Kerry Rea (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I would like to inform the House about the very significant role that school chaplains play in the schools in Bonner in the bayside suburbs, particularly Wynnum and Manly. The school chaplains in the two key high schools in those areas—Wynnum State High School and Wynnum North State High School—have been there since the early 1990s. They are not there as a result of a program that was introduced by the previous government in 2007. In fact, there have been several school chaplains. Greg Deighton and Randall Gill, the current serving chaplains, are doing a wonderful job in supporting the students of those two high schools. They are doing that with the great support of the chaplaincy chairman for that area, Tom Andrews, who is a well-known character in the Wynnum-Manly area. He is a great supporter of the community. He has a very generous heart and he understands many problems through his own personal suffering and through his commitment to helping people whenever they are in need.

The local bayside area significantly recognises and values the chaplains. Every year there is a fundraising breakfast held at the local leagues club to raise money for the school chaplaincy service provided at those two high schools. It has now expanded, as a result of the 2007 funding, into several primary schools at Tingalpa, Wynnum North, Darling Point Special School, Manly State Primary School and Lota State School, where Nyree Mannion, Bruce Gowlett, Chrissie O’Brien, Chris Allen and Aaron Bligh all play a very significant role in supporting the students in that local community.

As we have already heard, the school chaplains play a very vital role, which is effectively a counselling role. They provide emotional support to students. They respond to crises. They attempt to prevent, and hopefully pick up early signs of, problems. They are able to work with the students, the school community and their families to try to deal with those issues.

I wanted to speak to this motion because, having met the school chaplains in my area, in particular Tom and those who serve at the high schools, I am very aware of how important those individuals are. It may well be because they are school chaplains or it could well be because of the commitment they have made to religious service, but I think it is also because of who they are as people and their dedication to supporting the children and the students in that local community. That is why I believe that this motion, to a certain extent, while it is expressing support for school chaplains, is a little misleading.

I believe it is important that the government has committed three years of funding to next year, 2010, to this service. I also believe it is important that all schools and school chaplains acknowledge that they must be accountable for the money that is being funded to them through the government and the taxpayers of this country. Therefore, I believe a three-year time frame is an adequate period in order for the chaplains to provide an important service and to build up good relationships in the school.

At the same time we must always acknowledge that taxpayer funding cannot simply be never ending. There must be a period of review and evaluation. If we acknowledge that the role that chaplains are playing is primarily an important and significant one because of the counselling that they do then I believe the government should look through its budget processes at ways in which it can provide a broader service that may not necessarily just be faith based. There could be other forms of counselling and other opportunities for a school community to provide that support to its students.

Whilst I am very pleased to support the chaplains in my area and the work of the Scripture Union, particularly its CEO, Tim Mander, who is a great referee but primarily a person devoted to school chaplaincy—they have proved themselves to be very successful in the bayside—I acknowledge there are many other schools in Bonner and across the country. I look forward to the government reviewing this program that provides a very important support service to students and seeing a way in which funding can be flexible and address the needs of individual schools.

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