Australia’s Canberra minister apologises over delayed school alert after alleged knife attack

The ACT Education Minister has apologised to parents after a delay in notifying the school community about an alleged knife attack at Lanyon High School in Canberra, with a cybersecurity response temporarily disrupting the school’s messaging system.

A teenage boy appeared in the ACT Children’s Court after allegedly attacking another student at the south Canberra school on Thursday morning, injuring his hand with a knife and punching him in the head.

Police allege the teenager punched the other student before pulling out a knife measuring between 20 and 30 centimetres.

“The [accused] then allegedly lunged toward the other boy, stabbing him in the hand. The other boy ran away but the knife was thrown at his head while he fled,” police said.

The alleged offender fled the scene but later presented himself at City Police Station on Thursday night, where he was arrested.

He faces several charges, including intentionally wounding, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, possessing an offensive weapon with intent and assaulting a frontline worker.

The injured student was taken to hospital for treatment.

The accused did not apply for bail at his court appearance, although the court heard that a bail application would be made on Tuesday. The case is due to return to court next month.

Cybersecurity response disrupted school communications

The incident coincided with the ACT government’s response to cybersecurity vulnerabilities affecting government websites, leaving the school’s administration system temporarily offline.

ACT Education Minister Yvette Berry’s colleague and ministerial counterpart, Education Minister Yvette Stephen-Smith, said the disruption prevented the school from using its usual system to alert parents promptly.

“It was really unfortunate that this incident coincided with the PHP cyber security response yesterday, which meant the school's administration system was offline for a period of time and unfortunately the messaging system wasn't available,” Stephen-Smith said.

She apologised to families who experienced additional anxiety because of the delay.

“So there was a slight delay in getting messaging out to the whole school community and I really apologise to any parents who experienced additional distress as a result of that,” she said.

The minister said the message was eventually sent and the school emailed all families before 3pm. However, some students had already contacted their families independently and arranged to be collected from school.

The delay raised concerns about the importance of reliable communication between schools and families, particularly when serious incidents affect student safety.

Stephen-Smith said support was being made available to students and staff affected by the incident.

“My thoughts are obviously with the student who was injured and their family and recognising school should be a safe place for everyone,” she said.