Media Releases

Member for Swan Hill, Peter Walsh, has welcomed the announcement of extra funding to support the employment of welfare officers in the region’s primary schools
Funding has been allocated to five schools in the electorate who currently don’t have access to these support personnel to assist in the drive to help stamp out bullying and provide additional support to students and families.
“I am very pleased that another Coalition election commitment has been met by the allocation of funding to support these schools,” Mr Walsh said.
“Kerang South and Nullawil Primary schools, Quambatook Group School and Tyrrell and Murtoa Colleges are among the first of almost 300 primary schools that will receive funding for a welfare officer.
“They join 17 other schools in the Swan Hill electorate who are already employing welfare officers to assist in the drive to eliminate bullying from our schools,” he said.
The expansion of the Primary Welfare Officer (PWO) initiative will deliver on the Coalition Government’s promise of an additional 150 welfare officers over the next four years to assist primary school students across the state ensuring that every Victorian primary school will eventually have access to a Primary Welfare Officer.
“Principals of primary schools where the program has operated have been incredibly supportive of the work of welfare officers and have reported enormous improvements in students’ behaviour, attendance, willingness to learn and general perception of themselves,” Education Minister Martin Dixon said.
Mr Dixon said the Primary Welfare Officers initiative would be supported by other measures to help teachers identify, prevent and manage bullying and behavioural issues.
Other commitments to improve student welfare include:
• $10.5 million for the eSmart initiative to help every government school and 300 Catholic and independent schools educate students about cybersafety and cyberbullying;
• $2 million over four years for teacher professional development to manage classroom behaviour;
• $4 million over four years to review and update bullying policies and programs for Victorian government schools.