It’s not the first time Australian schools have been given a choice of a religious school chaplain or a secular welfare officer, and for some schools the decision can be divisive.
New Education Minister Jason Clare has moved quickly to change the school chaplains program.
Lukas Coch/AAP
Schools currently rely on third-party providers that require all those who apply to do student counselling and community work as school chaplains to have a committed Christian faith.
We often rush by without looking, but America’s rich spiritual and religious life is reflected in these sanctuaries.
The Abbott government’s Emissions Reduction Fund could be vulnerable to a future constitutional challenge in the wake of recent High Court decisions.
AAP/Lukas Coch
Late last week, the Senate passed the Abbott government’s controversial A$2.5 billion Emissions Reduction Fund, the centrepiece of its Direct Action Plan to combat climate change. Its passage has been…
Recent debate about the government’s school chaplaincy program has been informed by deficient understandings of what ‘secular’ is.
AAP/Alan Porritt
Despite recent calls for its elimination and the High Court (again) finding that it was funded unconstitutionally, the Abbott government announced this week that it would continue its school chaplaincy…
Are Queensland’s cassowaries being let down by Canberra’s officialdom?.
Dave Kimble/Wikimedia Commons
What do school chaplains and cassowaries have in common? Both highlight the degree to which federal governments struggle to devolve quality public decision-making to the right level. Our schools and our…
Tony Abbott’s support for funding religious chaplains in schools violates the principle of government religious neutrality.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The High Court of Australia, for the second time, recently found that the National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program (NSCSWP) is funded unconstitutionally, and so is invalid in its current…
Services can now be expanded to include drug and relationship counselling, sports coaching, as well as stress reduction and meditation.
Flickr/US Department of Education
The High Court of Australia has declared federal funding of the school chaplains program unconstitutional, largely because it doesn’t meet the legal criteria for authorising such payments. But this lack…
The High Court has unanimously re-endorsed its decision in a successful 2012 challenge to the government funding the National Schools Chaplaincy Program.
AAP/Lukas Coch
The High Court has again put the future of the federal government’s school chaplaincy program in jeopardy, confirming its 2012 decision that the Commonwealth’s spending programs must be supported by valid…
Today the High Court struck down the funding for the national school chaplaincy funding program for a second time. Today’s decision throws into question a whole range of federally-funded programs. The…
Queensland farmer Ron Williams has won his High Court case against the school chaplaincy program.
AAP/Alan Porritt
The High Court has again ruled unconstitutional the federal funding for school chaplains, casting doubt over the future of a program to which the Abbott government is deeply committed. Queensland father…
The High Court has given the Commonwealth two serious warnings that it needs to review its extensive spending program since 2009, but these have gone largely unheard.
AAP/Lukas Coch
This week, the High Court heard Toowoomba man Ron Williams’ second challenge to the constitutionality of the Commonwealth’s funding of the National School Chaplaincy and Student Welfare Program. While…
Should children be exposed to religion in school?
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In the small print in my Qantas in flight magazine I noticed that Qantas is now raising money for Mission Australia. Mission Australia runs a number of useful and worthwhile programs for the disadvantaged…
The government is trying to rush legislation through the parliament that could fundamentally change how it spends money.
AAP/Alan Porritt
In days of old, when Legislative Councils were appointed bodies, Labor Governments would try to swamp them with suicide squads of members who, once appointed, would vote to abolish the House. On Tuesday…
The High Court landmark decision in the school chaplaincy case is an opportunity for reform.
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The historic majority Australian High Court ruling that the National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) is “invalid” is a gift to the argument for secular public education. Secular statutes (for example…
Attorney General Nicola Roxon and Minister for School Education Peter Garrett respond to the Williams High Court decision.
AAP Image/Penny Bradfield
Today, the High Court of Australia dramatically altered the previously understood scope of the Commonwealth’s power to spend money and enter into contracts. This decision has immediate repercussions for…
Visiting Professor in Biomedical Ethics, Murdoch Children's Research Institute; Distinguished Visiting Professor in Law, University of Melbourne; Uehiro Chair in Practical Ethics, University of Oxford