❓ The Minister for Education outlines new measures to combat vaping in WA schools, including changes to student behaviour policies, vape detector trials, and mandatory education programs. The initiative aims to reduce vaping rates among young people and educate parents on the dangers.
AnsweredQoN 803Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
SCHOOLS — VAPING
803. Mr P. LILBURNE to the Minister for Education:
I
refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment to protecting the
health and wellbeing of students and school communities.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the government's introduction of strong
new measures to stamp out vaping in WA schools?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these measures aim to educate students on the
dangers of vaping?
803. Mr P. LILBURNE to the Minister for Education:
I
refer to the Cook Labor government's commitment to protecting the
health and wellbeing of students and school communities.
(1) Can the
minister update the house on the government's introduction of strong
new measures to stamp out vaping in WA schools?
(2) Can the
minister advise the house how these measures aim to educate students on the
dangers of vaping?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) I
certainly can answer that, member, and thank you for the question. Today I announced
a raft of measures to crack down on vaping in Western Australian schools. As we
all know, vaping is a major health issue facing society. Of particular concern
is the number of young people taking up vaping. The measures today are geared
to try to reduce the upward trend of young people taking up vaping. One of the
measures is a change in the student
behaviour policy for schools in Western Australia. Therefore, if students are
caught either vaping or in possession
of vaping equipment on school premises, they will lose good standing, which means that they will not be able to attend things like school camps,
graduations and other extracurricular activities. We will have a 24-month trial
of vape detectors in 10 schools in the regions and in the north and south
metropolitan areas. We are also mandating programs for years 5 to 7 that are
designed to outline the dangers of vaping for students. This will build on the
material that was announced and introduced in June last year in WA schools, the
anti-vaping toolkit, which provides new teaching and learning resources to
educate our students of the harm related to vaping. It may surprise members,
but some parents do not realise the harm that vaping does. Some parents believe
that it is not so bad for students or that their kids will not take up smoking.
I will also write to all parents outlining the harm of vaping, because it is
very dangerous and often leads to people taking up smoking.
Western Australia and Australia have
a brilliant track record in reducing smoking. We lead the world in various anti�smoking campaigns. It is now time
that we did it in the vaping space. I acknowledge the work of the
Minister for Health on this. This is a whole-of-government approach to a very
important issue. It has been led in many
avenues by the Minister for Health working in conjunction with her colleagues
across Australia. As the Minister for Education, I thought it was very appropriate
that I brought these measures in now. We
believe these measures will go some way to reducing the alarming rates of
vaping among our young people. I implore all members of this house to
speak to their schools, as we have spoken to school leaders, principals,
teachers and students. Many students are concerned about this trend of vaping.
Hopefully, these measures will go some way to addressing the very concerning
issue of vaping among our young people.
certainly can answer that, member, and thank you for the question. Today I announced
a raft of measures to crack down on vaping in Western Australian schools. As we
all know, vaping is a major health issue facing society. Of particular concern
is the number of young people taking up vaping. The measures today are geared
to try to reduce the upward trend of young people taking up vaping. One of the
measures is a change in the student
behaviour policy for schools in Western Australia. Therefore, if students are
caught either vaping or in possession
of vaping equipment on school premises, they will lose good standing, which means that they will not be able to attend things like school camps,
graduations and other extracurricular activities. We will have a 24-month trial
of vape detectors in 10 schools in the regions and in the north and south
metropolitan areas. We are also mandating programs for years 5 to 7 that are
designed to outline the dangers of vaping for students. This will build on the
material that was announced and introduced in June last year in WA schools, the
anti-vaping toolkit, which provides new teaching and learning resources to
educate our students of the harm related to vaping. It may surprise members,
but some parents do not realise the harm that vaping does. Some parents believe
that it is not so bad for students or that their kids will not take up smoking.
I will also write to all parents outlining the harm of vaping, because it is
very dangerous and often leads to people taking up smoking.
Western Australia and Australia have
a brilliant track record in reducing smoking. We lead the world in various anti�smoking campaigns. It is now time
that we did it in the vaping space. I acknowledge the work of the
Minister for Health on this. This is a whole-of-government approach to a very
important issue. It has been led in many
avenues by the Minister for Health working in conjunction with her colleagues
across Australia. As the Minister for Education, I thought it was very appropriate
that I brought these measures in now. We
believe these measures will go some way to reducing the alarming rates of
vaping among our young people. I implore all members of this house to
speak to their schools, as we have spoken to school leaders, principals,
teachers and students. Many students are concerned about this trend of vaping.
Hopefully, these measures will go some way to addressing the very concerning
issue of vaping among our young people.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.