The Australian Government has launched a national bullying awareness campaign backed by a $10 million investment, including $5 million for a targeted advertising blitz, Minister for Education Jason Clare MP announced on 9 August 2026.
The campaign, titled Let's Stop Bullying, is the first federally funded advertising push specifically aimed at helping school communities spot and stop bullying.
The advertisements, which began airing on television and radio from the day of the announcement, feature school-aged children asking audiences to identify which of them is being bullied — a device designed to reinforce the campaign's central message that bullying is often invisible to bystanders and adults.
What the campaign includes
At the centre of the initiative is a new website, LetsStopBullying.gov.au, which hosts free resources for young people, parents, carers and school communities. Additional resources for teachers and schools are being progressively added, according to the Department of Education.
The campaign is a direct response to the findings of the 2025 Anti-Bullying Rapid Review, led by co-chairs Dr Charlotte Keating and Professor Jo Robinson AM. The review found that one in four students in Year 4 to Year 9 experience bullying regularly, and that more than half of young people have been bullied online. Reports of cyberbullying made to the eSafety Commissioner rose by more than 455 per cent between 2019 and 2024, the review found.
"Bullying is cruel and it's dangerous," Clare said. "It doesn't just leave physical scars, it leaves invisible scars that can last a lifetime. That's why we've taken action with a national plan to address bullying and an awareness campaign to back it up."
New two-day response rule for schools
Beyond the advertising campaign, the government has attached firm compliance deadlines to the review's recommendations. By the start of Term 1 2027, every Australian school — government, independent and Catholic — will be required to publish anti-bullying policies aligned with the National Framework for Addressing Bullying in Australian Schools. Schools will also be required to respond to a bullying complaint or incident within two school days, a rule the review identified as central to effective bullying response and reporting pathways for students and families.
"I know this is something that mums and dads worry about," Clare said. "The campaign makes us ask 'what if this was my child?' so we can spot it and stop it. We know if we're going to properly tackle bullying, we need to nip it in the bud and to act early."
The two-school-day rule and the requirement to embed the National Framework into school policy were both agreed to by Education Ministers last year, following the release of the Anti-Bullying Rapid Review's findings.
A national push building on state-level action
The federal campaign lands as individual jurisdictions have been trialling their own responses to bullying, including Queensland's rollout of rapid support squads for schools facing escalating incidents. Education leaders have also pointed to the role school leadership plays in surfacing bullying before it escalates, with some arguing schools need a leadership approach to school safety that starts with visible, personal commitment from principals and staff.
Clare said the awareness campaign, combined with the new reporting timeframe, was intended to give parents, teachers and students confidence that action would follow a complaint.
"This is just the start and the hard work is ahead of us to make our schools safe and protect children," he said.