STATE AID OUT OF CONTROL:

HOWARD, NELSON AND COSTELLO AND THEIR

TEN MILLION DOLLAR A YEAR CHURCH SCHOOLS

In the 1960s DOGS predicted that the trickling stream of State Aid to church schools would end in a raging flood.

How right they were!

According to figures finally released by the Federal Minister for Education (Brendan Nelson) earlier this year, for the first time there will be ten million dollar a year federally funded church schools.

• In 2004 there will be A TEN MILLION DOLLAR SCHOOL - A SCHOOL RECEIVING TEN MILLION DOLLARS OF FEDERAL RECURRENT FUNDING ALONE!

• In 2005 there will be TWO TEN MILLION DOLLAR SCHOOLS

• In 2006 there will be THREE TEN MILLION DOLLAR SCHOOLS

• In 2007 there will be SIX TEN MILLION DOLLAR SCHOOLS

• In 2008 there will be TWELVE TEN MILLION DOLLAR SCHOOLS

What are the names of these schools and where are they located and how much will they be getting in 2008

1.    All Saints College NSW will receive $13,668,469

2.    Christ Catholic College Clare Campus NSW will receive $12,891,701

3.    St. Monica's College Victoria will receive $12,231,946

4.    John Paul College Queensland will receive $11, 517,999

5.    Caroline Chishom Catholic College Victoria will receive $11,410,427

6.    Padua College Victoria will receive $11,232,413

7.    Penola Catholic College Victoria will receive $10,738,233

8.    St. Stephens School Western Australia will receive $10,459,046

9.    Malik Fahd Islamic School NSW will receive $10,453,612

10.    Patrician Brothers College NSW will receive $10,411,052

11.    Aquinas College Victoria will receive $10,082,309

12.    Parade College Victoria will receive $10,030,060

It should be noted that these figures relate only to Federal recurrent funding and exclude capital grants, State Funding, indirect grants through myriads of taxation concessions and use of public education facilities. The true cost of the above church schools to the Australian taxpayer is of course much greater.

It should also be noted that most of them belong to the most politically adept and wealthiest Australian established religion.

DOGS have gone back into their statistical research to discover the first ONE MILLION DOLLAR SCHOOL

They remembered that stepping stone in the State Aid saga.

They found it in 1982, the last full year of the Fraser Government. The floodgates were opened just that little bit wider in that last full year of the Liberal Government as they desperately tried to hang on to power. The Roman Catholic vote failed them then

It will also fail Mr. Howard.

In the 1960s Priests   opened up the public Treasury with plaintive cries of "needy schools". Now religious leaders of all and any persuasion are permitted to regard our Public Treasury as their very own money bin!