Chaplaincy in NSW Schools
Reverend the Hon. Dr GORDON MOYES: I ask the Minister for Health, representing the Minister for Education and Training, a question without notice. Is the Minister aware of the program recently released by the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Training to partly fund the school chaplaincy with a $20,000 per annum grant to each school? Is the Minister aware that the directive in the memorandum to principals sent by the Director General of School Education on 10 October 1995—then Ken Boston—which deletes the position of chaplains in New South Wales schools, is still in force? Will the Minister order that this directive be modified in consultation with the Inter-Church Commission on Religious Education in Schools to allow for these much-needed funds being offered to other States to be used to fund chaplains to provide support and counselling to New South Wales students?
The Hon. JOHN HATZISTERGOS: I am aware of the Commonwealth’s announcement but I am not familiar with the details. I know a lot about chaplaincy. In my previous portfolio, when I was Minister for Justice, we had chaplains in corrective services. As the Hon. Michael Costa reminds me, I once got a letter from the Greens urging me to have a chaplain for atheists. If I ever write a biography, that request will end up as a footnote somewhere. I will take the question on notice and provide an answer subsequently.
