RR Phantom
Location : Wasted Space Job/hobbies : Cayman Islands Actuary
| Subject: Excellent: Many OZschwitz programs now lack any visible constitutional support Tue Jul 01, 2014 3:14 am | |
| Attorney-General George Brandis is doing his best to hose down reactions to the High Court’s finding that federal funding for school chaplains is unconstitutional. He has even described a statement that other programs are now at risk as ''erroneous and ignorant''.
On this point, the Attorney-General is wrong. Indeed, constitutional lawyers have been scratching their heads wondering how he can make the statement. It is true the only formal finding of the court is that the chaplaincy program is invalid. However, the reasoning used to reach that result undoubtedly has large implications for other federal schemes.
Despite years of denials and inaction, it is clear many federally funded programs rest on shaky constitutional ground. This first became evident in 2009 in a High Court decision on the Rudd government’s stimulus package. The package was upheld, but in doing so the Court unanimously rejected the commonwealth’s unlimited view of its own spending powers.
http://www.smh.com.au/comment/george-brandis-ignores-his-own-insights-into-chaplains-ruling-20140630-zsqnr.html |
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