In the years 1964 to 1981 the DOGS were involved in a High Court case which tested the validity of State Aid to religious schools against Section 116 of the Australian Constitution.
Although, with the exception of Justice Lionel Murphy, the majority judges read the religious freedom clause down and out of the Constitution, the DOGS plaintiffs proved their point: State aid has proved to be bad for both religion and the State.
Religious men who claimed that their schools were established to further their particular faith, spent 26 days in a Trial of Facts attempting to prove that they were no more religious than public schools.
During the years 1964 to 1981 the religious lobby did everything they could to keep the case out of the courts.
The ABC, in a Radio National Program on 12 May 2020 has interviewed some of the actors in this drama, and presented some legal opinions on any future cases at
The dog fight over school funding that went all the way to the High Court : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-05-12/the-history-listen-the-forgotten-...
To find out more download these two books:
1. Erosion of the Judicial Process ( 1981)
Only the draft of this book is on the website.
The completed book, edited and published in 2011 is available from the printer,
Arena Publications, 2 Kerr Street, Fitzroy, 3065
Inquiries: glenise@arena.org.au
Phone: 61 (03) 9 416 0232
3. Who will Rid us of this Troublesome Judge? : The Trials and Tribulations of Justice Lionel Murphy
4. Constitutional law, and historical judgement