School principals need to be able to ban mobile phones from classes to stop cyber bullying and distractions, the nation's new education minister says.
Dan Tehan met with his state ministerial counterparts for the first time in Adelaide on Friday and raised the problem of phones in classrooms.
"What I support is giving principals and teachers the right to be able to deal with mobile phones if they're distracting from student performance," Mr Tehan told reporters.
"It is incredibly important when it comes to the issue of cyber bullying."
Any ban will be up to states and territories, but Mr Tehan said it needs to be addressed.
"I think it is a no-brainer that we should look at it, because it is something that I think we have to take seriously," he said.
The ministers also talked about rolling out a national identification numbers to track students when they move between schools or interstate.
Mr Tehan played down privacy concerns about the move, saying it would make sure students don't slip through the cracks.
"What you get when you start school is an identification number, which means if you move states, or you move schools, it means you can be tracked," he said.
