Qld: Schools fail security test

AAP General News (Australia)
08-16-2000
Qld: Schools fail security test

Questions have been raised about Queensland school safety, after a new report found
schools across the state continue to fail security tests.

The report, written four years after Cairns schoolboy TJANDAMURRA O'SHANE was doused
with petrol and set alight in a school playground, has found schools are still vulnerable
to random attacks.

After the Cairns attack in October 1996, schools were ordered to review their safety
arrangements.

But the latest report -- ordered by Education Minister DEAN WELLS last year after a
school gang attack -- has found many schools in remote areas are yet to complete guidelines
to improve security.

The state opposition has accused the BEATTIE government of snoozing over school safety
since the TJANDAMURRA O'SHANE incident.

But a spokeswoman for Mr WELLS says school security will be finalised with the appropriate
advice of security experts.

The report calls for school security plans to be completed, and formal links to be
established with emergency services.

AAP RTV dn/geb/smf/rt

KEYWORD: SCHOOLS (BRISBANE)

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