The Anti-Bullying Rapid Review (the Review) was announced on 16 February 2025. The purpose of the Review was to examine what is working to prevent and respond to bullying in Australian schools and what needs strengthening, before reporting to Education Ministers. Consultation commenced in February and concluded at the end of August 2025.
Final report and recommendations
The Final Report from the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review (the Final Report) was released on 18 October 2025.
The Final Report includes eight recommendations that aim to ensure that every school is a safe, inclusive and respectful learning environment where bullying and other harmful behaviours are not accepted.
Response to the Final Report
On 17 October 2025, Education Ministers agreed to the recommendations from the Final Report and asked their departments to work together to develop an implementation plan.
As an initial response to the recommendations, on 18 October 2025 the Australian Government announced it will invest $10 million to support the development of targeted resources for school communities and a national awareness campaign.
Implementation Plan
On 20 February 2026, Education Ministers agreed to the Implementation Plan for the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review.
The Implementation Plan reflects Education Ministers’ shared commitment to ensuring that every Australian school is a safe, inclusive, and respectful learning environment. It focuses on national action while acknowledging that these actions will be complemented by jurisdictional and school level activities.
The Implementation Plan includes commitments for all education sectors and schools to embed and reflect the expectations of the National Framework for Addressing Bullying in Schools (see below) in their policies and procedures by Term 1 2027, and for schools to make these policies publicly available.
The Implementation Plan will be periodically reviewed and updated as implementation work progresses.
National Framework for Addressing Bullying in Australian Schools
On 20 February 2026, Education Ministers agreed to reframe the principles-based national standard recommended through the Final Report to the National Framework for Addressing Bullying in Australian Schools (the National Framework).
The National Framework outlines the expectations for school systems and schools to build into the process and policies in preventing and addressing bullying and other harmful behaviours. The National Framework will give teachers, parents, young people and children confidence that, no matter where a student goes to school, bullying will be appropriately addressed and the school workforce supported to take appropriate action.
The National Framework recognises the need for a comprehensive whole of school approach that is appropriately tailored to local context and diverse student cohorts. The National Framework will support and build on anti-bullying policies and guidance already in place.
Responding within two school days
Schools have a duty to keep students safe, this is why the National Framework expects school systems and schools make reasonable efforts to initiate a response to any observed or reported bullying within two school days of becoming aware of an incident. In practice immediate actions undertaken by the school could include:
- contacting parents/carers of student/s harmed and student/s engaging in harmful behaviour and communicating next steps
- initiating immediate safety action to prevent further harm
- providing initial wellbeing support to the student/s
- making reports to the police or other authorities where required
- taking initial appropriate and proportional response actions.
This initial response of acting within two school days can stop harm from escalating. This doesn’t mean the matter will be resolved in two days, but the school should begin taking action right away. Starting quickly builds trust with students and families, that their concerns are being listened to and action is occurring.
Review co-chairs
Dr Charlotte Keating and Professor Jo Robinson AM were appointed as the expert co-chairs to lead the Review.
Dr Charlotte Keating
Dr Keating is a mental health advocate and a Clinical Psychologist with a PhD in Neuroscience. Her clinical work includes treating adolescents who have experienced bullying, those who have been bullied, and those who have bullied others.
Dr Keating is a Clinical Advisor at The Alannah and Madeline Foundation She is a Board Director at The World Congress on Family Law & Children's Rights and an Advisory Board member at Dolly's Dream. She is a former Board Director at The Alannah and Madeline Foundation.
Professor Jo Robinson AM
Professor Robinson AM leads Orygen’s Suicide Prevention Research Unit. Her work focuses on improving knowledge about the best approaches to reduce suicide risk among young people. This includes developing and testing novel approaches to suicide prevention in school settings and the development of the #chatsafe guidelines, the first evidence-based best practice guidelines for safe peer-peer communication about suicide online.
Professor Robinson AM is a member of the Expert Advisory Group for the Development and Implementation of the Suicide Prevention Strategy for Victoria, the current President of the International Association for Suicide Prevention and co-chair of an International Taskforce into Suicide Prevention in Women and Girls. She is a member of the Self-injury Advisory Group for Meta.
Why an Anti-Bullying Rapid Review?
Bullying and cyber bullying have significant detrimental impacts on student mental health and wellbeing. Bullying undermines student wellbeing, attendance, engagement and learning outcomes. It also contributes to lifelong impacts such as reduced community participation, poor social-economic outcomes, and increases in ill-mental and physical health.
Bullying is not something that happens just in schools, but schools are places where we can identify instances of bullying, intervene, and provide support to children and young people. Bullying is a complex social issue that requires action at multiple levels: within schools at the leader, educator and student levels; within families and communities; and across all levels of government and non-government school organisations.
Anti-Bullying Rapid Review consultation
The Final Report, Review recommendations and the proposed national standard were informed by an extensive consultation process and research into existing practices as part of the Review.
A Reference Group was established to support the Review. The Reference Group provided advice to the co-chairs on current education systems and policy issues, including school-based anti-bullying strategies, policies and procedures to help identify warning signs, the interventions required, and the support provided to students and parents.
The Review conducted 115 stakeholder consultations with over 610 attendees. The co-chairs travelled to all capital cities and some regional locations for the face to face consultation process.
They met with parents, teachers, school leaders and young people to ensure their lived experience was a primary consideration of the Review. This included a broad cross section of stakeholder groups, including stakeholders representing regional and remote communities, First Nations, LGBTQIA+ and students with disability.
Online written submissions were also sought with over 1,700 submissions received from young people, parents and carers, and teachers, as well as key stakeholders in the education sector. The submissions provided rich and valuable insights into anti-bullying practices and policies in Australian schools.
Submissions
Submissions will be published on this webpage soon. All personal information will be redacted prior to publication.
While individuals and organisations may have indicated a preference for their submission to be published (whether attributed by name, pseudonym, or anonymously), the department retains full discretion over the final decision to publish.
Review Terms of Reference
The Terms of Reference define the purpose, scope, and the conduct of the Review.
