Queensland announces funding for school wellbeing staff as part of anti-bullying response

The Queensland government has committed 45 million dollars over three years to expand school-based wellbeing and mental health staff, positioning the funding as a direct response to the federal Anti-Bullying Rapid Review and rising parental concern over cyberbullying. Education Minister Di Farmer said the investment will support an additional 150 full-time equivalent positions across state schools, with priority given to regions reporting the highest levels of student distress and online harassment. The announcement aligns with the national Let's Stop Bullying campaign and Queensland's existing Student Wellbeing Framework, with new staff expected to be in place by the start of the 2025 school year.

Increased wellbeing capacity equips schools to respond once harm is known, but the operational constraint remains detection: most serious cyberbullying and exploitation occurs in direct messages on platforms like Instagram, Snapchat and Discord, invisible to school staff until a student self-reports or a crisis emerges. Guardii's AI detection modules monitor those private conversations in real time, identifying sustained targeting, escalation, coercion and acute distress, and surfacing the child to the wellbeing professional or parent who can intervene. For Queensland schools receiving additional staff, the platform delivers the early-warning intelligence that allows those professionals to act before a situation deteriorates, converting reactive capacity into proactive protection and ensuring that the substantial investment in personnel translates into measurable harm reduction.