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committee's report

The committee tabled its report on 7 November 2011.

View:   Report No. 5, 53rd Parliament - Education and Training Legislation Amendment Bill 2011
View:   Government Response
View:   Education and Training Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 
View:   Explanatory Notes

Referral

On 2^nd August 2011 the Hon Cameron Dick, Minister for Education and Industrial Relations introduced the into the Queensland Parliament. Subsequently, Parliament referred the Bill to its Industry, Education, Training and Industrial Relations Committee for detailed consideration.

The Bill

The Bill aims to protect the safety and wellbeing of Queensland students through amendments relating to the reporting of sexual abuse and the cancellation of teacher registration, and makes other minor and technical amendments.

The Bill will amend the Education (General Provisions) Act 2006 (EGPA) to:

• Extend the mandatory requirements regarding the reporting of sexual abuse to include reporting where a staff member becomes aware, or reasonably suspects a student has been sexually abused by any person, or reasonably suspects a student is likely to be sexually abused by any person;
• Allows directors of non-state school governing bodies to delegate their function to make and receive reports about sexual abuse under the EGPA; and
• Promote timely reporting by requiring principals to report allegations of sexual abuse or a likelihood of sexual abuse directly to the police.

The Bill will also amend the Education (Queensland College of Teachers) Act 2005 (QCT Act) to:

• Provide for the automatic cancellation of teacher registration or permission to teach where a person is convicted, after commencement of part 4 of the Bill, of a serious offence, irrespective of whether the person is sentenced to imprisonment;
• Permanently prevent a person, including a former teacher whose registration has lapsed, from applying for teacher registration or permission to teach if they are convicted of a serious offence after commencement of part 4 of the Bill;
• Enable a person who is prohibited from applying for registration or permission to teach to seek, in limited circumstances, an eligibility declaration, which, if granted, will enable the person to then make a separate application to the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) to apply for registration or permission to teacher; and
• Enable the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) to make disciplinary orders to prohibit a person from applying for registration or permission to teach for a stated period of time or for life.

In addition to these child protection measures, the Bill will:

      (i) reduce restrictions on Queensland universities regarding the leasing of land dedicated as reserve or granted in trust (trust land) and to provide clarity about permitted use of certain trust land; and
      (ii) make other minor and technical amendments.

Other Information

The Queensland Parliamentary Library has also produced a Research Brief - RBR2011-19 - Cancellation of teacher registration upon conviction of a serious offence under the Education and Training Legislation Amendment Bill 2011 (Qld).  This Research Brief looks at one of the key aspects of the Education and Training Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, specifically, the cancellation of a teacher's registration for life, where the teacher is convicted of a serious offence, irrespective of whether the person is sentenced to imprisonment. The current situation in Queensland, the details of the proposed changes and the current situation in other Australian jurisdictions are examined.

2010 Queensland University of Technology report titled Teachers reporting child sexual abuse: Towards evidence-based reform of law, policy and practice  by Dr Ben Mathews, Dr Kerryann Walsh, Professor Des Butler and Professor Ann Farrell. 

timeline

Submissions closed:    15 September 2011
Public Hearing:            12 October 2011 Transcript
Public Briefing:             24 August 2011 Transcript