In a determined effort to combat bullying in schools, the Federal Government has committed $10 million to address this pervasive issue. The initiative includes the introduction of new national standards that mandate schools to address bullying complaints within 48 hours of being reported.

Education Minister Jason Clare unveiled the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review initiative in February. This review seeks to assess current strategies for preventing and responding to bullying in schools while identifying areas in need of improvement.

The urgency of this initiative is underscored by troubling statistics from the eSafety Commissioner, revealing that 53 percent of young Australians have encountered cyberbullying. Furthermore, research by Bullying No Way highlights that one in four students between year four and year nine experience bullying at least every few weeks.

To support this initiative, the government’s $10 million investment will be divided equally. Half will fund an awareness campaign, while the other half will provide resources for parents, teachers, and students, equipping them with the tools needed to effectively tackle bullying.

The $10 million investment from the government as part of this review will be split evenly between an awareness campaign and resources for parents, teachers and students.

“We’re going to allocate $5 million to provide some tools for teachers. While parents have told us they want action earlier, parents of teachers have told us that they need the tools and the training so that they can do the job,” Jason Clare told Today.

“There are programs that are already being used by some schools. We’re going to put all of those online in a hub, so that they can go to one place to get the best tools and the best programs to roll out in their schools.”

“Parents have told us that they think it’s really important that we nip this in the bud, where there’s a complaint that bullying has happened, the school needs action within the first 48 hours.”

“And that involves talking to the children, but it also involves talking to the mums and dads, the parents of the child that’s been bullied and the parents of the child that’s been doing the bullying.”

One of the main recommendations was the need for quick and clear action when a complaint or incident occurs.

“[Punishments] can involve suspension. It can involve expulsion in the most extreme circumstances.

“What happens here is that if you act early, you can stop the harm from repeating. You can stop the action from recurring.”

The review contained over 1700 submissions from parents, students, teachers and staff recommending that schools should respond to incidents within two school days.

“A lot of parents told us it was taking too long for some schools to act on bullying complaints,” said Clare.

The Federal Government’s under-16 social media ban is set to come into effect on December 10, which the review expects will also drastically help in reducing cyberbullying.