Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Student Wellbeing Program supports over 3,000 public schools right across Australia. One of the great improvements made by the Albanese government was to enable all state schools to have choice. Communities have the choice of either a chaplain or a qualified student wellbeing officer. This flexibility is really important for schools, as it allows them to cater for their specific needs and what suits their community. It's also important for those schools situated in lower-socioeconomic communities to have choice. Many of these schools don't have the luxury of a well-funded and well-resourced church group to help pay the wages of a chaplain. The more stretched a community is, the more chance they're unable to fund a chaplain, and—let's be honest—the kids in that school probably have more challenges. So the option to employ a qualified wellbeing officer is important for such communities. Also, not all parents or communities are comfortable for their children to speak to someone who may not hold the same faith or non-faith beliefs. The ABS tells us that less than eight per cent of Australians regularly attend religious services nowadays.

The National Student Wellbeing Program's officers and chaplains work in collaboration with school communities to support the wellbeing of school students through providing pastoral care, organising volunteer activities with the school community, running programs such as breakfast clubs and lunchtime activities, and coordinating school excursions and parent carer workshops. In their role working with school communities, the NSWP student wellbeing officers and chaplains do not provide religious instruction or religious counselling—an important reminder. They may be of any faith or of no faith. They must not proselytise in a state school; they must respect, accept and be sensitive to other views, values and beliefs; and they must promote a safe and inclusive school community. We are talking about children here. They must comply with state and territory laws and policies in relation to child protection matters, and they must have relevant and valid state and territory working with children or vulnerable people checks. They must meet the qualification requirements of the NSWP and must undertake the cyberbullying professional learning package delivered by the eSafety Commission.

The effects they have locally can be profound. We know that. In my electorate, at Wellers Hill State School, Robyn Maxwell, besides providing pastoral care to students, parents and staff, also coordinates the Modelling Affirmation, Trust, Encouragement and Support group. At Salisbury State School, Angeline Pang works with the school student support team, including the guidance officer and welfare officer, to provide a safe place for students to talk about their struggles, such as family problems, confusing relationships, friendship issues, peer pressure, self-esteem issues, bullying, stress and anxiety. Thank you, Angeline. At Sunnybank State High School, Ben Archbold provides emotional and social support to the students and families by creating an environment for students to get things off their chest as well as coordinating programs to enhance students' lives, develop skills or expand students' views of the world. John Erichsen at Coopers Plains State School is involved with school camps and excursions, providing assistance in classrooms and running lunchtime programs for students and staff. Mr T at MacGregor State School only joined the school in March this year but is already busy helping students with social and emotional support and developing knowledge, understanding and skills that support learning, positive behaviour and constructive social relationships. Mrs V at Corinda State School has a professional background in special needs and disability as well as nursing and early childhood education and a diploma in social science. Well done, Mrs V. She runs positive and fun activities for students and assists in fostering a supportive and caring school community.

I could go on with many other examples of schools across my electorate of Moreton, across Queensland and across Australia where they are delivering the National Student Wellbeing Program. We know that this can be an effective program with the right people. We know that the National Student Wellbeing Program can change lives and, dare I say, even save lives. But it must have the ability and flexibility to deliver for the needs of schools and their communities. As I said, if we let chaplains only operate in schools that have the resources to pay for the chaplain, the communities that are poorest and hardest up will actually miss out. That's why we made these important changes to the National Student Wellbeing Program.

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