Canberra school students now have the ongoing support of the ACT government to participate in peaceful protests, but the opposition has warned about the risk of increasing anxiety of young children or exposing them to "offensive" messages.
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Greens MLA Johnathan Davis moved a motion in the Legislative Assembly on Thursday to formalise a policy of support to allow student to attend demonstrations.
It also called on the government to consider strengthening support to Elections ACT and the ACT Legislative Assembly education offices to improve civics and democracy education in schools.
But opposition education spokesman Jeremy Hanson said there were unintended consequences of exposing young children to offensive language and heightening their anxiety about issues such as climate change.
"It's fair to say that our kids are facing a lot of stress at the moment through Covid, through climate change, and we've got to find the right balance between informing children, making sure they're aware, but also making sure that they're not overexposed, that they don't become frightened, they don't become plagued with anxiety," Mr Hanson said.
Mr Hanson read out several messages written on placards from climate change protests, including "I hope Scott's house burns down" and "break the Liberals, not the planet".
"Is that the message that we want to be necessarily sending out there to young children?" he said.
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Mr Davis said the same causes of young people's anxieties and frustrations were driving them to protest movements.
He said Mr Hanson had been selective in his quotes from protest placards.
"Nothing quite invokes your emotional temperament quiet like pending climate doom so in those instances, I'll forgive some of those young people for colourful use of language," Mr Davis said.
Education Minister Yvette Berry said students never had to seek permission from her or the Education Directorate to attend peaceful protests but they did need to get permission from their parents or carers.
Ms Berry attended the ACT Youth Assembly on Friday where students shared views on sustainability, youth employment and respectful relationships.
The Legislative Assembly declared support for the ACT Strike for Climate in 2019.
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Sarah Lansdown
Sarah covers all stages of education in the capital, from early childhood to higher education. Previously she was a general news reporter at The Advocate in North West Tasmania. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2019 Tasmanian Media Awards for a series on paramedic shortages. Email: sarah.lansdown@canberratimes.com.au
Sarah covers all stages of education in the capital, from early childhood to higher education. Previously she was a general news reporter at The Advocate in North West Tasmania. She was named Best New Journalist at the 2019 Tasmanian Media Awards for a series on paramedic shortages. Email: sarah.lansdown@canberratimes.com.au
