Last chance to comment on plan to cut back school freedoms

Today is the closing date for personal submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into the exemptions that religious schools currently have under anti-discrimination legislation,

A consultation paper from the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) recommends the removal of exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act that some Christian schools have relied on for staffing and setting rules for students. Attorney General Mark Dreyfus is running a Review of Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws as the Albanese government decides how to change these laws.

The general public, especially people with personal experience of religious schools, has been invited to make submissions on the consultation paper, with a closing date of February 24, 2023. A unique site “for individual members of the public to contribute their personal views and experiences” makes the process easy. It should take 15 minutes.

The big players like Christian Schools Australia and on the other side the Public Interest Advocay Centre will have put in sumissions. But they also wanmt “on the ground” input.

The consultation paper maintains exemptions for institutions such as Bible Colleges training religious ministers but pushes against conservative religious schools in several critical areas. While some conservative schools will argue, for example, that they do not expel LGB students, other proposals will cause them concern. On the other hand, some of the recommendations reflect the current practices of other schools that welcome LGBTQIA students and staff while teaching conservative doctrine.

The Other Ckeek summarised the consultation paper here. In addition, religious leaders have written to the Attorney-General giving their response, and you can find the letter here.

Critical areas covered by the ALRC proposals concern student behaviour, the ability to teach religion and whether a school can discriminate in favour of people of faith when hiring staff.