New Victorian legislation protecting schools from persons posing risk of harm

Learn about the upcoming School Community Safety Orders, intended to counter violent or aggressive behaviour on school sites from people including parents and guardians.

A new Bill enabling schools to issue a School Community Safety Order has recently been introduced into the Victorian Parliament. The School Community Safety Act, if passed, will probably come into effect around August and will cover government and non-government schools. 

The Bill will enable principals or other authorised persons to issue an immediate order, followed if necessary, by an ongoing order for up to 12 months, which can prohibit or regulate certain conduct on school premises to protect members of the school community from harmful, threatening, or abusive behaviour, including via vexatious communications.  

An Order can be also made where the authorised person reasonably believes that a person poses an unacceptable and imminent risk of causing significant disruption to the school or school activities or poses an unacceptable and imminent risk of interfering with the wellbeing, safety or educational opportunities of students. 

An Order must list the scope of the prohibitions or conditions that will apply, including the school-related places to which the order applies and times or places when the order does not apply .  

The Act will provide for civil penalties for the breach of those orders. An order cannot be made in respect to a person under 18 years of age or a staff member or student at the relevant school.  

The person who receives the order can seek an internal review of the order and appeal the order at Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal. 

The IEU will update members with further information as the scheme is rolled out, including how it will operate logistically in Diocesan Catholic schools. Cross-sectoral resources will be developed to assist schools with the aspects of the new Act, including a communication strategy.  

Members may also wish to access other resources dealing with aggressive and violent school community behaviour. The CECV guidelines which apply to all Catholic schools provide an important comprehensive approach for schools. The IEU notes these guidelines will need to be updated to encompass the new Community Safety Orders. The current guidelines can be found on the CECV website.

This article was originally published in The Point, V1, No2, 2021.