Catholic School Parents Australia (CSPA) hit the ground running in 2023 with the first council meeting held in Brisbane (February). In her role as Acting Chair, Siobhan Allen welcomed everyone to the meeting and spoke of the significance of 2023 being the tenth year for CSPA.  Planning is underway for some celebration of this milestone in August.  Siobhan and Carmel Nash were founding members of CSPA. Siobhan also noted that Madonna King had resigned from the position of chair and that a process would soon commence for her replacement. Special welcome was also extended to Wayne Crase who was recommencing as a CSPA representative from Catholic School Parents Queensland.

Jacinta Collins (National Catholic Education Commission, Executive Director) was a guest presenter at the meeting and her sharing with CSPA focused on the proposed reforms to discrimination legislation and the possible impacts on Catholic schools.  She gave an outline of the evolution of discrimination legislation and religious freedom and noted that with a review every 5 years we were always having to defend how our Catholic schools operate and what might constitute discrimination – the individual versus the community of faith of the Catholic school. A key premise to the discussion was that Australia has a strong and vibrant Catholic education sector, so we need to be able to maintain this.

Later in the day, Fr Michael Twigg OMI celebrated Mass and joined councillors for dinner at the Pullman Brisbane Airport Hotel. Fr Michael’s presence is always much welcomed, not only for his thought-provoking Mass celebrations, but his many stories on current education matters.