The disability sector in Australia strongly condemns Senator Hanson for her recently expressed view that schools should "get rid" of autistic students from mainstream classrooms; see Pauline Hanson says autistic kids should be removed from mainstream classes and Senator Hanson needs to go back to school.

However, people should understand this issue better.

To a degree, Senator Hanson is restating Australian law as was made clear in the High Court's Purvis vs NSW decision. This decision upheld the NSW Education Department's decision to exclude a student with disability from education because of his behaviour. This High Court decision denies some Australian children their right to education; the decision said Australian law contradicts international law where the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRoC) provides every child has the right to education. Australia signed the CRoC but the Australian Government refuses to enact the obligatory law that should follow. And the UN denies individual children any process to test their right under international law. 

Since the High Court's decision, on this matter, politicians collectively have done very little to protect vulnerable children and ensure they have the right to appropriate and effective education.

The best that can be said is that Australia law on this issue is so outrageous that it is rarely tested. 

Senator Hanson is simply expressing Australian law as it relates to children who resort to behaviour to express their anxiety, distress or response to abuse. It is the agreed view of Australia's federal politicians; this view is not restricted to Senator Hanson.

This is Bob Buckley's personal view.