Pressure is mounting on the state government to hold an inquiry into the treatment of children with a disability after fresh accusations children in NSW schools were locked in cupboards and cages and improperly restrained.
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Education Minister Adrian Piccoli was also facing claims he and his department had declined to investigate a case of abuse brought to his attention by a concerned parent.
Balance-of-power MLCs Christian Democrats indicated they would join with Labor and the Greens to extend the scope of an existing inquiry to include the treatment of children with disabilities in schools.
"It's becoming increasingly clear that that there are some systemic problems that the minister is yet to address," said Paul Green, a Christian Democrats MLC.
Fairfax reported last week on scores of cases of abuse and bullying against children with a disability in NSW schools were deemed to be sustained but did not amount to misconduct and so no action was taken.
Calls for an inquiry were revived on Wednesday after an ABC report that carried testimony from two parents who testified that their children had been placed in restraints such as cage-like structures and cupboards.
One parent of a child at Aspect College in Macarthur, south-west of Sydney's CBD, said her son had been placed in a cage as many as six times in one day.
The director of Aspect, Dr Trevor Clark, denied any children were left alone in the structure, or that children were placed in it without their parents' consent.
Another parent featured in the program, an education academic at Newcastle University, David Roy, alleged his son observed the assault of another child and came home with bruises. He said the department failed to investigate his son's case for years.
In a 2014 internal email, a department employee wrote that the "early intervention unit" for children with disabilities at the school fell "outside the legislation so therefore we are not required to investigate".
In March, the office of Education Minister Adrian Piccoli wrote to Dr Roy to tell him they would no longer respond to questions about his son's case.
"The allegations were not sustained as misconduct by any staff member," said a spokesman for the Education Department of allegations first raised by Dr Roy in 2013.
The department says it was looking into more recent allegations, made in September last year, that Dr Roy's son was locked in a cupboard.
Jihad Dib, the shadow education spokesman, said that the parliamentary inquiry would offer to witnesses protection against punishment for speaking out.
"There have now been numerous reports across Australia where students with disability are being locked in so-called 'withdrawal spaces', such as cages and cupboards," said Therese Sands from the Australian Cross Disability Alliance.
"There is never any justification for treating children with disability in this way, and these practices must end".
A recent federal Senate inquiry found that children with disabilities were routinely refused enrolment, bullied and abused in schools.
The Auditor-General report in May found that standards of care for children with a disability in state schools was uneven and teachers needed more skills to support them.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that a vote of the NSW upper house would be required to institute an inquiry. In fact a vote of an existing committee would be required.
