Call comes after push by Luke Howarth and other Coalition MPs to expand the schemeA group of humanist societies has demanded that the Australian Human Rights Commission review the $60m-a-year school chaplains program, claiming it harms freedom of religion. Public school lobby criticises Labor's 'arbitrary' $250m for Catholic schools Read moreThe chaplains program was introduced by John Howard, continued by Labor governments, and was granted $245m in the 2014 budget by the Abbott government. The complaint argues the program “interferes with the right to religious freedom and involves religious discrimination in hiring decisions”. In a 2015 consultation report the AHRC reported that at almost all the public meetings it held complaints were raised about the chaplains program. Croucher is also a member of the review of religious freedom led by former the attorney general Philip Ruddock.

Source: The Guardian April 01, 2018 00:00 UTC