Right: former Prime Minister John Howard introduced the school chaplaincy program in 2006.
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Background information
(The information supplied below is an edited version of the Wikipedia entry titled ‘National school chaplaincy program’.
The full text of this entry can be accessed at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_school_chaplaincy_program)
Since 2007, the National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) has been funded by the Australian federal government to provide chaplains in Australian primary and secondary schools. The chaplains are to give ‘support and guidance about ethics, values, relationships and spirituality’.
Chaplaincy services are provided by religious service companies which are predominantly Christian, though non-denominational, including Scripture Union Queensland, Genr8 Ministries in New South Wales and Access Ministries. On 27 September 2013 there were 2,339 chaplains and 512 Student Welfare workers in Australian schools.
On 7 September 2011, as Education Minister, Garrett announced an alteration to the NSCP by requiring that new chaplains have a ‘Certificate IV in Youth Work, Pastoral Care or an equivalent qualification’. Previously, no formal qualifications were required.
The alterations also offered schools the opportunity to employ a ‘secular student well-being officer’ instead of ‘a religious support worker’ (chaplain), following concerns over the appropriateness of having a religious worker in a public school. (Prior to September, 2011, schools were only able to hire a secular welfare worker under the program if they could demonstrate that their efforts to find an ordained chaplain had failed.) In May 2014, however, the provision to allow secular student well-being officers to be funded under the chaplaincy program was removed, meaning all chaplains must once more be affiliated with a religion.
In the 2014 federal budget, the government provided $243.8 million, over a four year period, to continue the NSCP.
High Court challenges
2012 High Court challenge
The High Court case Williams v The Commonwealth of Australia & Ors [2012] HCA 23 was related to executive prerogative and spending under section 61 of the Australian Constitution. In June 2012, the High Court held that the Commonwealth's funding agreement for the program is invalid.
2014 High Court challenge
A second High Court challenge, against the amended program, was mounted by the 2012 litigant and was heard by the court in May 2014. The focus of this case was on whether the federal government has the power to fund the NSCP directly through local organisations. This second challenge also succeeded in the High Court.
Religious representation
While the NSCP is formally not religion-specific, the chaplains employed under the program are predominantly Christian. In 2011, one study stated that 96.5% of the chaplains employed under the program were Christian, while only 64% of Australians identified as Christian (based on the 2006 census).
By December 2014, the 623 schools which have hired a secular welfare worker via school chaplaincy funding will have instead to hire a chaplain as the provision to allow secular welfare workers to be employed through this program is being removed.