A Queensland father who successfully challenged the federal government’s school chaplaincy program in the high court has attacked its new plan to give money to the states to implement the program.



Ron Williams, who is opposed to religious chaplains in secular state schools, accused the government of “callous arrogance” and of trying to circumvent the court’s ruling.

The high court ruled in June that the commonwealth had no executive power to fund the national program, limiting its ability to administer and directly fund it.

But the government is now inviting the states and territories to opt into a new arrangement whereby they receive $243m in federal funding but run the program themselves. Participation is voluntary, meaning some states could opt out.

Williams told the ABC’s AM radio program: “Look, I think it’s all pretty disgraceful, the callous arrogance being displayed by the federal government on this.

“They seem to regard it as some bizarre kind of game of whack a mole or something that every time the high court makes a decision, the next part in the game is to try to circumvent it.”

In its effort to protect the program, the government said school chaplains made a valuable contribution to the wellbeing of students and school communities.

Labor’s education spokeswoman, Kate Ellis, said the government’s decision meant qualified student welfare workers (SWW) at 452 schools identified on a government website faced the sack.

“It should be up to school principals and communities to decide what support is best for their students – not Christopher Pyne,” Ellis said.

“The only thing these dedicated, qualified and professional counsellors have done to deserve the sack is not have formal links to a religious institution.



“It is entirely unjustifiable for the Abbott government to ram its ideology down the throats of school students across Australia and disempower local school communities.”



The Greens urged the states not to sign up to the “invalid program”. The separation of church and state had long been a fundamental principle in Australia, they said.

“We need professional mental health workers in schools rather than more chaplains,” the party’s legal affairs spokeswoman, Penny Wright, said in Canberra on Wednesday.

The Australian Education Union president, Angelo Gavrielatos, said the program was a misuse of funding that could be spent on more urgent needs, such as support for students with disability.