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Written by Office of the Minister for Home Affairs
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Friday, 04 September 2009 |
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Lakemba NSW, Friday 4 September 2009, 10.30am
First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet.
I would like to acknowledge the presence of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and local member and colleague the Hon Tony Burke.
I would like to give my sincere thanks to Principal Ali Roude for the school’s hospitality today.
I am particularly appreciative of the hospitality as this week is part of the holy time of Ramadan.
I would like to acknowledge that Muslims have played a significant role in the cultural diversity that exists in Australia.
An Islamic school, Rissalah College was established in January 12 years ago. Next year the school is planning to move to improved premises. I would like to offer Rissalah College our best wishes for the move.
The move is very timely and the grants to be announced today very relevant.
The Secure Schools Program is an election commitment by the Rudd Government and provides $20 million to schools at risk to address their particular security needs.
In an ideal world we would not need any security in our schools in Australia.
Experience has shown that some schools have been targeted on the basis of ethnicity or religious background.
All school children need a safe and secure environment to study and to achieve their full potential.
School children should be free from fear so they can focus their energies on education and learning about their community.
The Secure Schools Program provides the opportunity for schools most at risk to develop solutions to meet their particular needs.
We are providing funding for items such as fencing, lighting, CCTV and window protection to make schools safer places.
To date we have announced funding for 25 schools around Australia. This includes government and non-government schools with Islamic and Jewish schools being the main recipients of funding. These schools are sharing over $7 million to help make their schools safer.
The announcement today is for the funding of three further NSW schools and they will share $654,000.
Here at Rissalah College you will receive funding to undertake a risk assessment of the new school grounds. This means when your school moves to the new premises in 2010 you will know what security measures you will require to improve safety.
Al Noori Muslim Primary School will receive funding for CCTV.
And Al-Faisal will receive funding for fencing, lighting, window protection and CCTV.
To date, over $3 million has been approved for 13 government and non-government schools in NSW.
The Secure Schools Program has a targeted approach and school must be identified by State and Territory jurisdictions as being at risk. Schools are then invited to apply.
We are in the process of seeking nominations from State Ministers of schools to be invited to apply. As soon as nominations are received, schools will be invited to apply under Round 2.
I look forward to hearing the outcome of your projects.
Thank you again for your hospitality.
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