Something interesting happened today. Was checking Crikey for links to any news stories I might find interesting, when I noticed on their Pollie Twitter feed that the man himself, KRudd, had promised funding in the future for the National School Chaplaincy Programme (check it out on http://twitter.com/KevinRuddPM).
As an atheist interested in how religion works within a supposedly secular political system, I decided to check it out.
Having googled it, I found that I was not given access to the official government website for the programme: www.dest.gov.au/schools/chaplains.
I found another link to the official pamphlet for the programme.
According to this source, over 90 million dollars over three years is available to schools who want to apply for funds so they can appoint a chaplain. Both state and independent schools are able to apply for these funds.
Given that there is a clause in the Education and Training Reform Act (Victoria) which states that “education in Government schools be secular”, how can the Federal Government provide funds for a religious presence in Government schools?
If anyone knows more about politics than I do (incredibly likely), could they please let me know how the Federal Government gets around the state laws on this matter? I've been reliably assured that the other states have secular provisions in their educational laws, in similar language to the Victorian Act.
Food for thought.
- Amy
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