UPDATE: Bestiality content at Renmark High School
Response from Shadow Minister for Education, John Gardner to my recent correspondence.
I, along with others recently wrote to the SA Premier, Minister for Education, Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Education to raise concerns over the revelations that children at Renmark High School (RHS) had inappropriate content about bestiality shared with them as well as other inappropriate interactions. Found here;
So far I have received a response from the Shadow Minister for Education, John Gardner, which can be found in its entirety below. In this email John shared some clips from recent questions put to the Minister for Education, Blair Boyer which the South Australian Public, in particular parents, also need to have answers to.
Highlights from the question time clips:
Education Minister Boyer as well as Chief Executive of the Department of Education Martin Westwell acknowledge the presentation delivered to RHS students was inappropriate.
Mistakes were made, policies and procedures which have been in place for some time had not been followed. Namely, parents where not advised before the session to be given the opportunity to be removed from those sessions, as well as the failure to have a teacher inside the room while these sessions are conducted.
The context of the bestiality discussion was to draw a link between the gay community and same sex marriage historically being likened to incest and bestiality, however still utterly inappropriate.
Focus One Health (FOH) are the local provider for Respectful Relationship sessions, FOH are subcontracted by HeadSpace, a National Provider for this content.
FOH sought the services of the person who delivered the presentation, and FOH has been suspended at this stage. Investigation is underway to see if this person has delivered this presentation to other schools, at this stage it does not appear this has occurred.
Communication has been put out to Schools reminding them that parents need to be advised prior to these sessions so as to be able to exclude their child if they wish, as well as making sure a teacher is present in the classroom during these presentations.
It’s up to Education Minister Boyer as well as Chief Executive of the Department of Education Martin Westwell to ensure mechanisms are in place to ensure this does not happen again.
Offers of counseling to students has already been made after being advised by some parents and students regarding trauma.
A full investigation should yield the reason why procedures where not followed in regards to parents being notified of the session and a teacher being present in the room.
Education Minister Boyer, Chief Executive of the Department of Education Martin Westwell, the Principle and School staff acknowledge that they failed in their duty of care to the children.
The person delivering the content to children at RHS were not known to the department, and the material being delivered by the presenter was not reviewed prior to being delivered to the students, which is another failure in policies and procedures.
Minister Boyer will ensure there are stricter policies about having an approved provider list to make sure schools don’t have latitude beyond the approved provider list.
Minister Boyer is waiting on advice as to whether the person delivering the presentation to students had the appropriate Working with Children’s checks completed and will be providing these findings once established.
Measures have been put in place to ensure the presenter is not delivering content to other South Australian Schools.
Minister Boyer will not stand in the way of a Freedom of Information request for the content of the material being delivered to the year 9 students by the presenter.
It is confirmed that correspondence has also been sent out to non government schools advising them of the person who conducted the presentation so as not to engage their services.
Minister Boyer will seek to ensure the approved provider list is compiled in such a way that the content of these type of sessions can be scrutinised so that this type of thing does not happen again
Minister Boyer believes that Respectful Relationships sessions are still of great value and importance, in particular referencing the write up by the Sunday Mail about Andrew Tate and the damaging influence he is having on generations of children, particularly young men and boys. It is important to combat these misogynistic views of Andrew Tate with some sort of Respectful Relationships presentations. Mister Boyer states that it cant be in the shape of what was delivered in Renmark, he accepts that.
Minister Boyer states, “lets not throw out the baby with the bathwater, we need to make sure we offer things in our schools to do the work that often parents aren’t doing or can’t do, to make sure young people have an understanding how they treat people with respect, but also understand the damaging views of Andrew Tate……one of the few things we have between Andrew Tate and a generation of young people is Respectful Relationships Programs or Sex ED, call it what you will”
The full letter from Shadow Minister for Education, John Gardner with YouTube video links to question time, below.
Presentation at Renmark High School
From: morialta@parliament.sa.gov.au <morialta@parliament.sa.gov.au>
To: erich.neug<erich.neug@protonmail.com>
Date: Wednesday, April 10th, 2024 at 4:16 PM
Dear Mark
Thank you for writing to me in relation to the appalling and inappropriate presentation to students at Renmark High School last month.
This is a very concerning incident and one that the Liberal Party has taken seriously. Last week I wrote to the Minister setting out a range of concerns that I had about this incident. We have also raised our concerns in the media and in the Parliament.
Yesterday was the first Parliamentary sitting day since the incident and, along with the local MP, Tim Whetstone, I took the opportunity to ask a series of questions of the Minister for Education about this incident. You can view these exchanges here: Renmark HS questions (part 1), Renmark HS questions (part 2), Renmark HS questions (part 3), and Renmark HS questions (part 4).
I will give the Minister some credit that he has acknowledged the seriousness of this incident, and I look forward to hearing more from him once the Department has completed its investigation. While acknowledging that he has taken steps to put in place stricter protocols around the use of third party providers in schools, I have also put to him the importance of ensuring that the materials taught in such sessions are appropriate, and age-appropriate, for school students.
It appears clear from the Minister’s answer that the session delivered in Renmark was a uniquely inappropriate session, but broader concerns highlighted by this incident included that the established rules were not followed in relation to parental notification about respectful relationships education sessions (and the opportunity to withdraw their children from such sessions if needed) and that established rules were not followed in relation to ensuring a teacher was in the room (who might have been able to put a stop to the session once it became apparent how inappropriate it was).
As you’ll see if you have a chance to view the Question Time videos above, while some questions have been answered, there remain a number that are yet to be resolved.
The Opposition will continue to scrutinise the Government on this issue and seek to ensure that some positive change can come from this most inappropriate incident.
Thank you again for getting in touch about this matter.
Yours sincerely
Hon John Gardner MP
Member for Morialta
Deputy Leader of the Opposition
I smell BS... Quote: "The person delivering the content to children at RHS were not known to the department, and the material being delivered by the presenter was not reviewed prior to being delivered to the students, which is another failure in policies and procedures."
I cannot deliver an NDIS service to a school without completing a training course on OHS and doing an induction training course or being placed under supervision when on premises but this person got a free pass? BALONEY! This smacks of a stunt to test how far they could push their agenda under the radar before getting caught whilst building a story that gives everyone "credible deniability". Utter garbage!
So, if "the context of the bestiality discussion was to draw a link between the gay community and same sex marriage historically being likened to incest and bestiality", does that mean we should expect the trainers to lobby for incest and bestiality to be made lawful &/or desirable in the foreseeable future also. Slippery slope anyone?