Australia: Scripture Union before the High Court
In 2006 the Australian conservative coalition government introduced the federally-funded National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP). Then Prime Minister John Howard commented at the time: “Students need the guidance of chaplains, rather than just counsellors… To call a chaplain a counsellor is to bow to political correctness. Chaplain has a particular connotation, people understand it, they know exactly what I'm talking about.” [ABC News 29 October, 2006] Interestingly, in August 2010, the newly appointed centre-left Labor Prime Minister Julia Gillard pledged a further A$222m toward extending the NSCP to at least 1000 more Australian schools. Currently, the majority of the 633 state schools in the state of Queensland receive federal funding for school chaplaincy. Many schools in other states also receive funding under the NSCP. The Writ A writ was issued out of the High Court of Australia on Tuesday December 20, 2010. A website in support of the Plaintiff, Mr Ronald Williams...