Bullying in Northern Territory Schools Rife

Tuesday June 2, 2009

Northern Territory school children are more likely to encounter bullying than any other state in Australia, according to a study by the Federal Government.

The survey showed that 32 per cent of students between Year 4 and Year 9 in the Northern Territory had reported being bullied, against the national 27 per cent average.
One of the most common forms of bullying in the Northern Territory is cyber bullying such as filming fights and publishing them on the internet.

Child and adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg told the Northern Territory News that bullying was getting "steadily worse".

"Our methods for dealing with bullying aren't working - we need a radical change," he said.

"Kids need to understand about safe surfing, net-iquette, the problems with posting things on social networking sites," he said.

Dr Carr-Gregg explained that one form of cyber-bullying known as "sex-ting" - sending naked pictures - was "pretty common these days".

"A lot of kids don't tell anybody about this kind of harassment because they are terrified they will lose their telephone or computer," he said.

Chief Minister Paul Henderson's spokesman Geoff Fraser told the Northern Territory News that: "We urge children and parents to report any of this behaviour."

Find out more about Northern Territory and Darwin living on this site.

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