Australia’s Christian leaders say they think religious freedom was among “sleeper” issues that influenced voters to re-elect Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative coalition. Mark Spencer, the national executive officer of Christian Schools Australia, says parents in marginal seats told his organisation they were concerned about the protection of religious freedom. These people want to choose Read more
Australia’s Federal Labor party has pledged to restore $250m of funding to the country’s Catholic schools. Bill Shorten, who is the party’s federal parliamentary leader, has promised the Catholic Bishops’ Conference chairman, Bishop Denis Hart, to “arbitrarily” give Catholic schools the $250m in the first two years of government. Shorten also pledged billions more to Read more
Up to 60,000 Australian survivors of child sex abuse could receive monetary compensation through a national redress scheme if Labor wins the next federal election. Labor will set aside A$33million for the creation of a scheme. This is aimed at offering counselling services and compensation for survivors of institutional child sex abuse. The agency would Read more