LOCAL STORIES

By Warren Strybosch

The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) was established as a pilot project in 1987. The earlier Higher School Certificate (HSC) was abolished in 1992. There was about 5 schools trialling the pilot program in Victoria and I was attending one of those at the time. for the VCE is usually completed over two years but can be spread over a longer period of time in some cases e.g., 3 years.

It could easily be argued that these last two years of VCE would have been one of the toughest two years on record since it started 34 years ago.

Not only did students have to deal with close to 300 days of lockdown, online schooling, the General Achievement Test (GAT) being postponed four times, sitting exams without power and/or having to reschedule exams when one of their class mates become Covid-19 positive, they also have had to deal with their whole family being at home whilst they tried to study, the distractions that surrounded them e.g. Fortnite, parents with reduced work or losing their jobs, increased suicides amongst their peers, and so on.

It is amazing that these young adults, who have managed to complete their VCE’s, have done so at all.

We, at the Find Knox want to wish all VCE’s students all the best for their exams and hope that the next four or five years, whether it is studying at Uni, taking a gap year and then studying, or simply going into the workforce, is better than the two years you have just lived through.

We are thinking of you all as you complete your exams and hope you get the results you want to get into your desired course. If you do not, I can attest, as someone who has failed VCE and now has 7 qualifications under their belt, including a post grad, that there are many and varied pathways into university. Life does not end when VCE finishes…in fact, it is just the beginning of your journey through adulthood.

The VCE is one credential available to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in the Australian state of Victoria. ... Study

COVID UPDATES INFORMATION

See Page 104 for Victoria's Roadmap Delivering National Plan More COVID information on Page 93

HELPING TO PROTECT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY

At Find we can help you find the ‘right’ personal insurance. Our aim is to help you obtain and retain the personal insurances that are appropriate for you and at cost that you can afford.

Personal Insurances Include:

• Income Protection (IP) • Life Insurances or Death Cover • Total and Permanent Disability (TPD) • Trauma Insurance or Critical Illness Insurance • Business Expense Cover • Child Trauma Cover

When your insurance are in place, our services do not stop there. We will provide you with an after care service that includes policy notifications, insurance report, help desk, reviews and help at claim time.

We provide ourselves in providing honest advice that you can rely on.

warren@findinsurance.com.au

www.findinsurance.com.au 248 Wonga Road, Warranwood VIC 3134

1300 88 38 30

INSURANCE

Find Wealth t/as Find Insurance Corporate Authorised Representative (No.468091) of Alliance Wealth Pty LTD ABN 93 161 647 007 No. 449221

What Business Must Do To Comply As We Reopen

By Warren Strybosch

To support business owners to reopen, the Business Stakeholder Pack has been developed by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions. This stakeholder pack incorporates customisable content and downloadable artwork including:

• posters • support guides • social media content • suggested website and newsletter content • booking confirmation email and

SMS text for businesses.

See Page 94 for the Stakeholder Pack

Social media crackdown to protect children

By Matt Coughlan (Australian Associated Press)

Children aged under 16 would need their parents’ consent to use social media platforms under a proposed online crackdown.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash on Monday released an exposure draft of new legislation to create a binding privacy code for social media services, data brokers and other large online operators.

All platforms would be forced to receive parental consent for users under the age of 16. Social media companies would be required to take all reasonable steps to verify users’ age and put children’s best interests first when handling personal information.

There would be tougher penalties and more enforcement powers handed to the privacy regulator. Online platforms subject to the code would need to comply with strict new privacy requirements, including new rules about children and other vulnerable groups. The code will be developed with the Australian Information Commissioner and industry. Organisations would face tougher requirements to be transparent about how personal information is handled.

Senator Cash said the bill would ensure Australians’ privacy would be treated more carefully and transparently by online platforms.

“We know that Australians are wary about what personal information they give over to large tech companies,” she said.

“Our draft legislation means that these companies will be punished heavily if they don’t meet that standard.”

A 2018 Headspace survey of more than 4000 people aged 12 to 25 found social media was the main reason youth mental health was worsening. Assistant Mental Health Minister David Coleman said there was a consistent increase in signs of distress and mental ill-health among young people even before the coronavirus pandemic.

“While the reasons for this are varied and complex, we know that social media is part of the problem,” he said.

“The recent leak of Facebook’s own internal research demonstrates the impact social media platforms can have on body image and the mental health of young people.”

Senator Cash’s department also released a discussion paper on broader reforms to privacy laws.