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Tony Abbott, the Austrian Prime Minister is a false Christian (papist), but he tries hard. He leads the Liberal Party, which despite its name, is the conservative political party.
An atheist (Ron Williams) recently challenged federal funding for chaplains in schools in the High Court. $20,000 is available to schools to help appoint chaplains. The main source of chaplains is the Christian Union, an evangelical movement who believe strongly in the teaching of Creationism.
Williams' challenge in the High Court was successful.
But Tony Abbott has outsmarted them and said that he will instead give the money to the states for the chaplaincy program, and therefore it will fall outside the High Court ruling. 
An atheist (Ron Williams) recently challenged federal funding for chaplains in schools in the High Court. $20,000 is available to schools to help appoint chaplains. The main source of chaplains is the Christian Union, an evangelical movement who believe strongly in the teaching of Creationism.
Williams' challenge in the High Court was successful.
THE High Court has ruled against federal government funding of school chaplains.
Today it upheld the objections of Queensland father Ron Williams, who launched the case arguing there was no place in public schools for non-secular programs.
Former prime minister John Howard introduced the controversial program in the lead-up to the 2007 election. It allows Australian schools to apply for $20,000 grants towards the cost of employing a school chaplain.
Mr Williams, a Toowoomba father-of-six has self-funded two cases against the program with the help of donations from other parents.
“Public schools aren’t a place for religious missionaries, with or without government funding. The fact the federal government was funding them was adding insult to injury,’’ Mr Williams has previously told The Australian.
Mr Williams said his aim in launching the latest round of litigation was to “keep the bastards honest” by ensuring all Commonwealth spending was properly scrutinised by parliament and the public.
His first legal action was also upheld by the High Court but the Gillard government rushed through emergency legislation to keep the program going.
The current government also seems to be considering legislation but has not made a decision on this yet.
School chaplains will not be leaving schools immediately. The Scripture Union (SU) Qld chief executive Peter James said today that existing funding would allow the program to continue until the end of this year.
Mr James said the program had bipartisan support and he felt confident that some type of funding, which could ultimately come from state rather than federal government, would also see it continue.
“We are confident some form of funding will be put in place,” Mr James said.
During a press conference this morning Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government would carefully study the judgment and make an appropriate response.
He said the government supported the program and wanted it to continue.
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In its judgment, the court found that the program was unlawful and that the Commonwealth had no executive power to fund it.
“The making of the payments was therefore held to be unlawful,” the court said in a unanimous summary judgment.
The National School Chaplaincy Association (NSCA) has released a statement saying the High Court case is not about the validity of the school chaplaincy program, but the federal model it is funded by.
“While the High Court has ruled against the current model, the court has acknowledged federal funding can continue for chaplaincy through state/territory grants,” the statement says.
“ In 2012, the High Court ruled unanimously that, funding model aside, there is no constitutional problem with chaplains serving in government schools.
“Therefore we hope the Federal Government will again act swiftly to protect this vital and beneficial program for students.”
Ahead of the result Coalition MP Andrew Laming, who helped start the program, slammed the action as “frivolous”.
“I look directly in the eyes of the loose alliance of Greens, gays and atheists who have mounted this continuous campaign against chaplaincy: you are clearly out of touch,” he told reporters this morning.
“We’ll legislate regardless of the decision today to ensure that important programs like chaplaincy can occur.”
The school chaplains program has been criticised for harming gay and lesbian childrenwith outgoing Labor Senator Louise Pratt saying a survey had found anti-gay chaplains had driven schoolchildren to self-harm.
Twitter reaction was swift, with most supportive of the decision.
Today it upheld the objections of Queensland father Ron Williams, who launched the case arguing there was no place in public schools for non-secular programs.
Former prime minister John Howard introduced the controversial program in the lead-up to the 2007 election. It allows Australian schools to apply for $20,000 grants towards the cost of employing a school chaplain.
Mr Williams, a Toowoomba father-of-six has self-funded two cases against the program with the help of donations from other parents.
“Public schools aren’t a place for religious missionaries, with or without government funding. The fact the federal government was funding them was adding insult to injury,’’ Mr Williams has previously told The Australian.
Mr Williams said his aim in launching the latest round of litigation was to “keep the bastards honest” by ensuring all Commonwealth spending was properly scrutinised by parliament and the public.
His first legal action was also upheld by the High Court but the Gillard government rushed through emergency legislation to keep the program going.
The current government also seems to be considering legislation but has not made a decision on this yet.
School chaplains will not be leaving schools immediately. The Scripture Union (SU) Qld chief executive Peter James said today that existing funding would allow the program to continue until the end of this year.
Mr James said the program had bipartisan support and he felt confident that some type of funding, which could ultimately come from state rather than federal government, would also see it continue.
“We are confident some form of funding will be put in place,” Mr James said.
During a press conference this morning Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the government would carefully study the judgment and make an appropriate response.
He said the government supported the program and wanted it to continue.
.....................
In its judgment, the court found that the program was unlawful and that the Commonwealth had no executive power to fund it.
“The making of the payments was therefore held to be unlawful,” the court said in a unanimous summary judgment.
The National School Chaplaincy Association (NSCA) has released a statement saying the High Court case is not about the validity of the school chaplaincy program, but the federal model it is funded by.
“While the High Court has ruled against the current model, the court has acknowledged federal funding can continue for chaplaincy through state/territory grants,” the statement says.
“ In 2012, the High Court ruled unanimously that, funding model aside, there is no constitutional problem with chaplains serving in government schools.
“Therefore we hope the Federal Government will again act swiftly to protect this vital and beneficial program for students.”
Ahead of the result Coalition MP Andrew Laming, who helped start the program, slammed the action as “frivolous”.
“I look directly in the eyes of the loose alliance of Greens, gays and atheists who have mounted this continuous campaign against chaplaincy: you are clearly out of touch,” he told reporters this morning.
“We’ll legislate regardless of the decision today to ensure that important programs like chaplaincy can occur.”
The school chaplains program has been criticised for harming gay and lesbian childrenwith outgoing Labor Senator Louise Pratt saying a survey had found anti-gay chaplains had driven schoolchildren to self-harm.
Twitter reaction was swift, with most supportive of the decision.
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