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Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews’ plans to force the Safe Schools Coalition Victoria programme on to every government high school threatens the autonomy of principals and school communities, the Australian Christian Lobby has said.



ACL Victoria Director Dan Flynn said individual schools should retain the discretion to opt in to the Safe Schools programme or an alternative anti-bullying strategy.



“Not every school community wants to adopt the Safe Schools programme,” Mr Flynn said. “Some principals have adopted the system while many others prefer an alternative approach.”



Mr Flynn added that the Safe Schools programme was controversial and many parents were opposed to the messages it was sending.



“ACL strongly opposes bullying for any reason, but Safe Schools has the potential to increase gender confusion in young people,” Mr Flynn said. “Its promotional material includes an image of a boy wearing a dress. It wants to allow boys to use girls’ bathrooms and girls to use boys’ bathrooms.”



This is another concerning attack on school freedom, with the ALP also planning to introduce an “inherent requirements” test into the Equal Opportunity Act.



“The inherent requirements test would severely restrict the fundamental freedom of faith-based schools to appoint staff who uphold the ethos and character of the school,” Mr Flynn said.



“This policy has caused enormous concern among the community,” he said.



Mr Andrews’ announcement on the weekend also included a promise to appoint a dedicated commissioner for gender and sexuality and legalising same-sex adoption.



“The raft of policies announced by Mr Andrews on the weekend shows he has been captured by a radical agenda that tramples on the fundamental freedoms of others, including the school community,” Mr Flynn said.

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In a remarkable show of unity, Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Coptic, Lutheran, and Presbyterian leaders have this week affirmed the existing equal opportunity laws and opposed the ALP’s intended restrictions on employment in religious organisations.



“This joint statement shows how important freedom of association and freedom of religion is to a huge number of people in Victoria,” ACL's Victorian director Dan Flynn said.



The effect of the ALP proposal is that a Christian church will no longer have a right to employ a Christian secretary if a non-Christian applicant is more qualified, unless the church can prove to the Human Rights Commission that religion is an essential part of the role. This could result in people with opposing values being employed in Christian churches.



The proposed ALP changes, objected to by the church leaders, would require faith based schools to prove to the Human Rights Commission that preferring to employ a Christian teacher over a non-Christian teacher was because faith is an essential requirement of that teaching role.



Schools and religious organisations will be caught up in lengthy, costly and divisive court cases instead of delivering education and other services.



The statement of the church leaders said that “proposals to change the equal opportunity laws would allow judges to decide fundamental doctrines, beliefs and principles tenants of a faith for religious bodies.”



“Some faith-based schools seek to uphold a particular ethos and environment by employing people who will uphold that ethos regardless of the role they play in the school,” Mr Flynn said.



“Many parents wish to give their children an education consistent with their faith. Faith based education is not just about the content of the education but the context in which it is taught. This right is acknowledged in international human rights law and is now threatened by the ALP’s policy,” he said.



Anglican Archbishop of Melbourne Philip Freier said in the statement that “The current Equal Opportunity laws strike a fair balance between the right to equality, freedom of association and religious liberty”.



Mr Flynn said that during the Victorian election campaign, ACL has conducted 14 “Meet Your Candidate” forums across Victoria, from Bairnsdale to Ballarat. Almost universally, when questioned about the proposed changes, ALP candidates have defended them on the basis that they were supported by the Catholic Church in 2010.



“It is now clear that the Catholic Church and other major denominations do not support the reinsertion of the “inherent requirements test” in the Act,” he said.



Mr Flynn added that over 3,500 individuals have emailed Daniel Andrews and his candidates explaining their opposition to the policy.



“The ALP’s policy has been a key issue in ACL’s election campaigning and has created enormous grass roots concern across the state,” he said.

Freedoms taken for granted are being radically re-shaped and most of us are largely oblivious.



If elected on November 29, Victorian Labor is vowing to strip religious schools and organisations of the freedom to select staff who share their ethos.



This is akin to saying a political party should no longer have the right to employ people who share their political philosophy.



It means human rights bureaucrats and courts would determine the employment policies of religious communities.

This is a breach of the human right of religious freedom.



Even the United Nations Covenant on Civil and Political Rights guarantees religious freedom and the right of parents to educate their children in the religion of their choice.



Many religious schools and organisations value the freedom to require all staff, not just those with religious roles, to be adherents to their religion.



This helps create the environment that gives the school or organisation its distinctive.



Parents value this in schools because they know that their children will be in an environment where everyone from the gardener to the maths teacher share and manifest the values of the home.



This is a precious freedom to so many people and its application hurts no one else in society.



It is not for a government to take away this freedom.



Freedom of religion is closely linked to freedom of association.



Governments should not be dictating the make up of groups who wish to freely associate unless of course there are national security implications.



Requiring the person answering the phone to be a Muslim is the right of an Islamic school in the same way it is the right of a Christian school.



Already 1500 ACL supporters have emailed Mr Andrews and Labor candidates urging them to re-think the policy.

If you live in Victoria and have not yet taken action, please do so.



Still on Victorian politics, it was good to hear the federal Attorney General George Brandis say last week he was "unalterably opposed" to the anti-conscience provisions in Victoria's abortion laws.



Victorian and Tasmanian abortion laws compel a medical practitioner to refer a woman for an abortion, even if they are opposed to the taking of human life in this way.



"It is wrong for the state to violate the conscience of a man or a woman," Senator Brandis told a religious freedom conference organised by Freedom for Faith at the University of Queensland Law School last week.

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The Victorian Premier and Opposition Leader will allow a conscience vote if a private members’ bill is introduced to restore freedom to doctors to decline to participate in abortion.



Denis Napthine and Daniel Andrews were responding to questions from Christian leaders at the Australian Christian Lobby’s Make it Count forum at Queens’ Hall, Parliament House last night.

Their commitments come following sanctions imposed on Melbourne Doctor Mark Hobart, who declined to assist a couple who wanted their baby girl aborted so they could try again for a boy.



“If a private members’ bill was introduced then we would certainly allow a conscience vote,” Dr Napthine said.



“My position would be to afford a conscience vote,” Mr Andrews said.



ACL Victorian Director Dan Flynn welcomed the leaders’ commitments to allow a parliamentary vote on whether or not doctors should be forced to participate in abortion by making a referral for an abortion.



“No one should be forced to go against their conscience on an issue which involves the taking of a human life,” Mr Flynn said.



The leaders were asked about a range of issues including domestic violence, freedom of religion, poker machine reform and the ice epidemic.



Asked whether “your Government (would) commission independent research into whether there are features in poker machines that lead to gambling addiction”, Mr Andrews committed to examining “the best research, the best evidence”.



On family violence, Dr Napthine said: “Men particularly need to stand up”.



Mr Andrews said family violence was the leading cause of death or disability for women aged 45 and under and was “national disgrace”.



On religious freedom, Mr Flynn expressed disappointment about Labor’s election policy, reiterated last night by Mr Andrews, to amend Equal Opportunity laws to diminish the freedom of faith-based schools to employ staff who share their ethos.



Dr Napthine was called away from the forum to deal with last night’s terrorism-related shooting of an Islamic extremist just moments before Mr Andrews concluded taking questions.



The pre-election Make it Count event was attended by 150 Christian leaders from a wide cross-section of denominations and churches.