PETITION UPDATE: FIVE MONTHS WITHOUT SCHOOL - AND STILL NO ACCOUNTABILITY FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF EDU

Austin has now missed five months of education at Yarrabah Specialist School because of unresolved concerns about his safety, supervision and care.

Our request remains simple: permission for a privately funded, parent-nominated, qualified one-to-one aide to accompany Austin at school. This would come at no cost to the Department of Education.

The Department's own reasonable-adjustments policy requires genuine consultation with families and consideration of alternative adjustments when a proposal is declined. Yet despite escalating Austin's case through the school, Regional Office and ultimately Central Office, our request has been refused without the Department working with us to find an acceptable alternative.

Where Is the Accountability?
Pictured: Jeanette Nagorcka, senior Victorian Department of Education official.

On 14 October 2026, Ms Nagorcka signed the Department's latest response, maintaining its position.

Despite Austin missing five months of education, Ms Nagorcka has not personally contacted me, nor has the Department demonstrated how its own reasonable-adjustments consultation process has been properly followed in Austin's case.

Instead, we have been directed to the Victorian Ombudsman and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission. How can the Department's senior leadership expect schools to follow policies that it cannot demonstrate it has followed itself?

Austin remains enrolled. We do not want to homeschool him or transfer him. We simply want him to return safely to the school he is entitled to attend. Five months of lost education. No agreed safety solution. No meaningful collaborative resolution.

How much longer must a vulnerable child wait?

Please continue signing and sharing Austin's petition. Your support means everything.

#LetAustinLearnSafely

Naomi Butterss
Austin's mum x