Benambra MP Bill Tilley thinks serious schoolyard assaults should always be referred to police following a string of violent fights in Border schools that have resulted in hospitalisations over recent months.
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His comments come as the condition of a 17-year-old Wodonga Senior Secondary College student went from critical to stable after he was airlifted to Royal Melbourne Hospital due to injuries from an incident on Tuesday.
In response, Wodonga police charged a 15-year-old boy with recklessly causing serious injury. He will appear in a Victorian Children’s Court next month.
Mr Tilley has been in close contact with the school’s staff and police, some of whom he used to work with when he was a police officer.
“It was a serious assault, and it potentially had some enormously tragic outcomes given the student had to be flown to Melbourne for specialist treatment,” he said.
“Young males traditionally have a bit of a push and shove, that’s something that’s been going on for generations, but nothing to the extent of the other day.”
There is a protocol in place between the Education Department and Victoria Police to report crimes should serious assaults occur, Mr Tilley said.
“If there’s a criminal offence, the police are always called,” he said.
“The schools are not exempt from reporting matters that involve criminal behaviour, it’s a must report.”
But the family of a bashing victim at Murray High said the school did not call police immediately after an alleged attack back in December.
The student’s mother had said she had to go into Albury’s police station on the night of the attack to report it to authorities.
Indeed, Mr Tilley recalled when he was an officer that parents used to come into the Wodonga station after school to report schoolyard attacks.
When asked if there are guidelines for schools to follow when reporting assaults, a NSW Education department spokesman had said in December: “The investigation, reporting and disciplinary process commenced by the school ... included setting in train notification to police”.
Mr Tilley said students and their families should feel comfortable reporting a matter to police if they wished to do so.
“If you’ve been a victim of a crime, you have the right to make a formal complaint,” he said.
