Archbishop attends parliamentary inquiry into school bullying

By Catherine Sheehan

The Archdiocese of Hobart and Catholic Education Tasmania, “take bullying and discrimination extremely seriously”, Archbishop Julian Porteous told the Tasmanian Government’s Inquiry into Discrimination and Bullying in Tasmanian Schools.

“We strive at all times not only to comply with all the relevant state and federal legislation but also adhere to the highest possible standards in our schools,” Archbishop Porteous said.

During the one-hour hearing on 14 February at Parliament House, Archbishop Porteous and Dr Gerard Gaskin, Executive Director of Catholic Education Tasmania, were questioned by members of the House of Assembly’s Standing Committee responsible for conducting the Inquiry.

Citing the findings of the PISA Report released in May 2024, Archbishop Porteous said that in comparison to state school students, Catholic school students Australia-wide “have a greater sense of well-being”, “feel more valued and supported by their teachers”, and “are six times less likely to experience bullying in our Catholic schools”.

“We are not perfect, no institution or individual is, and no doubt there are times when we fall short of those standards,” Archbishop Porteous said.

“When we fail, we do our utmost to rectify the situation immediately, and do all we can to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”

When questioned about the treatment of students at Catholic schools suffering from gender dysphoria, Dr Gaskin said that every student was “valued” and “important” and that such situations were addressed on a ‘case-by-case’ basis.

“Every single person matters, and every single person is different, and every single set of circumstances is different,” Dr Gaskin said. “And therefore, we will provide all the support that our system can to that student, to that school, and to that family.”

The hearing was chaired by Labor Member for Clark Josh Willie, who was joined by Labor Member for Braddon Anita Dow, Independent Member for Clark Kristie Johnston, Greens Member for Clark Vica Bayley, Independent Member for Braddon Miriam Beswick, and Liberal Member for Bass Rob Fairs.

Archbishop Porteous stated that he stood by his pastoral letter, ‘We Are Salt to the Earth’, published on 2 May last year, which he described as “the catalyst for this Inquiry”.

“I’d like to make it clear that I do stand by what I wrote in that particular pastoral letter,” Archbishop Porteous said.

“It gave attention to certain fundamental beliefs and values that we hold as Catholics. And this was done in the context of changes that were being mooted at the time by the federal Labor Government to make changes to section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act, which would have effectively removed our rights to maintain full mission alignment with regard to what we believe and what we want to teach in our schools.”

While the federal government has since abandoned these proposed changes, religious freedom legislation had still not been established, Archbishop Porteous said, which was necessary to “enshrine freedom of religion as a positive right”.

The Inquiry into bullying and discrimination in schools was established in June last year, just one month following publication of the Archbishop’s pastoral letter. As well as calling for greater protection for religious freedom, the Archbishop’s letter also reiterated official Catholic teaching on marriage, human sexuality, and the sanctity of human life.

“We treat every person with great respect,” Archbishop Porteous said at the Inquiry hearing. “They’re children of God, and we uphold their human dignity.”

Archbishop Porteous also observed that currently section 38 of the federal Sex Discrimination Act provides an exception for religious schools to discriminate in order to maintain their ethos, and that federal law overrides state law.

Both the Archdiocese of Hobart and Catholic Education Tasmania have made written submissions to the Parliamentary Inquiry.