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It is State v State in the chaplaincy court case

4:40pm Tuesday, 12th July 2011

Karen Mudge Three states are poised to support government funding of school chaplains in a court case before the High Court in August. The West Australian government has intervened in support of the challenger who is suing Scripture Union QLD and the Commonwealth in order to prevent government funding of School Chaplains. Tim Mander from Scripture Union Queensland told Eternity that he believes three state governments, Queensland, Victoria and New South Wales, will support SU and the other defendants in the challenge to the constitutionality of the National School Chaplaincy Program. When asked to comment on the WA government’s support of the challenge, Mander says, “the West Australian state government strongly supports chaplaincy.” “This intervention is more to do with state versus Commonwealth rights than with the school chaplaincy debate. Chaplaincy is not the major part of the argument; rather it is the scope of Commonwealth power and where is it allowed to spend money, that WA is concerned about.” In the High Court case, Toowoomba man Ronald Williams is arguing that the Federal government has no power under the constitution to fund school chaplains, and that the guidelines for School Chaplaincy impose a religious test on employing “an officer of the Commonwealth”. He is thus challenging the program's legitimacy on two grounds: one relating to religious freedom and another on the Commonwealth's funding power. The focus of the West Australian government’s submission to the High Court is based on the claim that the chaplaincy funding agreement between the Commonwealth and Mr Williams children's school was invalid because it was outside its executive power.