 'They don't normally do it in the back end of a race. 'She did that circling the field, exposed early, going a long way from home and she still reeled off that good sectional. 'That in itself tells me she is well above average and her recovery afterwards was excellent.' Alpha Sofie has won two of her three career starts and collected $99,000 in prize money, but that might be the tip of the iceberg of what could be ahead given her tremendous potential.
News.com.au
04-08-2025
- Sport
- News.com.au
Exciting young Queensland filly Alpha Sofie being transferred to Peter Moody
One of Queensland's most exciting young horses is being transferred to a new home, bound for Peter Moody and Katherine Coleman in Victoria. Newly turned three-year-old filly Alpha Sofie has produced dynamic wins from back in the field at her last two starts at Eagle Farm, including a thumping victory last Saturday when jockey Cejay Graham set off around her rivals like they were standing still. Deagon horseman Jason Edwards has trained the young daughter of Capitalist, but part-owner Tosh Murphy told him privately before her last win that she would soon be heading to the Moody barn. Edwards is disappointed to lose Alpha Sophie, a $150,000 yearling purchase which he says is clearly the best young horse he has ever trained. But he is certainly not sour, saying Murphy had always been upfront with him that if he had a horse good enough to race down south it would most likely be transferred to an interstate trainer. Moody and Coleman are going to have some fun with Alpha Sofie, which could be a potential Group 1 Thousand Guineas contender in the Melbourne spring. 'She would be very easily the best young horse I've ever had,' Edwards said. 'I'm certainly not filthy on losing her, Tosh pays the bills and he has given me other horses to train. 'The way I look at it, I would rather say that I had her for three starts than to have never had her at all. 'After she won the previous start, Tosh said to me he was going to send her down to Peter Moody. 'The transport was booked but then I saw there was another race at the same track, the same distance and that she would probably be up against similar horses. 'I rang Tosh and said why don't we go to this race and he agreed. 'So I told Peter (Moody) she was having one more run up here and to cancel the transport. 'But I knew it would be her last run for me.' Edwards feels Alpha Sofie is the 'real deal' and could measure up in the big league. 'If you look at her sectionals the other day, her best sectional was from the 400(m) to the 200(m),' Edwards said. 'Normally their first furlong from a standing start isn't their quickest, but normally the next furlong is and that's when they hit their top speed. 'They don't normally do it in the back end of a race. 'She did that circling the field, exposed early, going a long way from home and she still reeled off that good sectional. 'That in itself tells me she is well above average and her recovery afterwards was excellent.' Alpha Sofie has won two of her three career starts and collected $99,000 in prize money, but that might be the tip of the iceberg of what could be ahead given her tremendous potential.
Perth Now
24-07-2025
- Health
- Perth Now
‘Devastating': Private health giant shuts clinics
The country's biggest private hospital company will shut the majority of its psychology clinics in a matter of months. Ramsay Health Care notified staff of the closure of 17 of its 20 clinics earlier this month. The three remaining clinics are in the Newcastle suburb of Charlestown, in Perth's northern suburbs, and in Cairns. 'We understand this change might be unsettling and we are working closely with our psychologists to ensure every client is supported and has continuity of care, whether through our existing and expanded Telehealth service or with another trusted provider, depending on what is clinically appropriate,' a spokesperson said. 'This change is part of Ramsay's broader strategy to strengthen how we deliver high-quality, accessible and connected care across hospital, home and virtual settings.' Ramsay Health Care is a major player in Australia's private healthcare industry. Jason Edwards / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia Only Ramsay's community-based psychology clinics are closing, not its hospital mental health services or inpatient and day programs. Federal Greens leader Larissa Waters said half of Australians who needed mental health support already could not get it. 'The waiting lists are huge, and so it's devastating to see that a private healthcare operator is going to close down yet more facilities, and where are those people going to go?' she said. 'Health care shouldn't be for profit, and it shouldn't be how much money you've got on your credit card to enable you to get the health care that you need. 'So it's a real shame that profit seems to be driving this outcome that will have a real impact.' Ramsay Health is listed on the Australian sharemarket and valued at $8.9bn. The company's share price is down 16 per cent over the past 12 months. Erina on the NSW Central Coast is one of the clinics to close. Google Credit: Supplied In August, Ramsay Health Care reported a nearly triple full-year profit of $888.7m, up from $298.1m the year before. The large return was mostly due to the sale of Ramsay's stake in Ramsay Sime Darby, which owns hospitals in Malaysia and Indonesia. The financial results gave shareholders an 80 cent dividend per share across the financial year. 'The government should be providing healthcare services as a universal right of all Australians, and it shouldn't be whether or not a private company's profit margin is going to work to determine the outcomes for Australians' access to mental health care,' Ms Waters said. The 17 clinics are being shut progressively until the final one closes the doors permanently by the end of August. Ramsay Health Care's share price has tumbled over the past year. NewsWire / Gaye Gerard Credit: News Corp Australia Four Melbourne clinics are being shut, three in Sydney will close, two in Perth will shut, and single clinics on the Sunshine Coast, Ipswich, the Gold Coast, NSW's Central Coast and Wollongong will close. 'After careful consideration, we are transitioning Ramsay Psychology to a more flexible and sustainable model, which includes the progressive closure of 17 clinics by the end of August,' the Ramsay spokesperson said. 'Three clinics, in Cairns (QLD), Charlestown (NSW) and Joondalup (WA), will remain open to support local needs, maintain key partnerships and pilot more integrated models of care. 'Ramsay Health Care is reshaping how it delivers community-based mental health support to better meet the evolving needs of clients and clinicians.' The National Mental Health Commission's National Report Card was also released on Thursday, the same day as news of the Ramsay closures broke. Health commission chief executive David McGrath said fewer and fewer people could afford mental health care. 'We have also seen a steady rise in financial stress and in the proportion of people in Australia delaying mental health care due to cost in the last four years,' Mr McGrath said in the report. 'Disappointingly, many social factors impacting mental health are not showing improvement (e.g. loneliness and experiences of discrimination) and positive experiences of mental health care have remained stable.' People were feeling less secluded than in the previous year, the commission found, and more people were getting help now than in 2007. 'However, there is no question there is a long way to go – our younger generations continue to report heightened psychological distress and financial stress and have a much higher prevalence of mental health challenges relative to the rest of the population,' Mr McGrath said.
