‘Ridiculous’: unisex toilets for students at new Brisbane high school

Students will share gender-neutral toilet facilities at a new $80 million Brisbane high school, in a move dubbed a “recipe for disaster”. Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk says boys and girls should have their own toilets.

PREMIER Annastacia Palaszczuk says she’ll be raising the issue of shared boys and girls toilets at a new Brisbane high school directly with the Education Department, declaring boys and girls should have their own facilities.

Students will share gender-neutral toilet facilities at Brisbane’s new $80 million vertical high school at Fortitude Valley, in a move slammed as a “recipe for disaster”.

The Sunday Mail revealed the Fortitude Valley State Secondary College had been specifically designed without boys’ and girls’ separate bathrooms – the first of its kind in Queensland.

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Instead, self-contained cubicles with hand basins will be used by Year 7 students starting next year, while the seven-storey St Paul’s Terrace precinct will be fitted with gender-neutral cubicles and shared basin areas when it opens in late 2020.

The only exception in the school will be two male and female toilets in change room facilities.

Ms Palaszczuk said today was the first she had learned of a plan to install gender-neutral facilities.

“Look I am happy to talk to the Department about that,” she told reporters when questioned about the reason behind co-ed toilets.

“I think in our high schools we should have facilities available for both boys and girls.”

Asked whether she had a problem with the plan, she said: “I will be making it very clear that you should have toilets for boys and girls.”

Ms Palaszczuk, who established an anti-bullying taskforce last year to combat school and cyber bullying, was asked whether she had concerns over bullying or other problem behaviours that could flourish in shared bathrooms.

“Like I said, there has to be toilets for girls and toilets for boys,” she said in response.

Ms Palaszczuk confirmed the facilities, although planned, were not yet built.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and Education Minister Grace Grace inspect the construction on the new Fortitude Valley State Secondary College in June. Picture: AAP Image/Richard Waugh

Brisbane education expert and mum Michelle Mitchell said the decision was fraught with potential dangers for students, branding it “ridiculous”.

“We already know some really bad things happen to kids in bathroom areas of schools – bullying, sexting, kids recording on mobiles, these things already go on when they’re just within their own sex, and then you’re adding in an extra element,” she said.

“It feels like some basic rights are being taken away from these kids – that’s an intense thing to say, but its true.

“Being a teenager is a really big time of change, for boys and for girls, and kids have a right to feel safe.”

The Department of Education said the school’s design was in line with “modern, state-of-the-art, vertical high schools in other jurisdictions”, and said the cubicles would be lockable with the surrounding areas open for “safety and supervision”.

Clinical psychologist Dr Judith Locke said there was a potential for problems with teenagers sharing facilities in close proximity, such as girls feeling comfortable while managing menstruating.

She said it was crucial the school listened to student feedback on the toilet situation once it was operating.

“If they are trying to change things to suit what we are experiencing in a modern society, we should allow opportunities to test them,” she said.

“Private cubicles might be a better way for schools to go, and I’m confident they will be assessing what works.”

The new Fortitude Valley State Secondary College currently under construction. Picture: AAP Image/John Gass

But LNP education spokesman Jarrod Bleijie slammed the decision as a “recipe for disaster”.

“It is insensitive to the privacy of both young boys and girls deserve,” he said.

“Local parents have a right to be concerned about how this is going to be safe for all students.

“The last thing teachers need to do is make sure people are behaving appropriately in the school toilets.”

An artist impression of the new Fortitude Valley State Secondary College. Picture: Supplied

Queensland Teachers’ Union president Kevin Bates was aware of the new design, and said it was about "inclusion and accessibility”.

“Every toilet in our home is unisex, so it’s not that unusual,” he said.

“The whole design of the school is new and ground-breaking, and I think we will see broader considerations for these kinds of design from now on.”

Mr Bates said he did not believe the decision would cause problems for teachers managing behaviour.