LOUISE MILLER-FROST, MEMBER FOR BOOTHBY: We're here at Clapham Primary School with my friend, the Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth and a lot of the Year 6 students who have been showing us their work around respect. This is a really important thing both here in the school, where it's one of their school values, but also for their lives out in the community, in their families, and of course online. So Amanda you've got a fantastic announcement today.
AMANDA RISHWORTH, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Thank you. Recently the Federal Government launched our Stop it at the Start campaign. This is a campaign about making sure that older people are able to have important conversations with young people in their lives about what respect looks like and what do respectful relationships look like? Now one of the pieces of research coming out in the development of that program is that a lot of adults, parents and other caregivers aren't aware of the type of online environment many young people are actually experiencing. There is often a lot of disrespect online, but adults don't actually know that that's happening to young people. So this campaign is also about raising awareness for parents and caregivers, and importantly encouraging them to have conversations with their young people about what respect looks like. But to further this campaign and encourage engagement, today I'm launching a school's competition for young people to design a storyboard about what respect looks like. So I was just working with the students, they were engaging in this task and coming up with their own stories about what disrespect looks like and what respect looks like. Now part of this competition will involve younger children in years four to six and older children in years seven to nine. They'll put together an eight-scene storyboard describing what respectful relationships look like to them, how you might intervene and stop disrespect. The winner of this competition will see their storyboard be put into animation and receive a $500 gift voucher. Speaking with the teachers here at Clapham Primary School, respect is a very key value that is taught at this school. And that is really important, but we need parents and caregivers to be also engaging in this conversation and for young people and children to be engaging in this conversation. So it's really, really wonderful to be here to start to hear some of the beginnings of the ideas that the students have. And I will ask Kaiden to share some of his online experiences, and also talk a little bit about his idea for his storyboard. So I'll ask a question, if that's all right. Kaiden you were telling us that you have witnessed some things online. Tell us what, on what forum were you online, and what did you witness?
KAIDEN, STUDENT, 11-YEARS-OLD: I witnessed racial abuse and some swearing, and it was pretty rude to some people and some people were upset with it. Not a lot of people tell their parents about it because they might be scared to, or they don't want to like make a big deal of it.
JOURNALIST: Do you think that people like yourself feel comfortable to have those conversations?
KAIDEN: I think it's pretty important that kids should be able to reach out to their parents and explain to them what's happening in their life. So then their parents can help them along, like the rest of their life and teach them how they can keep going on with that.
JOURNALIST: Do you think something like this, creating your own story and watching other people's stories and getting involved with this competition, do you think it'll be a good way to make kids focus and learn?
KAIDEN: I think it will be a good way to help people understand and to realise they need to be better.
JOURNALIST: You talked about having those conversations with parents, but what about your peers and your friends? How important is it to have those conversations amongst each other as well?
KAIDEN: I think it's good to have your friends back at that time as well. So, if like, if you don't want to tell your parents, there might be another trusted person you could tell like your friends, or maybe like a coach, maybe a teacher. They could help you out. If you do have your friends on that same website, or maybe game, they could help you out, like having your back a bit.
JOURNALIST: And Kaiden, your inspiration is Ari. Tell us what happens in your storyboard.
KAIDEN: In our storyboard we're talking about how people get disrespected. So it starts off with them being a bit rude to other people and then they kind of get sucked into the game, it’s sort of brutal. And then they can hear everyone's voices on what's going on through the screens, while they're in the actual reality of it. And then they start to realise like how bad it can make some feel.
JOURNALIST: Sounds good. Is it from what you've experienced? Do you think this kind of disrespect, is it worse online than it is in real life?
KAIDEN: Yeah, I think it is because I feel like people are more brave behind the screen so they can really express themselves behind the screen but don't actually realise it's the exact same as doing the same thing in real life.
JOURNALIST: Cassie, can you explain to us from managing these issues at a school perspective, how challenging that is when it comes to problems, particularly online when that comes to disrespectful behaviours?
CASSIE KOPIAS, PRINCIPAL: It's become a huge issue. I know that quite often we get families emailing us or ringing us at school explaining that over the weekend or at night there's been online behaviour that has been quite disrespectful and as a school, can we please help these families in navigating these tricky situations. It is big. So quite often we are helping our families at a school level to work through the problems that their families are having at home. And something like this is amazing because it allows a platform and a forum for these families to now I guess be educated at home to be able to help their kids through those times where you know, the school isn't available for our students.
JOURNALIST: What is the biggest hurdle that you guys need to clear to get through to the kids that might not know?
CASSIE KOPIAS: I think the biggest hurdle is because it's so instantaneous. I think the kids have that real ability to hop online and send those messages and play those games at night. And I think it's also about teaching our kids to think about what they're doing before they actually start typing on the keyboards or on the phones and it's taking that time to realise that if I do this now it's out there in the digital platform and it is permanent and what are we doing to make sure that the kids can actually stop and think about these things before they actually type what they do. They don't realise that it's a permanent footprint. So it’s really important for us as educators to get them to stop and think about what they're doing and realise that whether it's words or whether it's in typing it hurts.
JOURNALIST: How long have schools got to participate in this?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Schools have got a number of months. I’d direct people to the website [respect.gov.au] to have a look. You don't need to do it at school, you can do it at home. Parents are encouraged to engage in this work, and they'll be able to submit the entry. But it is a really great opportunity to engage in this work and be part of it and to also engage with the other resources online. This is a really important campaign. I will also encourage parents to have a look at the algorithm of disrespect online. What I see on the internet, it's quite different from what young people see on the internet. There is a lot of casual sexism, potentially as we heard from Kaiden racial slurs, so it's really important that parents are able to engage, understand the content that is bombarding their young people and actually able to support them through it.
JOURNALIST: So a winner from all Years 4 to 6, and Years 7 to 9 is that one from each of those groups nationwide?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: One from each of those groups nationwide will be winning in those categories. It is really exciting to think that the storyboard will be turned into animation and in addition to the financial incentive as well.
JOURNALIST: Obviously a significant day yesterday with the announcements around the federal response to the Disability Royal Commission, what's your response to advocates in this space who have criticised what the Federal Government is doing? And at this stage, only agreeing in full to 13 recommendations?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: Well, let's be clear. The Royal Commission was not just directed at the Commonwealth Government. The Royal Commission is directed at all governments and all governments responded yesterday. We have the Federal Government's response to the 84 recommendations that were directed at the Commonwealth. Then there were 85 recommendations directed jointly to the states and territories and the Commonwealth, and then 50 that were directed to the states and territories. I understand from advocates and many people with disability that they put a lot of effort and a lot of submissions into the Royal Commission. And I just like to thank them for that. I just need to make it clear that we haven't waited until the response of the Royal Commission to start making Australia a more inclusive place for people with disability to protect them against neglect and harm. And I think at the heart of the Royal Commission, it was a call for action. We absolutely support the vision of the Royal Commission. And we will work through those recommendations, many that are joint with the states and territories. Now I would point out, of the 172 that the Commonwealth has some joint responsibility or sole responsibility, we've actually accepted or accepted in principle 130 of them. Now when we say accept in principle, I need to be clear that the work in many of those recommendations has begun. But we cannot complete the work until the first stage has begun. But when we say in principle, we absolutely support the overarching intent of those recommendations. So I would say that we will continue to work with the disability community to make sure that we do have a society that is free from neglect and abuse and exploitation of people with disability. I understand progress can be slower than some advocates do want, but we're absolutely committed. We're committed to reporting on a six-monthly basis. All states and territories along with the Commonwealth have committed to that transparency, and we will continue to work to implement the vision of the Royal Commission, along with those recommendations.
JOURNALIST: Speaking of the states and territories, I understand South Australian Premier Peter Malinauskas and Jeremy Rockliff of Tasmania will meet with Bill Shorten tomorrow to discuss their reservations around some legislative changes and the prospect of changes to eligibility. Is the Federal Government happy to continue to work with the states around the proposed legislation that sits in Parliament at the moment?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: I think when it comes to disability reform, working with the states and territories on the Disability Royal Commission response shows that we are absolutely committed to working with states and territories on this area. Myself, I'm working with states and territories on the concept of foundational supports. These are really important reforms and support that will be put in place to support people with a disability outside the NDIS. And of course, we will keep working with the states and territories on NDIS reform. I have to be clear that I think there is a lot of agreement across the NDIS reform in making sure that the funding is focused on evidence-based interventions that support people to actually live a productive and enjoyable life. I think that is absolutely the case. We will continue to work with the states and territories making sure of course, people with disability are at the centre of that work.
JOURNALIST: On Radio National this morning Peter Malinauskas was concerned about how the potential changes, if they roll out as currently proposed, people could potentially slip through the gaps without the platforms that are in place considering the changes that states have made to provide disability services in recent years off the back the NDIS. Can you see where he's coming from?
AMANDA RISHWORTH: What I can say is that we need to reform the NDIS. We need to make sure people get the right support and the support that makes a difference in their lives. We also need to make sure that there are supports outside the NDIS and that is what the agreement at National Cabinet was, to work on a system of foundational supports. There is a broad consistency and desire to do that. So we'll keep working with the states and territories on those two big reforms, but ultimately, the Royal Commission’s call, and I'll bring you back to the Royal Commission, was that it is not just within the NDIS or disability supports that make a more inclusive society. It is right across every department, whether that is state and territory and Commonwealth education departments, whether that's health departments, whether that's in communications, the Attorney General's department right across the board, transport as well. Transport is critically important. So we're actually going to make sure that there is an inclusive society for people with disability. Of course, we need to work on making sure that the NDIS is the best it can be. That there's supports for people outside the NDIS as well, so they don't fall through the cracks. But also, if we need to have our mainstream systems more inclusive of people with disability, and as I've said, if a building is not accessible, it doesn't matter how many NDIS supports you have, you actually can't get through the door. So we've got to work in all of these areas. And all of this work involves not just the Federal Government, it doesn't just involve the states and territories, we clearly have to work together.