WA Premier Colin Barnett and Opposition Leader Mark McGowan have both committed to provide funding for the chaplaincy program being run in WA schools.  

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In the last week, the ACL has been quoted in the media on issues such as chaplaincy in schools, and marriage.  See below for links to mentions in the media.



On marriage:

• The Australian - Caro defends housewife remarks

ACL's Managing Director Lyle Shelton was interviewed by Peter Goers on ABC News radio in Adelaide this week about the national school chaplaincy program.  Listen to the interview here.

MEDIA RELEASE



Thursday 28th August 2014



The Australian Christian Lobby said the ACT government’s refusal to administer the school chaplaincy program unless the scheme allows secular counsellors is an overreach.



ACL’s Managing Director Lyle Shelton said he welcomed news this week that the federal government will provide funding to the state and territory government to administer the program.



However, Mr Shelton said the ACT government is being unreasonable in demanding the program have secular counsellors.



In denying local schools the choice to continue with a chaplaincy program, 27 chaplains will be out of work and hundreds of thousands of dollars of Commonwealth funding will be lost to the ACT.



“When High School Chaplaincy program was introduced in 2006 the purpose and intent was for pastoral care and support,” he said.



“The program has been successful and school communities want chaplains in their schools.



“A 2009 national study into the effectiveness of chaplains in government schools found that 98 per cent of principals surveyed believed chaplaincy was making a major contribution to the school’s morale.



“Furthermore the same study found that 73 per cent of students surveyed felt their chaplain was highly important in the school,” he said.



"It is disappointing the ACT government is denying local schools the choice of extra resources for their school communities because of what appears to be an anti-faith bias."



ENDS

Peter James is the spokesperson for the National Schools Chaplaincy Association and CEO of Scripture Union Queensland, one of the defendants in the recent High Court challenge about the school chaplaincy program. He spoke to the ACL's Katherine Spackman about the ruling which struck down the funding arrangements of the program. He says there may be an avenue for states to fund the program.

Funding for school chaplains has been declared constitutionally invalid for the second time by the High Court of Australia



In handing down its decision, the High Court ruled that the provision of welfare workers in schools is not a “benefit to students”. Specifically, the constitution does not permit the following benefits to be considered capable of government funding: "strengthening values, providing pastoral care and enhancing engagement with the broader community”.



It is a disappointing day for the school communities across the nation who value the work of school chaplains.



However, Peter James, spokesperson for the National School Chaplaincy Association and Chief Executive of Scripture Union Queensland said, “While the High Court has ruled against the current model, the court has acknowledged federal funding can continue for chaplaincy through state/territory grants”.



Prime Minister Tony Abbott has reassured the community of the government’s commitment to the program when he said it “very much supports [the program] and wants it to continue”. It follows the announcement in May to continue to fund the program a further $244 million over four years.



In the Senate Question time today, Senator Brandis said "It is important to note that in arriving at that conclusion, the Court did not deal with the merits of the program, merely that the question of whether it fell within a particularly constitutional definition".  Read more of Senator Brandis' comments 



The challenge is the second time Toowoomba father of six Ron Williams has brought the issue of school chaplaincy to the High Court. In 2012 he sued the Commonwealth and Scripture Union Queensland, seeking to have the scheme stuck down. The High Court agreed that the legislation which existed at that time was invalid.



Immediately afterward, the Gillard government passed emergency legislation to protect the program. The new legislation sought to rely on section 51(xxiiiA) of the Constitution, which allows the federal government to provide funding for “benefits to students”.



The ACL will continue to advocate for the program to ensure an appropriate funding model can be adopted by government so school communities can benefit from the support of a school chaplain.



Two university studies on the program have shown school communities overwhelming value the role the chaplains provide.



Get informed about the issue by reading the National School Chaplaincy Association’s fact sheet Dispelling Myths and Answering Questions.

This week, Mr Andrew Broad MP (left) -  the member for Mallee in Victoria - gave his support for the continued funding of the National School Chaplaincy Program in a statement to parliament.



He gave an account of the important work chaplains have played in his electorate, particularly after a tragic incident where a driver hit and killed six children in Mildura.



Mr Broad said:



"The advantage of helping young students as they grow and struggle to find their place in life and have someone to talk to is very valuable...We also believe that a chaplain's role in school is instrumental in helping young adults become fulfilled, confident and great individuals."



To read the statement, follow this link to the Hansard document. Mr Broad's statement begins on page 42.



Last month, ACL congratulated the Coalition on fulfilling an election promise to continue funding school chaplaincy across Australia. The recent budget revealed that a total of $243.8 million will be allocated to the program over the next four years. Under the program, Australian schools can apply for $20,000 grants from the government to hire a school chaplain. Many school communities raise extra funds so their chaplains can work more than two days per week.



CEO of Scripture Union Queensland - the largest provider of school chaplains in Australia - Peter James recently spoke to ACL's Katherine Spackman about being called to the High Court a second time to defend the chaplaincy program. You can listen to the interview here. A verdict is not expected for some months.

MEDIA RELEASE



Wednesday, May 14th, 2014



Broken promises in last night's budget demean the currency of parliamentarians at a time when public confidence in them is needed more than ever, according to the Australian Christian Lobby.



Managing Director Lyle Shelton said it was profoundly disappointing that the biggest single short term budget cut was to overseas aid and that this was a broken promise.



"That there is no public outcry about the $7.6 billion dollars that will be cut from forward estimates of aid over the next five years demonstrates that consumerism and self interest are sadly more important to us than keeping the promises we have repeatedly made to the world's poor," he said.



Mr Shelton said it was now clear Australia's commitment to the Millennium Development Goals to increase aid as part of a global agreement to halve extreme poverty by 2015 was now all but over.



"A Medicare co-payment has been introduced to build a medical endowment fund to cure first world ills while we break our promise and cut aid to those for whom a doctor's visit would be a luxury,” he said.



"While balancing the books is important, the government painted itself into an untenable position by saying it could reduce expenditure without raising taxes and without cutting key areas.



"It would have been better if these promises had not been made in the first place," he said.

Mr Shelton said decoupling Australia's giving to the global poor from Gross National Income was a broken promise given in writing to the Christian constituency before the election.



"It appears Australia no longer has foreign aid, we have foreign policy. It seems our aid money is directed to countries where we have a political interest," Mr Shelton said.



"It is reasonable that the burden of reducing expenditure has to be shared, but it seems that a disproportionate burden has fallen upon the poor and disadvantaged," Mr Shelton said.



"This sadly says something about our priorities and self interest as a wealthy nation."



Mr Shelton welcomed news that the National School Chaplaincy Program would continue to be funded.



Mr Shelton also gave credit to the government for including funding of $115 million, announced in March, for the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness.



He also said it was pleasing to see funding for the Australian Charities and Not For Profit Commission retained and hoped this was an indication that it may not be abolished as planned.



ENDS

Peter James is the CEO of Scripture Union Queensland. In this interview with the ACL's Katherine Spackman he discusses the hearings held in Canberra from the 6th to the 8th of May into the school chaplaincy program. It's the second time the school chaplaincy program has being challenged in the High Court. The commonwealth government funds school chaplains in more than 3000 schools across the country.

MEDIA RELEASE



For release: Friday May 2, 2014



The Australian Christian Lobby is urging the Coalition to reject a Commission of Audit report recommendation to break its election promise on school chaplaincy.



Managing Director Lyle Shelton said the Coalition pledged before the election to continue the National School Chaplaincy Program in Schools to support the emotional wellbeing of students.



“The Commission of Audit has recommended abolishing the National School Chaplaincy Program despite its enormous success and widespread support,” Mr Shelton said.



“A survey of public school principals found that 98 per cent said chaplaincy was a proactive, unique, effective, and important contribution to school morale, and that it should be continued.



“This is in addition to widespread community support for chaplains.”



Mr Shelton said that the Chaplaincy Program costs relatively little for the large impact it has on school children.



“Abolishing national funding for chaplaincy will provide only small savings for the government while removing an important support available to hundreds of thousands of Australian children,” he said.



“Balancing the budget is important, but even more so for community trust in politics are election commitments.



“There is a great expectation in the community that the Coalition’s election commitment on chaplaincy will be kept.”



Mr Shelton noted that the Finance Minister last night said Commission of Audit recommendations that breached election commitments would not be implemented.



However, a Commission of Audit recommendation to de-couple aid from Gross National Income in breach of an election commitment had already been adopted.

Peter James is the CEO of Scripture Union Queensland. In this interview with the ACL's Katherine Spackman he discusses the upcoming High Court Challenge into the National School Chaplaincy program. It's the second High Court Challenge. Hearings are set down for May 6th to 8th.