Child sex abuse: Queenslandg school students abused by teachers.......................

FRIGHTENING details of sexual assaults in schools have been laid bare, with new laws to strengthen the protection of Queensland’s students to be introduced this year.

Sixteen substantiated cases of paedophilia and sexual behaviour in schools have been finalised in less than two years with the details exposed in Right To Information (RTI) documents released to The Courier-Mail.

In one of the most disturbing cases, a teacher was caught in 2014 asking a student aged under 12 to send him indecent photos.

Days later a police investigation was sparked when a religion teacher pulled down a student’s tracksuit pants and rubbed the student’s genitalia.

In the first case, the employee resigned and was sentenced to prison with the matter referred to the Crime and Corruption Commission.

Twenty-two cases were referred to Queensland Police.

State Education Minister Kate Jones is pushing for some of the strongest child protection policies in the country.

“I will introduce legislation later this year to strengthen the ability of the Queensland College of Teachers (QCT) to act in the best interests of children,” she said.

“The department is also working with the college and other sectors to improve information sharing.”

It is understood the proposed legislation, which will first be put to consultation with stakeholders, will mean teachers will have a lower tolerance for indecent behaviour and will give the QCT greater powers to suspend teachers over allegations sooner.

One case, filed in October 2014, revealed that substantiated allegations had “occurred on a number of occasions but (the student) is too terrified to talk to anyone at the school about it.”

Three individuals, including a teacher, subject officer and teacher’s aide, resigned over separate allegations, with another two suspended and six dismissed.

In 2015, a male teacher snapchatted a student while masturbating, asking the student inappropriate questions. When the student’s mother found out, he begged her not to tell the school.

Queensland College of Teachers director John Ryan said student welfare was of utmost importance to teachers.

“There is no place in the profession for anyone who abuses children,” he said.

“An overwhelming majority of teachers do an excellent job and display great professional integrity.”

An Education Department spokesman said all matters regarding harm or suspected harm to children were treated extremely seriously.

“Every Queensland state school has an overriding duty of care to protect students from any kind of harm, including sexual abuse,” he said.

“Allegations of harm reported in a state school are dealt with immediately and in a careful manner in consultation with agencies including the Queensland Police Service.”

Originally published as Sick sex attacks on kids in our schools

111 Budget 2016: George Osborne warns of cuts................

Speaking on the Marr Show, Mr Osborne said the world was now "a more difficult and dangerous place" and warned about the state of the global economy.

While Britain was better placed to cope with economic shocks compared with 2008, it was "not immune to what's going on", he said.

"My message in this Budget is that the world is a more uncertain place than at any time since the financial crisis and we need to act now so we don't pay later," he said.

"That is why I need to find additional savings equivalent to 50p in every £100 the government spends by the end of the decade, because we've got to live within our means to stay secure.

"That's the way we make Britain fit for the future."

The chancellor - whose Budget on Wednesday will be his eighth - said he thought the savings were achievable, but he would not be drawn on where the axe would fall.

He said the government's plan had enabled it to invest in "the public's priorities", such as the NHS, science and education, infrastructure and defence, "while at the same time not spending more than the country can afford".

Mr Osborne added that he wanted to boost productivity, improve Britain's schools and infrastructure and make taxes "more competitive".

The chancellor declined to be drawn on whether fuel duty would be increased - something Tory backbenchers are urging him against.
Image copyright PA Image caption Conservative MPs are campaigning against any rise in the price of petrol

But he added: "On fuel duty, we had a manifesto commitment there and we have pencilled in fuel duty plans going forward but what I would say is, every time we can have our economy more competitive, we do."

Mr Osborne also rejected claims that the most vulnerable people would be hit in the Budget through cuts to disability benefits known as Personal Independence Payments (PIP).

He said the government was "increasing spending on disabled people", but added that it was right to make sure the system was being "properly managed".

Also on Marr, Labour's shadow chancellor John McDonnell called for more long-term investment in the UK economy, specifically in skills, infrastructure and new technology.

He said the chancellor had reduced investment to 1.4% of GDP which was "unacceptable", saying the OECD has said the figure should be at least 3%.
Media captionShadow chancellor John McDonnell calls for more long-term investment

"What I want to do is to make sure we invest in the long term and then we can withstand the global headwinds," he added.

He said prosperity needed to be "shared by all", saying the government's economic policies had created an "unequal" society.

The chancellor has promised to get the books into surplus by 2020.

In his November Autumn Statement, he watered down planned £4.4bn cuts to tax credits and eased back on planned spending cuts to the Home Office and other departments. He was able to do this owing to a combination of better tax receipts and lower interest payments on debt.

BBC political correspondent Eleanor Garnier said: "Only four months ago, when he made the Autumn Statement, Mr Osborne had sounded upbeat about the country's finances.

"But now, with the size of the British economy much smaller than had been expected, it seems the chancellor has not left himself much wriggle room."
'On the stomp'

In his Marr interview, Mr Osborne also touched on the upcoming in-out referendum on the UK's EU membership, warning that a vote to leave "would create an economic shock" that would "cost jobs" and "damage living standards".

He said Turkey becoming a member of the EU was not "on the cards any time soon", raising the prospect of the UK vetoing its accession.

"We can set conditions and we have made it absolutely clear that we will not accept new member states to the European Union and give them unfettered free movement of people unless their economies are much closer in size and prosperity to ours," he said.

His comments come after a proposed deal between the EU and Turkey which would see Turkey take back migrants who reach Greece in return for more EU funding, a relaxation of visa requirements for Turkish nationals and faster progress on accession talks.

London mayor Boris Johnson, who is one of a number of senior Conservatives backing the Vote Leave campaign, said he was "very dubious" about the proposed deal.

"I am certainly very dubious on the other side of the coin about having a huge free travel zone. I think that is one of the problems, that we need to take back control of our borders," he said.

He also argued that the UK was "big enough and strong enough to stand on its own", saying the EU costs the UK "a huge amount of money and subverts our democracy".

Mr McDonnell told the Marr show he and the Labour shadow cabinet would be "on the stomp" campaigning for the UK to stay in the EU amid criticism Labour has been quiet in the campaign.

He said the EU needed reform to make it more "transparent" and "democratic" but argued that Britain was better able to do that from within the bloc.