Smart glasses are being shut out of every state school in Western Australia. Jay Peckitt, the state’s Director General of Education, signed a CEO Instruction on September 22 that orders all public school principals to stop people wearing, using or even carrying the devices on campus. It takes effect on October 12, when Term 4 begins.

What makes it unusual is who it covers. The instruction reaches students and staff, and it does not stop there: carers, parents, contractors and visitors appear on the list too, so a Year 9 pupil at assembly and a visiting adult fall under the same restriction. The rule follows school communities offsite during excursions and sports fixtures, and principals can grant exemptions for medical needs.

Nothing in the instruction names a brand or attaches a fine, and the government frames the move as prevention against “careless, criminal or malicious use”. Education Minister Sabine Winton told ABC News the frames might look cool, but she sees no place for them in a school or a classroom. There is no documented instance of a student or teacher using smart glasses to do harm in a state school; the policy is preventive, not a response to an incident.

Tama Leaver, a professor at Curtin University, offered the broadcaster a blunter justification: “It only takes sort of 30 seconds of footage now to create a deepfake of someone using the most rudimentary AI tools.” That is the risk the state says it is legislating against, and it explains why the ban fits inside the existing off-and-away phone policy and runs ahead of Victoria, which restricts wearables from January 2027.

State officials present the policy as the broadest of its kind anywhere in Australia.

Source: Mixed News

Source: ABC News

Source: Government of Western Australia