Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to put to the House today a proposal for a national schools chaplaincy program. In doing so, I want to examine three components: firstly, existing practice; secondly, the purpose of such a program; and, thirdly, the proposal itself for a national schools chaplaincy program. When I look at existing practice, I see schools in my electorate which currently have a chaplaincy program provided through the voluntary donations of residents and people within the community. Rosebud Secondary College, Dromana Secondary College, Mornington Secondary College, which in fact is in the electorate of Dunkley, and then Crib Point and Hastings primary schools, between them, share four chaplains.

Experience to date has been of an extraordinary engagement with students. These programs have come at the behest of the schools, the school communities and the parents. They have not been imposed by anybody; they are entirely voluntary but have involved the school communities and the Mornington Peninsular chaplaincy committee raising sufficient funds to provide the salaries of the four chaplains in question. It is an onerous task but they have done it willingly and have benefited from the educational outcomes.

How does it work in practice? What is the purpose behind these chaplaincy programs? There are four: firstly, the chaplains work to provide mentoring; secondly, they provide counselling in times of family crisis or personal crisis; thirdly, they provide a base for values education; and, fourthly, where the schools and the individual students so wish, they contribute to religious education. It is a broad purpose across four different fronts.

How does this proposal, which I as well as other members of this House have put to the Prime Minister, operate? The proposal works on the basis of voluntary participation. There should be no imposition, nor should anybody be prevented from participating. It should be entirely a matter for the schools, the principals, the staff, the students and the school community comprising parents and friends. If they wish to bring on board a chaplain and if they are willing to undertake the task of raising the first portion of the funds, our proposal is that, at a national level—because of the paucity of funding at the state level, although there is some small amount—the Commonwealth should contribute on a dollar-for-dollar basis. I believe this is a proposal worth supporting. I congratulate the initial authors—Peter Rawlings, Dr David Price and Dale Stephenson. I thank the House for its consideration.