The Quiet Ambush by Suzannah Rowntree

Homeschooling is Threatened Down-Under

The Quiet Ambush


by Suzannah Rowntree


In Victoria, Australia, the State Parliament is considering an Education and Training Reform Bill for a new Education Act which will completely rework the existing Act.

Among other changes, homeschoolers will now be more strictly regulated. Up till now, homeschoolers in Victoria have only been required to provide regular and efficient instruction for their children and to be able to prove it if challenged, under Division 8A of the Community Services Act of 1970 School Attendance. No other state in Australia shows such lenience to homeschoolers, and in this environment homeschooling has flourished.

Unfortunately, this is about to change. Under the new Education Reform Bill, a current draft of which can be found here, Victorian homeschoolers will be required to apply for a homeschooling licence and comply with any (as-yet undisclosed) regulations the government thinks fit. Anyone disobeying these unspecified regulations will have their licence revoked. Anyone refusing to apply for a licence to homeschool will be charged with starting an unregistered school and will be fined $1048.10 in Australian dollars. Alternately, they can be fined $104.81 per day per child for truancy. Possibly both fines will apply.

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