Morcombes on child-safety mission to schools



THE grieving parents of Daniel Morcombe will be paid to help draw up a national “stranger danger” curriculum to be taught in Australian classrooms.


Bruce and Denise Morcombe, whose 13-year-son was allegedly abducted and murdered eight years ago, were yesterday appointed child safety ambassadors as part of a $460,000 Queensland government pledge to the Daniel Morcombe Foundation.

Mr Morcombe revealed that a universal hand signal for children to indicate they were in danger or distress was under consideration as part of a new “stranger danger” curriculum to be taught to students from Prep or Kindergarten to Year 9. The couple will today start a speaking tour of 20 Queensland schools, barely a week after DNA tests identified bones found in a swamp as those of Daniel, who disappeared from a Sunshine Coast bus stop in 2003.

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Mr Morcombe said the idea was not to scare children with Daniel’s story, but to give them “life-saving skills”.

“We’ve not painted the world as a dark place,” he said.

“We’ve encouraged children (that they) need to form a relationship with trusted adults.

“If you feel a situation is not right, remove yourself from that situation and then tell one of your trusted adults . . . We’re not saying everyone is bad; we’re saying you need to trust some people.”

Mr Morcombe said parents needed to “move with the times” and protect children from online predators. “With computers and mobile phones, we need to keep one step ahead of predators out there who use this technology and are perhaps more savvy than the mums and dads,” he said.

Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said she hoped the curriculum would be adopted nationally.

“This is something the other premiers have already indicated an interest in and I’ll be doing everything I can to get it on the national agenda,” she said.

Ms Bligh said she trusted the Morcombes to tell their story to children with the “right balance”.

A 42-year-old man has been charged with Daniel’s abduction and murder.

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