<!--The Official Report of Parliamentary Debates (Hansard) of the Legislative Council and the House of Assembly of the Parliament of South Australia are covered by parliamentary privilege. Republication by others is not afforded the same protection and may result in exposure to legal liability if the material is defamatory. You may copy and make use of excerpts of proceedings where (1) you attribute the Parliament as the source, (2) you assume the risk of liability if the manner of your use is defamatory, (3) you do not use the material for the purpose of advertising, satire or ridicule, or to misrepresent members of Parliament, and (4) your use of the extracts is fair, accurate and not misleading. Copyright in the Official Report of Parliamentary Debates is held by the Attorney-General of South Australia.-->
<hansard id="" tocId="" xml:lang="EN-AU" schemaVersion="4.0" xsi:noNamespaceSchemaLocation="hansard_1_0.xsd" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2007/XMLSchema-instance" xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML">
  <name>Legislative Council</name>
  <date date="2025-11-11T14:15:00+10:30" />
  <sessionName>Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)</sessionName>
  <parliamentNum>55</parliamentNum>
  <sessionNum>1</sessionNum>
  <parliamentName>Parliament of South Australia</parliamentName>
  <house>Legislative Council</house>
  <venue></venue>
  <reviewStage>published</reviewStage>
  <startPage num="10101" />
  <endPage num="10162" />
  <dateModified time="2025-11-12T15:18:08+10:30" />
  <proceeding continued="true" uid="2b53391a17da45cca3e888d7fe154896">
    <name>Question Time</name>
    <subject uid="8ab5cd835abc47db802d0049a4cf35ea">
      <name>Scientology in Schools</name>
      <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000166">
        <heading>Scientology in Schools</heading>
      </text>
      <talker role="member" id="6802" referenceid="c1fd605273be4c058a02036c43289159" uid="46f746993d884793b496d5814e0345e8" kind="question">
        <name>The Hon. R.A. SIMMS</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <questions>
          <question date="2025-11-11T03:45:00+10:30">
            <name>Scientology in Schools</name>
          </question>
        </questions>
        <startTime time="2025-11-11T14:49:12+10:30" />
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000167">
          <timeStamp time="2025-11-11T14:49:12+10:30" />
          <by role="member" id="6802" referenceid="c1fd605273be4c058a02036c43289159" uid="46f746993d884793b496d5814e0345e8">The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (14:49):</by>  I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Deputy Premier and the minister representing the Minister for Education on the topic of school funding arrangements to Scientology-linked organisations in schools.</text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000168">Leave granted.</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="6802" referenceid="c1fd605273be4c058a02036c43289159" uid="69441289eead40f48204c78e4f31bdd0" kind="question" continued="true">
        <name>The Hon. R.A. SIMMS</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000169">
          <by role="member" id="6802" referenceid="c1fd605273be4c058a02036c43289159" uid="69441289eead40f48204c78e4f31bdd0">The Hon. R.A. SIMMS:</by>  Yesterday, <term>The Daily Telegraph</term> reported on the Newtown Scientology-linked Athena School in New South Wales. To quote from <term>The Daily Telegraph</term>: </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000170">
          <inserted>Financial figures published by the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) show state and federal funding for The Athena School rose 348 per cent between 2014 and 2023—the latest year for which data is available—despite a 70 per cent increase in enrolments over the same period.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000171">
          <inserted>It has received almost $5 million since 2014, with the lion’s share paid out by the Commonwealth at more than $3.9 million over ten years, while the NSW government has given the school…over $1 million.</inserted>
        </text>
        <text continued="true" id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000172">My question to the minister representing the Minister for Education therefore is: </text>
        <page num="10109" />
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000173">1.&amp;#x9;Is the minister aware of any funding being provided in South Australia to Scientology-linked organisations that provide education in our schools? </text>
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000174">2.&amp;#x9;Will the government conduct an investigation into this matter to rule it out?</text>
      </talker>
      <talker role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="5597d84ac0a8431d9b1287f8c614a039" kind="answer">
        <name>The Hon. K.J. MAHER</name>
        <house>Legislative Council</house>
        <portfolios>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Deputy Premier</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Aboriginal Affairs</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Deputy Premier</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Attorney-General</name>
          </portfolio>
          <portfolio id="">
            <name>Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector</name>
          </portfolio>
        </portfolios>
        <startTime time="2025-11-11T14:50:31+10:30" />
        <text id="202511110d20dc01731447fdb0000175">
          <timeStamp time="2025-11-11T14:50:31+10:30" />
          <by role="member" id="4697" referenceid="c1607c57d2294390bdc2b07c15f35010" uid="5597d84ac0a8431d9b1287f8c614a039">The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Deputy Premier, Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector, Special Minister of State) (14:50):</by>  I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in this area, and I certainly will pass those questions on to the minister responsible in another place, the Hon. Blair Boyer, the member for Wright, and bring back a reply.</text>
      </talker>
    </subject>
  </proceeding>
</hansard>