"She's brilliant and we don't want to lose her." Ms Robertson has become the public face of the Abbott government's decision to restrict the funding of the program to faith-based chaplains from next year, an edict that will cost hundreds of student welfare officers nationwide their jobs. Victoria will be the worst hit. It has secular welfare officers working in 246 schools - more than any other state or territory. The tiny Campbells Creek Primary community - distraught at the prospect of losing Ms Robertson - started a petition saying it should be up to principals and school communities to decide who to employ. The petition, which has more than 1500 signatures, was raised in the Victorian Parliament by the Labor MP for Bendigo Lisa Chesters.

All states and territories have agreed to administer the chaplaincy program next year, despite some previously expressing disquiet about the conditions imposed on the funding. In a letter to South Australian schools on October 2, seen by Fairfax Media, Education Minister Jennifer Rankine said legal advice suggested it may not be possible to require schools to discriminate in their employment selections based on religious backgrounds. "Ultimately, it will be a decision that schools make, as they have autonomy of decision making in this area," she wrote. But when contacted by Fairfax Media, a spokesman for Ms Rankine would only say: "The South Australian government has agreed to administer the program and is currently considering the detail of the proposal put forward by the Commonwealth." Queensland has solved the conundrum by using state government money to employ the student welfare officers currently funded by the Commonwealth.

The ACT has said it does not wish to see people lose their jobs and would seek to employ the 14 student welfare officers in state schools (another 11 are in private schools). However, the student welfare officers at 246 schools in Victoria and 163 in NSW are to lose their jobs at the end of this year. "These qualified welfare officers who already have trusted relationships in our schools, and the students they support, will be the ones paying the price for this radical move to impose ideology on school communities," said federal opposition education spokeswoman Kate Ellis. A spokeswoman for Victorian Education Minister Martin Dixon said in addition to chaplains, schools had access to state government-funded psychologists, speech pathologists and social workers. "The Napthine government has delivered on our 2010 election commitment of an additional 150 primary welfare officers to work with and support students in 800 primary schools," she said.

Opposition education spokesman James Merlino said a Labor government would endeavour to let schools choose to employ a secular worker. "If the Abbott government tries to stop us doing this, we will have to consider our options, but Labor has made clear our intentions to fight the federal government if we have to," he said. Meanwhile Campbells Creek Primary is mourning the pending loss of Ms Robertson. "I've had a conversation with some parents who said they wouldn't feel comfortable sending their child to a chaplain," said principal Ms Leung. "I'll probably send out a poll to the whole community to ask them if they would still like to apply for national chaplaincy funding."