EDUCATION MATTERS: Law reform or a government attempt to reform our schools?

By Gerard Gaskin, Executive Director of Catholic Education Tasmania

The recent inquiry by the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) and its call for submissions about religious freedom in education has sparked a strong response from Australia’s religious leaders and organisations. Some 2000 people completed the online survey and 150 written submissions were received.

I have read and studied the ALRC document carefully and I can assure every parent of a student in Catholic Education Tasmania that there is much to be lost if the ALRC recommendations were to be adopted in full.

It is not an exaggeration to say that our schools would be changed, unrecognisable – perhaps permanently.

Our Catholic schools have always welcomed any person who seeks a Catholic education – even those who cannot afford to pay for it.

Some parents and even some of the staff in our Tasmanian Catholic schools may disagree with us on matters of religious belief.

Nevertheless, we have always accepted people into our schools, regardless of their personal beliefs, provided they were seeking to be part of Catholic Education. One thing we know for certain is this: that ALL of the parents have chosen to enrol their children and young people because they value what our schools presently provide.

What is at stake in the ALRC recommendations? The Tasmanian Catholic school of tomorrow would be indistinguishable from the neighbouring State or Independent schools. Our parent’s rights to choose a school that aligns with their values would be forever lost. Staff would be free to preach any ideology they choose, even if it opposed Catholic belief and practice.

Writing in The Catholic Weekly, Monica Doumit observed: “One of the ALRC’s proposals was that schools would no longer be able to preference teachers of the same faith for employment unless they were for senior leadership roles or to teach religious education. Additionally, while a school could require a religious education teacher to teach religious doctrine, the school could not prevent them from teaching ‘alternate’ views.”

This is hardly the Catholic Education that our Tasmanian parents signed up for.

You may feel that there is nothing we can do to make our voices heard in this matter. Do not despair. Catholic Education Tasmania (CET), along with the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) have made substantial submissions to the ALRC inquiry. The ALRC knows that we oppose the proposed law reform.

If the ALRC consultation process is genuine and honest, we will already have influenced some of their proposals to take away our freedom to teach and live what we believe.

Note, any decision on the legislation that flows from the ALRC inquiry will be made by the federal parliament. So, if you haven’t done so already, contact your local, federal member of parliament and tell them that you want religious schools to be protected. Also reach out to the Minister for Education, Jason Clare (minister.clare@education.gov.au) and let him know the same. Let’s join our voices to those of our bishops, educational leaders, teachers and parents to defend our right to exist and to teach what our Tasmanian parents’ value so much.