Parents, students, teachers and the whole community are being encouraged to share their ideas about how we can work together to stamp out bullying in Australian schools ahead of a national expert forum being held in Canberra tomorrow.

School Education Minister Peter Garrett is convening the expert forum at Parliament House, bringing together school principals, parent groups, young people and experts in education, child welfare, psychology and marketing.

“The Gillard Government takes the issue of bullying very seriously because we know what a devastating effect it can have on the lives of students and their families,” he said.

“We’ve already done a lot to help address bullying in schools. Now I want to hear from the community and from experts about what more we can do, what has been working in our schools and how we can help parents become more involved.

“We can’t ignore the damage that school bullying inflicts. The statistics are staggering: one in six students are bullied weekly and one in five students has experienced some form of cyber-bullying.

“It’s a serious problem for the immediate welfare of our children. And because bullying impacts on education, it impacts our nation’s future.

“We have a world-wide challenge, with new technologies making bullying easier and spreading its reach beyond the school gates. The problem no longer stops and starts with the school bell.

“The forum will look at how parents and schools can work together, what strategies have been successful that other schools can learn from, and how parents can help by teaching their kids that bullying is unacceptable.

“Send me an email, a tweet, or post on my Facebook page, if you have an idea about what more we can do to help stop bullying,” Mr Garrett said.

The forum builds on the Gillard Government’s strong support of programs that help make every school a safe school – like the Cybersafety Help Button, the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence, the National Safe Schools Framework and the $125 million investment in developing a Cybersafety Plan.

The forum will be facilitated by Dr Lance Emerson, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.

The other forum participants are:

• Phillip Heath—Principal, Radford College and representing the Independent Schools Council of Australia
• Dr Helen McGrath—Deakin University
• Prof. Phillip Slee—Flinders University
• Dr Michael Carr-Gregg—adolescent psychologist
• Sjon Kraan and Lauren Jew—Australian Youth Forum
• Danielle Cronin—Chair National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) Parent Committee
• Helen Thomas—NCEC
• Ian Dalton—Australian Parents Council
• Stephanie Gotlib—Children with Disability Australia
• Heather Parkes—Principals Australia Institute
• Jihad Dib—Principal, Punchbowl Boys High
• Heather Watson—Education Services Australia
• Anna Brazier—Safe & Supportive Schools
• Dr Ken Rigby—Uni SA
• Dee Madigan—Gruen Transfer Panellist

People can Tweet their ideas to the Minister using the hashtag #bullyingnoway; post their ideas on the Minister’s Facebook page or email antibullyingforum@deewr.gov.au by 5pm today. The ideas and comments received will be discussed as part of tomorrow’s forum.