Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee
Thursday 18 October 2012

Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations

Senator WRIGHT: These questions are in relation to the National Schools Chaplaincy program, which I think is program 2.3.

Can you tell me, please, under this program, what are the key responsibilities and functions of chaplains? For instance, what role are they intended to fulfil in schools?

Figures released today show around 200 schools across the country have chosen to hire people other than chaplains since the federal government gave them the choice in September 2011, the Australian Greens said.

"We applaud the fact that Australian schools are exercising their right to choose whether or not they want a chaplain or someone from a secular background," Greens' youth affairs spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

The federal government has at last let schools decide who they want to counsel their students, and ensure they have appropriate training, the Australian Greens said today.

"We welcome this announcement after taking this much-needed expansion to the 2010 election," Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens' spokesperson for youth affairs, said.

"The Greens have been saying for years a major problem with the programme was it forced schools into getting only a chaplain, rather than someone with basic qualifications.

The Australian Greens say they hope a High Court challenge to the National School Chaplaincy Programme, which began today, will succeed and lead to an overhaul of the scheme.

"This is of course a programme where Australian taxpayers spend hundreds of millions of dollars on staff to support students who can do so without appropriate qualifications," Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, Greens' spokesperson for youth affairs, said.

Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young's 26/07/11 press conference in Canberra on the Malaysian people swap deal and the national school chaplaincy programme.

The Australian Greens say the Commonwealth Ombudsman's investigation into the National School Chaplaincy Programme has buttressed the party's concerns about the absence of minimum qualifications required for participants.

"This report reinforces what we've always said -- there's a lot of taxpayers' money being spent on this programme which does not require minimum basic standards for chaplains," Greens' youth affairs spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young.

New revelations about the problems within the National School Chaplaincy Programme by ABC-TV's 7:30 last night reinforce the need for the scheme to be overhauled, the Australian Greens said today.

"The Greens want to see the chaplaincy programme replaced with a student support programme using people with relevant qualifications to meet the needs of students," Greens' education spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said.

Last week the federal government's budget revealed the Education Department would spend another $222 million over four years on the national school chaplaincy program.

In light of revelations that the Victoria-based Access Ministries is reportedly using the program to ''make disciples'' of students, the Australian Greens question whether that's money well-spent.

The Australian Greens are concerned by reports a ministry in Victoria may have breached federal guidelines covering the chaplaincy programme in public schools.Access Ministries has been accused of trying to convert students into "disciples", contrary to federal regulations.

"We await the review of Access Ministries by the Federal Education Department, something Peter Garrett has indicated will happen because the federal guidelines as 'crystal clear' on proselytising in schools," the Greens' education spokesperson, Sen. Sarah Hanson-Young, said today.