Greens Leader, Kim Booth MP, today marked the National Day of Action against Bullying and Violence by standing alongside anti-bulling organisation, Angel’s Hope, to launch a Petition he will be sponsoring in the House of Assembly.
“I am proud as a Member of Parliament to sponsor the Petition for Angel’s Hope, the aim of which is to bring to the attention of the State government the urgent need for an overhaul of current laws to include bullying as an offence or form of unacceptable behaviour and thus punishable in accordance with the legislation,” Mr Booth said.
“Angel’s Hope and its founder, Mr Reuben Cunningham, have long been campaigning against bullying – particularly focusing on younger members of the community – and began to realise fairly quickly the inadequacies of current laws.”
“The organisation was set up to bring awareness to the community and to provide support for victims and their families.”
“Through this process Mr Cunningham has met a multitude of people who all have similar experiences and a recurrent theme has been a lack of knowledge by community leaders, such as school teachers and principals, on how to tackle the issue, as well as a lack of power to hold perpetrators accountable for their actions.”
“The Petition will be predominantly broadcast via social networking, however there will also be many paper copies distributed around the State to enable anyone and everyone to pledge their name and support the call for legislated change.”
“The tragic and sad experiences shared by those who have witnessed the impact of bullying upon loved ones, or have survived it themselves, makes this campaign for change urgent. I’m confident that through the power of the media, social media, and word-of-mouth that Angel’s Hope can get this campaign rolling around the State.”
“Indeed, we all share a common goal here and have a responsibility to do whatever we can to stamp out bullying in today’s society,” Mr Booth said.