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ADJOURNMENT ON NATIONAL ACTION DAY AGAINST BULLYING AND

VIOLENCE 22 August 2013

The Hon. SHAOQUETT MOSELMANE [12.36 p.m.]: I also support the motion andcongratulate the mover of the motion, the Hon. Catherine Cusack. I congratulate also mycolleagues who spoke in support of this very important motion: the Hon. Amanda Fazio, the

Hon. Paul Green and others. I note pargraph 2 of the motion, which states:

That this House congratulates the organisers of the day [National Action Day against bullyingand violence], particularly those schools and principals and teachers who have taken up thecampaign in order to make the message meaningful and powerful in their own school

communities, and all the students who embraced the "stand together" message by embracingactivities during the day.

Bullying is a silent killer; and what we know about it these days is just the tip of the iceberg.Bullying occurs in every country around the globeevery hour, every second of the day. It

happens in all places, whether they be schools, neighbourhoods, homes or workplaces. Oftenthe victims, especially children, suffer in silence. A number of members have spoken about

the psychological impacts; those remain with the victims, young people in particular, for a

very long time after they leave school. Bullying can take place in a number of ways. As wehave heard, it can be physicalas noted in the comments by the Hon. Paul Green. We have

heard also comments about other forms of bullying, such as verbal, indirect, cyber/online,and through social alienation and intimidation. The latter type of bullying has significant

impacts on the victims when they are around other schoolchildren; they fear the alienationand intimidation by bullies, who cause them great psychological harm for many years. Thereare so many varying dimensions and effects of this vicious cycle, often before victims have

the courage to stand up, speak out and seek help.

I support this motion against bullying because bullying has become an epidemic, often withdevastating results. The focus must be on countering and addressing bullying at national and

international levels. An estimated 200 million children and young people around the worldare being bullied by their schoolmates and peers. A survey of schools in about 40 countriesfound that Australian primary schools were among those with the highest reported incidence

of bullying in the world. Apparently 25 per cent of students in year 4 are affected by bullying.It is evident that we need to have greater public awareness and more education initiatives,such as the National Action Day of Action Against Bullying and Violence, to help keep our

schools, families and communities stay safe. As I mentioned, the statistics are simplyunbelievable.

We must put a stop to bullying. As a number of speakers have said, it has to start witheducators, lawmakers, policy makers, politicians and parents. The problem is concerning, as

bullying may lead to severe depression for many people. People react in a range of ways tobullying. Some people abuse alcohol and drugs, and there have been reported cases of

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suicide. On 24 May, the Courier Mail ran a story with the headline, "13 child suicides in threeyears prompt call for action as bullying victims take their own lives". The article went on to

say that a record seven child suicides just in the year 2012-13 were likely to have been causedby bullying. These disturbing figures came as experts, including the Australian Human Rights

Commission, say that bullying is endemic in Australia, which was been ranked worst in the

world for social network bullying. In addition, bullying complaints to the Australian HumanRights Commission have soared by almost 40 per cent to 17,000 a year.

According to studies at Yale University, bullying victims are between two and nine times

more likely to consider suicide than non-victims. A study in Britain found that at least half ofsuicides among young people are related to bullying. What struck me whilst reading thestatistics on bullying was the prevalence of bullying against Aboriginal and Torres Islander

kids in schools, communities and public places. The 2008 National Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander Social Survey provides the first available Australian Bureau of Statistics data

on bullying among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. In this survey "bullying"referred only to those situations in which the child was bullied at school for being Aboriginal

or Torres Strait Islandernot bullying in general.

That survey showed that in 2008, one in 10 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children

aged between four and 14 years reported being bullied at school because of their Indigenousorigin. Of those children who had been bullied, 24 per cent said that their school attendancehad been affected and 17 per cent said that the bullying had impacted on their progress at

school. That is a significant number of young members of the Indigenous community who aresuffering as a result of bullying. Bullying cuts across all communities. All communities suffer

in one way or another. If you add elements of racism to bullying then it becomes an evenmore damaging and dangerous cocktail for people. I read an article yesterday by Ross Gittensin which he quoted a survey of racial attitudes and experience across Australia released by

the University of Western Sydney. That survey notes:

The state reported the highest levels of anti-Muslim attitudes (54.4 per cent). Anti-Muslimsentiment in Sydney's central-west corridor, the arena for the federal election's racial tussles,ran as high as 60 and 61 per cent.

If you add those sorts of racial attitudes to bullying then there will be a significant impact on

communities. Many members of those communities, particularly the young people, willsuffer significantly as a result. Bullying is to be condemned wherever it takes place, whetherit is in the workplace or in the community. It can even happen in places such as houses of

Parliament. An article in the Sydney Morning Herald by Philip Dorling is entitled "Chronicbullying and harassment is rife in Parliament House, a Senate committee says". I will not read

the whole report but part of it says:

Senior executives in the department have denied any problem

The Senate inquiry found significant issues. Sometimes people who are in executive or senior

positions seem to be blind to these issues. This denial occurred, the article continues:

even though staff surveys indicated one in five staff had been bullied, one in three had

witnessed bullying and only one in three thought management was effective.

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So bullying does occur in very significant workplaces, but there seems to be a barrier put upby people in positions of authority who need to understand the impact and the effects of

bullying. I support the motion, and congratulate the Hon. Catherine Cusack on moving it.