‘Extremist cult’ handed millions in funds to run its schools in Australia

THE Exclusive Brethren, once described by Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd as an “extremist cult” that breaks up families, is to get more than $70 million to run its schools.

The sect’s schools, according to this report, have secured more than $8.4m under the government’s school building stimulus package, and they will share in $62m in recurrent taxpayer funding.

Throwing money at religion in Australia gets the thumbs-up from Prime Minister Kevin Rudd

Documents show a Brethren-run school at Swan Hill in northern Victoria was granted $1.2m for a library and $800,000 for a hall when its most recent annual report shows it had just 16 pupils and already had a library!

Grants data released by the commonwealth shows that Brethren schools in every state received funding under the $12.4 billion schools stimulus package.

Brethren schools have also secured grants under the Schools Pride programme. This means that the mere 2,400 children in Brethren schools will each receive the equivalent of $26,127 in recurrent funding and $11,200 in stimulus funding.

Australian Education Union federal President Angelo Gavrielatos said these sums were outrageous and the funding system had to be urgently replaced. He asked:

How can the government justify handing tens of millions of dollars to an organisation it believes is a cult while public schools which educate the vast majority of our children are struggling for funds. The government has said it will review schools funding this year. That review needs to be begin as a matter of urgency to allow for a proper public debate on where school funding should be directed and for what purpose.

The Brethren is a fundamentalist Christian sect that lives by the doctrine of separation from mainstream society.

Brethren schools must teach the normal curriculum, although reports say some novels are banned and chapters on sex and reproduction are excised from science textbooks.

Brethren members are taught to shun broader society. They do not use TV, radios and do not watch movies or eat in restaurants. They do not vote, are opposed to unions and other forms of association, except their own church.

The Brethren has been accused by former members, and the Prime Minister in his 2007 comments, of denying those who leave the cult access to their children.

Doug Burgess, the head of the Brethren’s Victorian schools, said its schools were growing rapidly and the funding reflected that.

He defended the sect’s right to school funding, saying the children would otherwise be enrolled in state schools at full taxpayers’ expense. Mr Burgess did not clarify whether sex education was taught at Brethren schools, but said textbooks were used according to state curriculum.

News of the funding comes just weeks after the Australian government announced that it will provide $42.8 million to extend the school chaplaincy programme until December 2011.

The announcement was made last November by Prime Minister Rudd at the Australian Christian Lobby’s annual conference in Canberra. It came after the Opposition called for the programme to be made a permanent part of the education system.