Legislation to give schools greater powers to manage violent and abusive parents has been introduced in State Parliament.

The legislative change will broaden the grounds on which an individual can be barred and will enable a principal to bar a person from coming within 25 metres of the boundary of a school, preschool or service.

This follows a dramatic rise in the number of incidents of parental abuse, leading to a 200% increase in parental bans in public schools over the past five years.

Other responses, such as formal warning letters and reminders about expectations of respectful behaviour, have increased in public schools by more than 250%.

Parents and carers were the top source of issues reported by principals that involved bullying (57.9%), cyberbullying (88.5%), gossip and slander (65.1%) and sexual harassment (39%) in the latest Australian Principal Occupational Health, Safety and Wellbeing survey data report in March 2024.

Under the new rules, a site leader will now be able to issue a 'direction to leave' or a 'barring notice' if they believe a person poses a risk to the safety or wellbeing of anyone at their site.

For the first time, this will include anyone engaging in vexatious communication with, or about, a member of staff via any online platform to ensure staff are protected when they are not at work.

A barring notice will be able to prohibit a person from communicating in any way with a member of staff.

Barring orders would also protect from abuse or threatening behaviour at off-site activities, such as camps and excursions.

The maximum period for which a person may be barred will increase from three months to six months, and the maximum penalty for offences will increase from $2,500 to $7,500.

The new provisions will apply to the public, Catholic and independent school sectors.

The Education and Children’s Services (Barring Notices and Other Protections) Amendment Bill 2024 strengthens the ability of principals, preschool directors and other education leaders to ban parents and others who pose a threat to the safety or wellbeing of staff and students or who disrupt learning at schools and other education settings.

It is important to note that if a parent or carer is barred or directed to leave, their child or children are not prevented from attending their school or preschool as normal.