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Further implications
School Strike 4 Climate Change is calling for another student strike on March 15, 2019.
The movement's Internet site states, 'Some of us are striking for a week, some for a day, some for half a day. Others are striking a day a week. We'll keep striking for as long as it takes for our politicians to take the action we need to stop dangerous climate change. You should do whatever works best for you.'
The site continues 'Some of us will be outside our Federal MP's office with a simple sign...Some of us are meeting with other kids to let them know what we're doing and why.'
The anticipated school strike action will be taking place in the run-up to the next federal election. The Australian Electoral Commission has advised that May 18, 2019, is the last possible day on which a half-senate election can be held. As governments try to avoid holding separate House and half-senate elections, May 18, 2019, is effectively the last date for holding the next House of Representatives election.
It seems likely that student protest will intensify once the election campaign begins. Both state and territory education departments and the federal government are likely to react to reduce the extent of student activism and absenteeism.
It is possible that education departments may revisit truancy provisions to make it more difficult for students to be absent from school without punitive consequences. All states and territories have regulations requiring student attendance. In New South Wales, for example, 'compulsory school-age' means that all children from six years of age are legally required to be enrolled at and attending school or to be registered for home schooling. After they complete Year 10, and until they turn 17 years of age, students have the option of full-time school attendance, full-time vocational training or part-time vocational training combined with part-time employment.
It is ultimately the parents' responsibility to ensure their children attend school. The Victorian regulations state, 'Parents are required to ensure their child attends school and to provide an explanation for their child's absence from school, and the principal must record in writing the reason (if any) given by the parent. The principal must be able to determine from the records if the excuse given was reasonable in terms of the parent meeting their legal obligations.'
The grounds under which a Victorian school principal might consider a student absence allowable are 'medical and dental appointments; bereavement or attendance at the funeral of a relative or friend of the student; school refusal, if a plan is in place with the parent to address causes; cultural observance, if the parent notifies the school in advance and family holidays, where the parent notifies the school in advance and the student completes any Student Absence Learning Plan agreed by the school, student and parent.'
None of these justifications for student absence would allow repeated absences in order to attend protests. The Victorian regulations explicitly state that the principal would not be able to excuse absences where 'the student was absent due to participating in leisure or social activities without approval.'
It is possible that a protest strike would be regarded as essentially a social activity. It is also possible that regulations might be altered explicitly to prohibit student strike action. However, even were strikes to be directly prohibited, this is unlikely to prevent their occurring. There are negligible penalties that could be imposed on parents who permitted their children to take strike action and even less that could be done with regard to parents whose children took strike action without parental permission. School refusal is not regarded as something for which parents can be held responsible.
It is also possible that laws restricting group protests in public places could also be changed in order to make it easier for police to prohibit such action. However, there would be very little time in which to have such laws put in place and as state laws they would need to be proposed and passed by state governments. There is little political incentive for a state government to act in this way. Indeed, they would be likely to attract significant adverse publicity for appearing to be stifling young people's freedom of expression.
Of more immediate political significance is the fact that any attempt to prohibit student strike action over climate change would adversely affect the federal government's electoral prospects. National ReachTel polling conducted after the Student Strike for Climate Action on November 30, 2018, revealed widespread support for the students.
The Australian Youth Climate Coalition released results from the survey of 2345 people, which found 62.7 per cent thought school students had a right to demand action from the Government on climate change. Among Labor voters, this rose to 86.4 per cent.
A clear majority of voters supports the student strikes. Thus, the young people's campaign is likely to worsen the situation of a government that is already deeply unpopular. Attempting to prohibit student strikes would only compound voter dissatisfaction.