The Federal Government will give more than $70 million to schools run by the Exclusive Brethren, a religious sect Kevin Rudd has described as an "extremist cult" that breaks up families.The sect's schools have secured more than $8.4m under the Government's school building stimulus package and they will share in $62m in recurrent taxpayer funding, according to a report in The Australian.
The newspaper said that 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, The Australian reports.
Australian Education Union federal president Angelo Gavrielatos said the sums were outrageous and the funding system had to be urgently replaced.
"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?" Mr Gavrielatos said.
"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."
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