What do we do with kids who cause trouble at school? Services for behaviourally-challenged students and their families are grossly inadequate.

Cases have come to light of a nine-year-old boy who has never eaten vegetables, and a 10-year-old who died from Septic Ear – who had attended school only 11 days out of 76 in the year of his death.

The Department of Education runs seven behavioural management centres (one in the northern suburbs with five campuses and just two in the south). But, all of these are filled to capacity, with huge waiting lists. More than 100 students pass through each centre each year.

Most State Government funding goes to the northern suburbs. The shortfall in southern Adelaide is unacceptable.

I demand the State Government use the Dover Gardens Primary School site for another behavioural management school. Dover Gardens Primary will close on 3rd July.

We need a place to sort out troubled and neglected kids, so that mainstream students can get on with learning without fear of disruption and violence.

This issue is fundamental to providing a decent public education. Therefore, next week, I will be calling for a Parliamentary Committee to investigate how we deal with troubled and neglected kids in the school system.