Did Catholic education money find its way into a Liberal faction?

The ABC’s head of religion, Noel Debien, has been watching the proceedings at ICAC and is here with an update.

In New South Wales, the Independent Commission Against Corruption is investigating claims that the head office of Catholic schools – but not the schools themselves -- employed some staff to work primarily on factional activities for the Liberal Party. There’ve also been allegations that the organisation paid a consultant who then funnelled his money to a faction known as the Reformers. 

How have socially conservative Catholics found a home for themselves in the Liberal Party, especially considering its early history as a bastion of Australia’s protestant establishment? It’s due in large part to the end of long romance between the Catholic Church and the Labor Party. 

GUESTS:

• Noel Debien is a religion expert and broadcaster, and heads the Religion and Ethics unit at ABC Radio National
• Dr Jeff Kildea is the author of the new book Iron Law No More: The Rise and Demise of the Catholic-Labor Alliance in Australia.

• Anne Benjamin is a respected educator, who was Director of Schools for the Parramatta diocese. 

  This program is recorded on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation