20Approval of building projects and equipment projects in connection with non‑government schools

20 Approval of building projects and equipment projects in connection with non‑government schools

(1) For the purposes of section 21, the Minister may, subject to this section, approve building projects and equipment projects in connection with non‑government primary schools, and building projects and equipment projects in connection with non‑government secondary schools, in a State. (2) Where the Minister approves a building project or equipment project under subsection (1), the Minister may, in the instrument of approval, specify:

(a) a prescribed purpose in relation to which that project is so approved; and

(b) the maximum amount to be paid under section 21 in respect of that project.

(3) The Minister shall not, in exercising powers conferred under subsection (1) to approve building projects and equipment projects in connection with non‑government schools in a State:

(a) approve projects, being projects in relation to which a particular prescribed purpose is specified, the maximum amounts specified in relation to which exceed, in the aggregate, the amount set out in the column of Schedule 7 that relates to that State and to that prescribed purpose; or

(b) approve a project in connection with a particular school, being a project in relation to which the prescribed purpose referred to in paragraph (a) of the definition of prescribed purpose in subsection (5) is specified unless the maximum amount specified in respect of that project, or the aggregate of the maximum amount so specified and the maximum amount or maximum amounts (if any) specified in relation to any other project approved in connection with that school, being a project in relation to which that prescribed purpose is specified, does not exceed the prescribed maximum amount in relation to that school.

(4) A project shall not be approved under subsection (1) if:

(a) the project is in connection with a co‑educational school and the Minister is of the opinion that the benefits of, and the opportunities created by, the project will not, as far as practicable, be equally available to male students and female students at the school; or

(b) the sole or principal object, or one of the principal objects, of the project is:

(i) to provide housing or other residential accommodation for teaching or other staff; or

(ii) to provide facilities for use, wholly or principally, for or in relation to religious worship.

(5) In this section:

prescribed maximum amount, in relation to a school, means:

(a) unless the school is a school included in a class of schools referred to in paragraph (b)—$150,000; or

(b) if the school is included in a class of schools determined by the Minister for the purposes of this paragraph—such amount in excess of $150,000 as the Minister specifies in the determination in relation to that class.