State aid (Australia)
State aid, in Australia, refers to subsidies by governments to independent (mostly church) schools.[1] The term is somewhat misleading, as such aid derives mostly from the Commonwealth of Australia, while education is chiefly the responsibility of individual states.
Impetus for the subsidy came from the Catholic Church, which had its own reasons for providing education "identical, if even more poverty-stricken, with the public schools"[2] for the children of its adherents, but resulted in a significant saving to the public purse. Meanwhile, argued Archbishop Mannix, taxes paid by Catholic parents were disproportionately used to educate children of non-Catholics. He urged Catholic voters to forget party loyalty and support whichever offered more in support of their schools.[3]
References
[edit]- ↑ Macquarie Encyclopedic Dictionary (2nd ed.). 2010. p. 1208. ISBN 9781876429218.
- ↑ Derek Whitelock (1985). Adelaide, a Sense of Difference. Savvas. p. 199. ISBN 0702214019.
- ↑ "The Education Question". Western Star and Roma Advertiser. No. 3628. Queensland, Australia. 13 June 1914. p. 4. Retrieved 8 May 2026 – via National Library of Australia.