MEDIA RELEASES PDF

2011-01-01

MEDIA RELEASE  JANUARY 01, 2011  Authorised: Ron Williams

Ron Williams v. Commonwealth of Australia

A Writ of Summons and Statement of Claim was issued out of the High Court of Australia on Tuesday December 20, 2010. The details relevant to the matter are as follows:

Plaintiff:

Defendants:

As the proceedings involve a matter arising under the Constitution and involving its interpretation within the meaning of Section 78B of the Judiciary Act 1903, notices were served on the commonwealth Attorney General, each State Attorney General and upon the Attorneys General of the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory.

A summary of the claim for Mr. Williams is:

(a) That the Commonwealth lacked executive power to enter into the Funding Agreement at his children’s school and as a consequence, that agreement was invalid or void;

(b) The Commonwealth lacked executive power to enter into the agreement for the provision of funding for chaplaincy services at the school;

(c) The Commonwealth could and cannot validly authorise the drawing of funds from consolidated revenue for the purposes of the funding agreement and the chaplaincy services;

(d) That in the circumstances, any chaplain retained under the funding assistance given by the Commonwealth holds office under the Commonwealth and within the meaning of Section 116 of the Constitution;

(e) By requiring school chaplains engaged at the school to comply with the stipulation set out in the NSCP Guidelines, the Commonwealth is imposing a religious test as a qualification for office under the Commonwealth in contravention of Section 116 of the Constitution;

(f) That the qualification stipulation in the agreement is void and of no effect.

Section 116 of the Constitution, provides as follows:

116. Commonwealth not to legislate in respect of religion. The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth.

Counsel retained by Horowitz & Bilinsky to represent Mr. Williams are Mr. Bret Walker SC and Mr. Gerald Ng.