Defence of Government Schools

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{{Use Australian English|date=August 2016}}

The Council for Defence of Government Schools was an Australian political lobby group and political party formed in 1966, which contested federal and state elections between 1969 and 1973 (with one outlying appearance in 1985). The group was primarily concerned with public education but also focused on pensions and housing policy. The group was founded by activists opposed to state aid for private schools, and although it achieved some significant results it never elected a representative to an Australian legislature.{{Cite book

| last = Jaensch

| first = Dean

|author2=Mathieson, David

| title = A plague on both your houses: minor parties in Australia

| publisher = Allen and Unwin

| date = 1998

| pages = 48

| url = https://books.google.com/books?id=NMrav_dyyY0C&q=%22Defence+of+Government+Schools%22&pg=PA58

| isbn = 1-86448-421-7}}[http://www.adogs.info Australian Council for Defence of Government Schools]

The organisation achieved some historical notoriety with their High Court case which argued unsuccessfully that Commonwealth funding of religious schools contravened section 116 of the Constitution.{{cite AustLII|HCA|2|1981|litigants=Attorney-General (Vic); Ex Rel Black v Commonwealth ("DOGS case") |parallelcite=(1981) 146 CLR 559 |date=2 February 1981 |courtname=auto}}. which is now used as an example of the powers granted to the Commonwealth under section 96 of the Constitution.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Future Australian Labor Party senator Patricia Giles stood for parliament twice as a Defence of Government Schools candidate before joining the ALP.{{cite Au Senate |Sen id=giles-patricia-jessie |name=Giles, Patricia Jessie (1928–2017) |first=Wendy |last=Birman |year=2017 |access-date=2022-12-22}}