The ACT Greens back the Australian Education Union's calls on the ACT Government to address safety and wellbeing concerns raised by principals, teachers and other school staff.
"Every worker everywhere deserves a safe and respectful workplace. This must include Canberra's principals, teachers and other school staff," said Johnathan Davis MLA, ACT Greens Member for Brindabella and Spokesperson for Education.
"All Canberrans would be rightly concerned by the release of the 2022 Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing Survey that shows that ACT school leaders face the highest rates of physical violence and threats of violence across Australia.
"Additionally, in April 2022 the AEU presented the ACT Government with the results of a survey, completed by a majority of AEU principal members, which showed 37% of principals reported being bulled in the last six months, primarily by parents and community members and 69% of principals reported experiencing work-related violence including being sexually assaulted, physically assaulted and intimidated in the past six months.
"In response, the AEU have released a 10-point plan for action - a range of immediate interventions that the ACT Government can and should make to improve working conditions for Canberra's principals, teacher and other school staff. The ACT Greens support the union's proposal.
"As a result, the ACT Greens will not be supporting a motion from the Canberra Liberals in the Assembly this week calling for an Assembly committee to inquire into this issue. The time for talk is over - the ACT Government must now act to keep principals, teachers and other school staff safe at work," Mr Davis concluded.
