News round-up - Chaplaincy, marriage, politics

1. Chaplaincy program
The High Court handed down its decision last week - ruling that the religious nature of the Chaplaincy program itself is constitutional but that the funding arrangements are not. The Court ruled that, since the government didn't legislate for the program, they had no power to fund it.
Read our report on the decision - click here.
The Federal government has now announced they will introduce legislation for this program - as well as a "several hundred" other programs that could be affected by the ruling.
Read media report - click here.

2. Marriage
The Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee tabled its report into same-sex 'marriage' on June 25, 2012.
Read the Report online - click here (then click on pdf document link). (121 pages, 480KB).The Senate Inquiry was initiated because of a Bill put by the Greens in the Senate.
Read our analysis of this Inquiry Report on our front page - click here.
See more on our Campaign page: Marriage Bills - 2012

3. Politics - Julia Gillard under pressure
Prime Minister Julia Gillard is under continuing pressure - with the latest opinion polls showing even less support for her government. Click here to read report on the Daily Telegraph.

In addition, Robert McLelland, the one Minister who was relegated to the back bench following the leadership challenge by Kevin Rudd, has spoken against the Prime Minister.
During a debate on union politics, he referred to an incident involving Bruce Wilson, then the boyfriend of Julia Gillard, who was accused of 'mis-appropriating' half a million dollars of union funds in the 1990s. He said that "I know the Prime Minister is quite familiar with this area of the law, as lawyers in the mid-1990s we were involved in a matter representing opposing clients."
Read more by Andrew Bolt and a media report.

It has previously been reported that Julia Gillard was involved in setting up bank accounts for Bruce Wilson through the law firm she worked for. She has previously claimed she knew nothing about his scheme and was 'young and naive' - though she was in her mid-30s and was a partner at law firm Slater and Gordon. When the issue was raised last year, the media 'went quiet', the column was removed and journalists lost their jobs!
Read more on that here and here.