From the Principal

GETTING THE BUDGET RIGHT

The Federal Government recently presented its budget for the next financial year and beyond.  It was the usual ritual with the Treasurer reading the budget he and his officials had created for Cabinet’s approval, and all eyes and ears were glued on its content and questioned its implications.  In 2026, it delivered various reactions from the citizenry.

Monican households probably do not have an annual budget to meet obligations of various kinds, but most families would have a fairly clear idea of just what they can afford and what is beyond their means.  The resultant picture might vary from optimistic to gloomy. School fees, from our school perspective, will be part of budgetary planning by families.

We know that in Australia that these are difficult times for many people, adults primarily with effects on their children.  Aged people have their unique challenges and needs.  Our College assiduously endeavours to make a Monican education affordable and accessible to all who seek our style of Catholic Education, and all can rest assured that this is increasingly a most challenging situation to encounter and ensure maintenance and growth of our provision of service.  We pray and persevere – and that is a genuine promise and stark reality.

In life though, there are other aspects of budgeting to consider. There are, after all, only 24 hours in a day, and we generally sleep for 8 hours of them.  We budget time for our personal needs of hygiene; our family responsibilities like shopping; our domestic duties like cleaning, mowing and keeping liveable our accommodations; our recreation pursuits are budgeted for like the gymnasium, the footy or card games etc; we budget for spiritual time, both formal and personal; and then there is that often-called luxury – personal moments and sheer relaxation.

We Australians are indeed fortunate to have the opportunity to budget our time.  There are millions of people throughout the world for whom budgeting time is unknown. These folk are merely surviving as they lack regular supply of food and water, healthy environments, educational provision, and dealing with all the trauma of poverty.  They eke out a living in the hope that they can grow a family, a crop, a future for themselves as adults and for their children.

These are people for whom budgeting is not only money:  These are people for whom budgeting is mere survival.

Many are rich and wealthy, some to excess, others through work or inheritance.  Good luck to them but please God may they see the world as it actually is and be prepared to share their wealth in practical ways.  Indeed, benefactors and altruistic persons do exist, yet many horde and grow their wealth selfishly.  Other people with financial means slide into the middle stream of life, being good and solid people who give when and to whom they can.  Many Monicans fit into this category.

May Monican authorities have the capacity to budget to maintain this School of Educational Enterprise, ensuring that what we have in resources, personnel and money is put to good and prudent use.  Deliver us, Lord, from greed, avarice and neglect of the poor.  Instead, we must strive to aim always to welcome in and reach out.  SMC is neither a charity nor a free-for-all school, but fundamentally we must budget according to our Government and private funding means, with integrity, wisdom and in a genuine spirit of FAITH.

Mr Brian Hanley OAM 

Principal