22/10/2009

New law only a step in the right direction to fix Tweed school truancy

“...Simply increasing the fines will not address the underlying problem...”

Parents of the Tweed's 9000 schoolchildren have a greater incentive to make sure their kids attend school with the passage of a new law in the State Parliament - but more needs to be done, according to Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest.

The MP told the Legislative Assembly he didn't oppose the Government's Education Amendment (School Attendance) Bill, but questioned how it would be applied to the 15 per cent of families who lived on one side of the border but sent their children to schools on the other side.

The new law allows magistrates to fine parents who fail without justification to send their children to school up to $2500 for a first offence.

“Simply increasing the fines will not address the underlying problem. Parents who are well off will not be hit by these penalties but it will hit parents who are on Centrelink payments. ” Mr Provest said.

“The bill is a step in the right direction but we need a whole-of-government approach.”

“The failure of a family to educate a child can be caused by wide-ranging factors, such as mental illness, drug and alcohol addiction, social isolation, parental disabilities, and an absence of parenting skills or family disruptions.”

“The Department of Community Services is already fairly heavily involved in the Tweed electorate. Last year alone, approximately 2,400 cases in the Tweed electorate were reported to the Kids Line, which is an increase of several hundred on the year before.”

“I am 100 per cent committed to the schoolchildren of the Tweed,” Mr Provest concluded.