Corporal punishment was banned in Victorian government and Catholic schools in 1985, but it was only seven years ago that it was outlawed in all Victorian schools under the first rewrite of education laws in more than 130 years.
corporal punishment wasn’t outlawed in all Victorian schools seven years ago. The change in the law was that all Victorian schools had to confirm that they had banned corporal punishment in order to obtain accreditation. Those schools which were already accredited had to make this affirmation when they were re-accredited; there was no requirement that they should do this immediately. The effect of the legislation was that corporal punishment would be outlawed in due course, but not immediately.