Mr  BARTON  (Eastern Metropolitan) (09:51:00): Last Friday schools across the country participated in a national day of action against bullying. Over 2.4 million students from 5726 schools across Australia united to spread a very powerful message. I am proud to say that many schools in my Eastern Metropolitan Region took part—there are too many to list.

Bullying is never okay. Bullying is a misuse of power. It is ongoing and repeated and it causes harm. We can all take action every day to stop it. Call it out when you see it. Stand by friends who experience it. Tell someone if it is happening to you.

Life is very different for young people today than when I was at school. They did have schools when I was that age! Our use of social media takes bullying out of the schoolyard and it follows them into their homes, into their safe places. Approximately one in five young people under 18—20 per cent—report online bullying in any one year.

I thank everyone involved in this conversation, and I encourage school communities to say, ‘Bullying. No Way!’ and take action every day.