David Seymour: Associate Education Minister on the fines parents of absent students could face

Parents could be forced to pay thousands of dollars if they repeatedly refuse to ensure their children attend school. 

Associate Education Minister David Seymour's announced the change as part of a firmer approach the Government's taking on school attendance.  

Seymour told Mike Hosking schools will alert the ministry to possible prosecution cases and ultimately decide whether to take the parents to court. 

He says they could be fined up to $300 initially, but for repeat offenders, it could be $3,000. 

Parents of students who are absent because of health conditions, or who are genuinely engaged with the school, won't be prosecuted. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
So as we head into another long weekend where any
number of schools will have had teacher only days this
week and any number of parents will take an extra day.
The government is cracking down on truancy, so the Ministry
of Ed has been given the directive to prosecute parents
who let their kids attend and suffer. So we've got
about ten percent of students who are absent for fifteen
days or more inna school term.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Now.

Speaker 1 (00:18):
David Seymore is the Associate Minister of Education, of course,
and is with us morning to.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
You morning back.

Speaker 1 (00:23):
Are the schools doing enough? Do you think or not?

Speaker 2 (00:27):
It varies a lot around the country. I've since taken
on this job visited dozens of schools and I've sat
down with groups of Deputy principles and attendance officers, youth aid,
police and local charities. And there are people that are
doing a great job. There are other schools where less

(00:48):
than half of the children show up and it's just
not good enough. But on balance, I think most people
and most schools are actually trying to solve this problem.

Speaker 1 (00:56):
Good what's a prosecution.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
Well, basically a school will go to the Ministry of
Education say look, we've got someone who that they're not
a can't there or won't We've tried, we've gone out,
we've engaged with them basically giving us the middle finger
and saying education is not important and you've got no
right to demand that my kid enrolls and attends to school.
In that case, I've been told by the youth Aide Police,

(01:21):
by the attendance officers, by the deputy principles, we need
another sanction, another step we can take. At that point
they will go to the Ministry of Education and say
this is a potential prosecution case. Ministry of Education will
weigh it up and if it stacks up, they'll take
a prosecution. Ultimately go before the courts. Now you can
bet find thirty bucks a day up to three hundred

(01:44):
dollars initially for a repeat offending. The fine on parents
can be three thousand dollars.

Speaker 1 (01:48):
As much as I want this country to be a
better place in all aspects, it is taking a bunch
of losers to court who don't have any money anyway,
who won't pay their fine really of any bailue.

Speaker 2 (02:02):
Yeah, it is a value. And what youthay police officer
I remember very clearly told me in Parmeston North. If
I've got no sanctions to issue, then i can't do
my job. I actually need some teeth. It's also you
talk about value, it's about values as well. We find
people for speeding past a school gate, and so we

(02:24):
should running over children's obviously something that we should put
a lot of effort into preventing. However, I would say
that the denial of a future to a child by
not going to school, getting knowledge from prior generations and
being able to navigate your life on the twenty first century,
that is also a serious crime against a child. And

(02:48):
our system of government and our set of choices about
who we find what we do in terms of policy
should prioritize that as.

Speaker 1 (02:55):
Well well articulated actually David Seymour, the Associate Ministry of
Education and as of this weekend, Deputy Prime Minister.

Speaker 2 (03:03):
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