Time to create a difference in schools for a safe future

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A YOUNG group from Mildura debated potential Bills of the future in the Y Victorian Youth Parliament in early July. This included one drafted by them, called the Family Violence Education in Secondary Schools Bill, 2025.

The Youth Parliamentarians from the Mildura Rural City Council debated their Bill at Parliament House in Victoria for the 39th Youth Parliament.

The Bill successfully passed and was presented to the Minister of Youth, Hon. Natalie Suleyman at the Closing Ceremony of the program.

Talking about the importance of this topic, Ms Ovenden said: ‘Family violation does not necessarily begin with bruises. Manifesting isolation, controlling language, or financial intimidation’.

The Mildura group included six young intellectuals who desire to utilise education for an improved future based on egalitarian principles, where Australia is substantially more successful in preventing family violence.

The Youth Parliamentarians sponsoring the Bill are Alex Senior, Alissa Ovenden, Darcie Hessey, Molly Pavilach, Taneshia Shaw, and Yuwaluxshayan Kannan.

The Bill aims to develop an educational program intended for secondary schools via the perspective of equality from the very onset of their transition to adulthood and aiming to capitalise on their growing maturity.

As stated by Pavilach: “Education is a key preventative measure that we must take advantage of to stop the cycle of enduring victims”.

As outlined by Shaw: “Educating students while they are still young, and getting into more long-term relationships… teaching them that family violence is never okay, even if they grow up surrounded by family violence”.

With the aim, they also intend the Bill to effectively establish a Family Violence Education Board as the backbone of the program to oversee the smooth implementation and administration of the program in schools.

The Board will assist the aim of the program, as reiterated by Kannan: “When we educate everyone, We protect everyone”.

The group has taken time to develop an intricated Bill that could eventually be adopted in the actual Victorian legislation, also keeping the Bill fluid to be inclusive of diverse groups, from various cultural backgrounds to consideration of the LGBTQ+ community.

A conversation with the group indicated the importance of the Bill, as they intend to replace existing ineffective school programs such as “Respectful Relationships”.

According to Senior: “This Bill is more specialised and aimed towards prevention. It’s more about identifying, and therefore minimising any potential impacts and behaviour, via targeted education”.

The group even indicated their personal association with this issue and their own understanding, as they originate from a rural area, where they mentioned there is a higher prevalence of family violence inside the homes, especially in Mildura.

This is why they are profoundly interested that the Bill not only becomes an Act in Victoria but rather is replicated as an inspiration across other states/territories which are lacking concrete laws regarding education in secondary schools on family violence.

A constructive conversation with Dr Stephen Burrell, a Senior Lecturer at the Criminology Department of the University of Melbourne, provided great support for the Bill.

He supported the aims of the Bill to improve the quality of education on family violence, emphasising the importance of creating a safe environment for young people to learn about healthy happy relationships in schools.

He added that family violence is not taken seriously in schools which has been generating an education gap leading to cases of repeated family violence. In particular, he maintained stress on providing adequate training to teachers, so that they are not lumbered at the last minute.

The Bill’s positive verdict demonstrates its importance acknowledged by other Youth Parliamentarians, which was even a recurring affirmation during the debate by both sides.

Hence, a clear goal is set by the Mildura team, as acknowledged by Hessey: “One community, One conversation, One student at a time”.