It’s been a busy month! In case you hadn’t heard, on Thursday, 19th June, the High Court of Australia handed down their decision on continued Federal funding for school chaplaincy. Unfortunately (but not unexpectedly) the judges found in favour of the defendant, meaning that once again a new funding structure will need to be put in place to continue providing chaplaincy funding.
The good news is that the Federal Government have already expressed their desire to see the program continue without interruption, and I will continue to work with the Commonwealth over coming months to help put a new system in place. One likely scenario is for the Federal Government to provide the funding in the form of grants to the State Governments.
As always, our wonderful volunteers have been hard at work, and during the winter holiday season hundreds of volunteers (including a great many chaplains) will be giving more than a thousand children and young people an experience of a lifetime in one of our 11 camps and 15 ‘Kids Games’ programs around the state.
As always, I must pause to thank you, our volunteers, for the time, energy and love you invest into the children and young people of Queensland. Your partnership is crucial: SU QLD, as an organisation, only exists to make possible the great work you do for young generations of Australians – so thank you!
God bless,
Peter James
CEO, SU QLD