David Fawcett (Wakefield, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to put a bit of context around some of the conjecture that has been in the press over the last few days about the chaplaincy program that was announced by the Prime Minister on the weekend. Headlines such as ‘School chaplain call a “cheap political stunt”’ have come out along with other criticisms of the program. I would just like to address some of the facts about who was actually looking for the program, why it is there and what it is in order to put to bed some of this conjecture, which I think is unhelpful and does not recognise the true value that this program has been bringing and will bring into the future.

So who has actually been calling for it? Most of the critics are saying that it is the government trying to ram some agenda down people’s throats. But I have to say that this has been in response to a call from the community, who are already seeing the benefits of existing chaplaincy programs around Australia. They exist right now in state schools and are benefiting students. In South Australia, this program has been running for well over 20 years, and the South Australian government already gives some $50,000 each year to it. In Victoria, the state government already gives some $25,000 per chaplain to the program and in Queensland the state government gives some $10,000 per group.

What is the program? Let me make it very clear that it is not a program about religious education. As someone who has spent over 22 years in the military, I am very aware of the role of chaplains, and the role is not about religious education. It is for the same reason that we have chaplains in hospitals, in industry, in the military, as I have mentioned, in police services and in correctional services. There are chaplains in schools around Australia, except, I believe, in New South Wales, and they are even in sporting teams. They are there for a range of good reasons but not for religious education.

If you look at how the chaplains group in South Australia describe their purpose, in one of their pamphlets they say:

It’s always been tough being a kid. Today, its even tougher.

Look around in any school in any town in South Australia, and you’ll see that our kids are shouldering more burdens than at any time before.

Family breakdown, Death of friends, Depression, Drug abuse, Sexual, Physical and Emotional abuse. These are the stark realities of life for many kids today, and that’s where school Chaplaincy comes in.

It goes on:

... Chaplains in state schools provide a listening ear, a caring presence and are powerful advocates for kids in crisis—and for kids who just need a friend.

This is not just one or two schools. We have some 188 chaplains in schools in South Australia—in 76 high schools, 80 primary schools and around 30 area schools. And there is a waiting list of some 40 schools that are seeking this support.

The program is voluntary, so it is not at all about anyone ramming anything down people’s throats; it is this government providing choice for school communities so that if they wish to have this support for their children they will have the resources to help them on the way with that. And it is the school communities who actually run the schemes. Tonight as I speak here, in Kapunda, in the electorate of Wakefield, Jennette Mickan, who is the chaplain at both Freeling Primary School and Kapunda High School, is presenting to the annual general meeting of the chaplaincy group, who will decide what is going to happen in terms of their chaplaincy programs. This is something that is owned, managed and run by the parents and the community of the school, not at all by the government.

Look at other schools that have been very successful, such as Salisbury High School, which has transformed the nature of youth in the area. The principal, Helen Paphitis, has talked about people like Andrew Beaufort—who was the school chaplain there—and the role that they play. Even the counsellors and social workers speak well of the chaplains. One who was on ABC radio just this week said:

I’m a qualified social worker, family therapist and school counsellor ... I see young people with all sorts of needs ... while they need professional help, some of them have said to me they don’t feel comfortable with a counsellor, some of them want to see a chaplain. It’s about giving them diversity and I don’t have a problem with it.

This program is about providing resources to schools—not only schools that have the ability for the community to raise the funds but schools such as Davoren Park and Smithfield Plains Primary and high schools in Wakefield that do not have the funds in the community. It is about this government giving those communities choice to provide the support that their children need to have a fair start in life.