Qld seeks national policy as it weighs school phone ban

Fraser Barton and Dominic Giannini | April 13, 2023

Queensland has signalled it is open to banning public school students from using their mobile phones in the classroom and on school grounds, in line with most other states.

Education Minister Grace Grace convened with her federal counterpart Jason Clare on Thursday and discussed a unified national approach to phone-use bans.

“She very much wants to see some national consistency here, so if we can have a national policy on this, of course, Queensland will step up to the plate,” Premier Annastasia Palaszczuk told reporters.

The newly-elected NSW Labor government made a pre-election commitment in October to ban phones in state schools after Victoria banned their use in primary and secondary schools in 2020.

Similar rules were adopted in Western Australia and Tasmania in 2020.

From term 3 this year, all South Australian public high schools will also have mobile phone bans in place except where exemptions have been allowed.

Similar rules came into effect in Northern Territory at the start of the year for primary and high school students.

Ms Palaszczuk pointed to an anti-cyberbullying taskforce set up by her government five years ago as having informed its response on the issue so far, but she said it was time for an updated approach.

“I do think we need fresh eyes and a fresh look,” she said.

Mr Clare on Thursday indicated there is an argument for a nationally consistent approach to banning mobile phones in schools.

“I can’t tell states what to do. What I can do is bring us all together and try (to) develop a national approach, and I’m really happy to do that,” he said.

“We’ve got a national approach to try to tackle the big challenges in education like kids falling behind in school. I reckon with a bit of goodwill we can develop a national approach to the banning of phone in all schools.”

Queensland opposition education spokesman Christian Rowan said the LNP was monitoring responses to the issue, including in NSW.

“The opposition has a longstanding position of empowering individuals, school communities, those principals to make those decisions,” he said.

“We’re going to be carefully evaluating what’s happening in NSW and keep an open mind.”