The Magazine of St Aloysius' College • 'Men for Others' • Issue XLVII ...

from the senior school (cont'd)
Drs John Kramer and Brendan Nelson (Past Parent) at the 2020 Summit.
more people will die or be seriously injured remains to be
seen! (On my arrival home I checked the local papers to
find that yet another semi-trailer accident had blocked the
Highway for most of Saturday morning!)
In more general terms rural infrastructure was seen as of
crucial importance. An enhanced railway network to open
up the north of Australia, which may have to take on the
role of the “Food Basket of Asia”, was strongly supported,
together with a significantly enhanced road network in those
regions. The use of traditional lands for water storage and
agriculture would clearly have to be negotiated with their
indigenous occupants. A detailed analysis of soil conditions
and water storage opportunities would be mandatory as a
first step.
I argued for a national system of registration for doctors
and other health workers. This would make our health
workforce much more flexible and thus be better able to
respond to changing circumstances as well as crises. I
stressed the need for the relevant colleges, such as the
RACGP, to continue to determine the standards which
would apply. Medical boards would still deal with situations
where standards were not being met.
A further issue discussed was the concept of the “Rural
Health Obligation”. This picks up on material recently
prepared by the RDAA. It was strongly supported. It would
define a minimum standard of health services that a rural
community might expect. The body responsible for those
services would then have to deliver.
We were all asked to deliver our “Big Idea” in our
groups. This was difficult as most of us had a number of
big ideas. In the end I drew on my own clinical frustrations
of trying to help families of children with significant learning
and behavioural disorders. These are the children with
ADHD, autism, dyslexia, ODD and so forth, perhaps 10%
of all children in Australia. I advocated for a comprehensive
assessment of learning and behaviour in the year prior to
commencing school, that is, from ages four to five years. This
would be in addition to the current assessments of hearing,
vision and dentition. To me it makes much more sense
to identify these children with special needs before they
enter the school system, in order to provide the necessary
interventions to ameliorate these conditions. Undiagnosed
and untreated these children represent a high risk in an
education system with major learning and behavioural
deficits. That in turn places them at high risk of not fulfilling
their potential in life. They are overrepresented in the ranks
of the unemployed, underemployed, and prison population:
a disaster which could be avoided by early recognition of
difficulties combined with appropriate interventions. Whilst
this is not a purely rural issue, it is worse in the country due
to the lack of many allied health and specialist services, not
to mention GPs.
Despite discussing such major concerns, the mood was
one of great optimism. We sensed that the doors of our
Federal Government have been thrown open and we are
being asked for advice. One can but hope this situation
lasts indefinitely. The proof of the Government’s good
intentions will be in the results. For the moment we should
stay engaged and be ready to offer further advice when the
realities of government, budgets and competing concerns
intrude. Meanwhile it’s a case of “Watch this space”.
John Kramer (SAC 1971)
New Jesuit on Staff
The Aloysian Family warmly welcomes Fr Jack McLain SJ to
the staff of St Aloysius’ College. Fr McLain is a Jesuit who
has served as a chaplain in the US Army, as a superior
of a Jesuit community, a development officer (fund raiser),
and a pastoral assistant in a large Jesuit parish. He grew up
about an hour west of Seattle, Washington in the US. He
has lived in New England, the southern part of the US and
all over the world. As a chaplain, he served in the US Army’s
82nd Airborne Division and with the 3rd Special Forces
Group (Airborne) which included tours all over western Africa,
Kosovo, and two tours of Afghanistan. He enjoys finding
God in all things, but especially in nature skiing, surfing,
hunting, fishing, mountain biking and rock climbing. He also
is an unrepentant
gadget and
computer nut.
He has come
to love the stars
of the Southern
Cross and country
Australia and likes
to see both every
chance he gets.
Father McLain,
who will be on
staff for at least the
next two years, is
teaching RE and
is also involved in
the College Cadet
Fr Jack McLain SJ
Unit.
St Aloysius’ College
A Jesuit School for Boys _ Founded 1879
aloysiad / page 24