Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has weighed in on recent scandals involving senior students "rating" their female peers for their attractiveness, describing the latest incident at a Wodonga school on May 9 as "distressing".
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Just days after two students were expelled from an elite private school in Melbourne for creating a "misogynistic" spreadsheet, Catholic College Wodonga was in the spotlight on Thursday for similar behaviour.
In a separate incident at the Wodonga school, a boy was suspended for using the word "sigma", a term youth workers said could be used in an "inappropriate sexual nature".
When asked her thoughts on the Wodonga scandal, Ms Allan would not speak specifically about the drama there, but said the community and the government had a role to "keep young women safe".
"I am aware over the course of today that there has emerged another example at a school in North East Victoria," Ms Allan said. "Every young girl, every young woman deserves the right to go to school, sit in the classroom, to be in the school grounds.
"They deserve the right to do that safely and with respect from their fellow students, just as every woman in our community deserves the right to go to work, to be in their home, to move around their community safely and with respect.
"This is just so distressing to continue to see incident after incident when women who aren't feeling safe ... for women who ... haven't felt safe in their community."
Ms Allan said at the "fundamental heart of this is questions of respect".
"How we treat one another, how we call out bad behaviour if we see it happening in any workplace, school, sporting organisation, it is so important that we understand we all have a role," she said.
"But also to government has a role, which is why we are working right now building on the work that has been done today on further looking at what further measures and actions we can take to enhance and support women's safety in Victoria.
"It is just so important that we keep up every effort on this work to support women to participate fully and equally in every aspect of life."
