A distraught father has passionately pleaded for help from the New South Wales government after his 14-year-old son took his own life.
Jason Woodhouse wants to access his son Corey’s school emails to see if the 14-year-old was bullied into committing suicide in August 2023.
Woodhouse told a Government Cabinet meeting held in public in Orange, 257 kilometers northwest of Sydney, on Friday that the Department of Education refused to allow him to see Corey’s emails.
He told the Community Cabinet session, attended by Premier Chris Minns and Education Minister Prue Car, that he has been in an eight-month battle with the department to gain access.
Woodhouse said Corey’s school-assigned email had been used to set up other accounts and he wanted to know what was discussed in the messages.
Corey Woodhouse (pictured) took his own life, aged 14, in August 2023. His father wants to access his school emails to see if he was bullied into committing suicide.
“I requested a copy of all of those emails and access to the department of education email, so I could review what my son was talking about in the 2,300 emails in his education account that mirror Discord (and) Snapchat,” she said. .
‘The emails are not monitored because they talk about bullying, killing… there are words about killing.’
Woodhouse said he had spoken to the school principal, contacted the department and submitted a freedom of information request, but had still not been allowed to access the account.
“What is the Department of Education going to do to monitor all of our children’s emails to take away their ability to set up external accounts and take away the right of parents not to monitor their children’s online activity?” he asked. Mrs. Car.
In a response shown on 7NewsThe minister said she could not imagine what Woodhouse and her family had gone through and apologized for the role the department played in compounding their trauma.
Mrs Car said she would investigate what happened and that the education department secretary would call Mr Woodhouse.
“It’s raised a really important issue, I think all parents in New South Wales have the safety of our children online on their minds,” he said.
‘We need to do better. That particular issue about tracking emails, I need to get that out of the way.
Jason Woodhouse (pictured) has been in an eight-month battle to gain access to his son’s emails.
“But the issue of online safety for our children is something that concerns everyone, including me.”
The minister added: “It is dangerous and we have to do everything we can to make sure we are monitoring what is happening online, especially on forums that we own through educational emails that are accessed through the school “.
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