Don Randall (Canning, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

Austin Cove Baptist College was opened on 2 February 2011 and immediately the school community was tested with the unfortunate passing of Lauren Ames, a 13-year-old student, in a tragic car accident. Also, early on the morning on 4 May 2011, an explosion ripped through a tent in a Mandurah caravan park, in which a family was temporarily staying while the father dealt with financial issues. Tragically, all three family members perished. The youngest victim, 13-year-old Georgie Spies, was a student at Austin Cove Baptist College. Soon afterwards, a popular parent of a student passed away.

Austin Cove's Principal, Orlando dos Santos, is a fantastic leader of the school. After the fallout from the tragedies became clear, students and staff were obviously having a difficult time processing the heartbreaking events. So Mr dos Santos applied to the National School Chaplaincy Program—a marvellous program started by the Howard government. On 13 May 2011, I wrote to the Minister for School Education, Early Childhood and Youth, the Hon. Peter Garrett, seeking his urgent intervention because the school needed support. After seven weeks of hounding Minister Garrett's office, I finally got an answer:

Whilst I am sympathetic to the needs expressed by Mr dos Santos, the pressures on the Budget are significant and there is no latitude—

basically, the answer was no. This is a very unfortunate, substandard, lazy, dismissive and indifferent response. It is indicative of the minister's own abilities and is symptomatic of a federal government which has completely lost touch with the Australian community.

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