Violet had lots of friends over to her 11th birthday party, where they all sang karaoke and danced to Taylor Swift.
As well as music, she’s into swimming and loves being around people.
Just like her big brother before her, Violet attends the primary school nearest her home in Yeppoon on the central Queensland coast. As with most students, Violet’s education has had its ups and downs.
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But this year, grade 5, has been “a stellar, standout year”, her mum, Shalee Gregson-Quinn, says. “She’s got a teacher who really understands that Violet’s got a right to be there, that she will have a superior education by being there.”
Given that Violet goes to a state school, one might think that right is assumed. But it is not always so for kids like Violet.
“It’s just a by-the-way thing, but Violet has Down’s syndrome,” her mother says.
Which is what makes it so special that this vibrant young girl is surrounded by classmates who also see her disability as just a by-the-way thing – and a teacher, in Angela Hinds, who holds high expectations for Violet and works hard to ensure that she is “included and engaged and happy”.
Because those expectations help instil in Violet aspirations of the kind of “ordinary life” that many Australians will take for granted: the chance to pursue meaningful work, to travel, to form relationships and make friends.
“It is life changing for a parent to feel that someone is so invested in your child’s progress,” Gregson-Quinn says.
So the community resources consultant is “extremely disheartened” by a government announcement that she fears will mean many other young Queenslanders will miss out on an education like Violet’s.
In handing down its budget last month, the Liberal National party’s (LNP) first since unseating Labor after a decade in power, the government announced what it claims is the “largest special school investment in history”, with a pledge to build six new special schools.
This marked a significant change in direction from the 2018 high-water mark of a policy of including students with disabilities in mainstream schools, set out by then education minister Kate Jones, which advocates hailed as world leading.
It is not just Gregson-Quinn dismayed by the move – the Australian disability discrimination commissioner, Rosemary Kayess, urged the LNP to “scrap” its plan to build more “segregated schools” on Thursday.
“It is deeply concerning that the Queensland government is blatantly ignoring all the evidence and expert advice in relation to the significant benefits of inclusive education for people with disability,” Kayess said.
But, for the LNP, this investment in bricks and mortar is driven by at least two imperatives: one practical and one ideological.
All six new schools will be built near existing special schools in south-east Queensland growth suburbs, such as Coomera, that have seen enrolments rise in recent years. The former Labor government actually strayed from its inclusion policy and built a special school in Coomera, which opened in 2022. Its enrolment has more than doubled: from 134 to 280 students.
“Special school enrolments have increased by more than 38% since 2019 and we cannot ignore the growing demand from parents and carers who want to send their child to a special school,” the education minister, John-Paul Langbroek, said in a statement.
But the new schools are not just a response to numbers – they reflect a guiding philosophy of this conservative government.
The premier, David Crisafulli, said earlier this month that he acknowledged the “different views” on educating children with disabilities, but told the press he “wholeheartedly” believed in his government’s policy shift.
“I really do; I believe in it for those kids and, ultimately, I believe in choice,” Crisafulli said. “Everything I always do is about giving choice to an individual, and I think we have a real lack of special schools in this state.
“But, overwhelmingly, when I speak to teachers and when I speak to parents of special needs children, they want that choice – and we are going to give it to them.”
Born profoundly deaf, Prof Alastair McEwin was one of six commissioners who handed down the final disability royal commission report in 2023, after four years of inquiry.
McEwin has repeatedly said he never had a parent tell him they chose a special school – instead, they had to “concede that mainstream schools can not or will not support their child”.
McEwin labelled Queensland’s special school build “alarming”. He was one of three commissioners to recommend they be gradually, but entirely, phased out of Australia.
The commission, however, was evenly split on this matter. Its chair and two other commissioners recommended an alternative approach in which special schools be relocated “within or in close proximity to mainstream schools”, suggesting instead a number of ways through which the different cohorts could interact.
The complexity of the debate is encapsulated in a statement from the Queensland Teachers’ Union president, Cresta Richardson, who said state schools were “proud to be leaders in the area of inclusion”, but that “parents and students who need to, should have access to special schools”.
“No two students are the same, and the expectations of parents can vary greatly from school to school,” Richardson said.
“The mainstream inclusion model does come with significant challenges and additional workload for teachers and school leaders, workload that requires training, resourcing, and funding.”
Queensland University of Technology (QUT) Prof Linda Graham agreed that if systems weren’t in place to support teachers to include students with disabilities into their classrooms, the result could be “mayhem”.
But the director of QUT’s Centre for Inclusive Education said that “pouring money” into the physical infrastructure of segregation reduced the incentive to make mainstream schools inclusive.
“We’ve been working very hard since 2018 to make this happen in Queensland, with reducing commitment from political leaders,” Graham said.
“Now they are just going to pull the rug out from underneath.”
