Greg Hunt (Flinders, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Action, Environment and Heritage) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This evening I want to address three issues. Let me deal first with the National School Chaplaincy Program. I am here with the member for Bowman, who was one of the co-founders of the program. It is a program which has helped provide guidance, counselling, sanctuary and support for thousands of students around Australia. In my own electorate, I have dealt with many chaplains who, quite humbly, have talked about the importance of the program, trying to play down their own role. As you discuss the program with them, they reveal the story—although never the name—of a student who was on the edge of taking their life, on the edge of the abyss, who was facing a great spiritual dilemma or who had had a family tragedy, and the way in which their intervention was able to assist. I have spoken with parents who have said the same thing and with students who have said that there was nobody they felt sufficiently comfortable to talk to other than a chaplain because of their unique circumstances.

This program was designed to make sure that it was available to students of all religions as a means of participating in schools. It is entirely blind as to the source of religion and was designed consciously that way. But let me go further. It is also entirely voluntary. No school need participate in this program; it is entirely a matter for school principals and school councils. But the incentives are fundamental and were designed to allow every school to participate.

I worry that the program is under threat, given the government’s most recent paper, which I think, unfortunately, shows that the Gillard government is quietly eroding the National School Chaplaincy Program. The first threat is that the program will be undercut by progressively pushing out chaplains in favour of welfare officers. There is a fantastic role for welfare officers, but they should come under an additional, separate program—not one which is used to gradually push out chaplains from schools. The chaplaincy program has been very successful and it should not be eroded in that way.

The second great threat is the potential to put in place standards which are not about education but which, we have been told, because of certain education unions are designed to ensure that only a very limited pool of chaplains can qualify for the job. Protection of students is paramount, but ensuring that there is a full chaplaincy program across the nation is also fundamental. I challenge the Gillard government not to continue the erosion of this wonderful program.

The second issue I want to talk about is about Point Nepean in my electorate. Now that there has been a change of government in Victoria, we will push to ensure the completion of the National Centre for Coasts and Climate at Point Nepean, for which we set aside $7 million out of a total $50 million package. That money was taken by the Victorian Department of Sustainability and Environment. It must now be returned. I invite the new Victorian Minister for Environment and Climate Change, Ryan Smith, and the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne to meet and to work on site and restore the National Centre for Coasts and Climate, to complete the vision of Point Nepean, which was established by the community, as one of the great oceanographic and climate centres in the world.

The last thing I want to do, as I mention the environment minister, is acknowledge that my former chief of staff, John Deller, has been recruited—you could say headhunted—by the minister, with the promise of being able to stay at home at night and of being able to implement a wider range of things than you can from the opposition benches. I want to take this opportunity to, firstly, thank John Deller, who did a fantastic job as my chief of staff, and also acknowledge that we do not always do all that we can to recognise the work of our current staff. I want to mention in particular: my long-serving office manager, Lynne Strahan, who does an amazing job; Denise Garnock, who does an extraordinary job balancing my diary; Tina McGuffie, who manages media and communications; and Malene Hand, who came on board six months ago. They have now been joined by Cathy Alexander. All do a great job, and I want to take this moment to acknowledge their contribution.