21st October, 2014
The Australian Christian Lobby will campaign against a Victorian Labor policy it says will take religious free-dom away from Christian schools and organisations in the lead-up to next month’s state election.
Dan Flynn, director of the ACL in Victoria, said it is "disappointing" Labor is seeking to revisit "anti-freedom provisions" which were introduced into the Equal Opportunity Act by the previous Victorian Labor Government and later removed by the Baillieu Government.
He said Christian schools and organisations should have the same rights as political parties to select staff who share their ethos and values.
"To say that a school community is not allowed to require all of its staff to share the values and ethos of the community is a breach of the human right of religious freedom. A political party can obviously require its workers to reflect the values of the party. The same freedom has always applied to religion and should not change."
Mr Flynn said the 150 Christian leaders who attended a leader’s forum at Parliament House last month featuring Premier Denis Napthine and Opposition Leader Daniel Andrews were "overwhelmingly disappointed" to hear Mr Andrews affirm this policy.
The ACL said an online campaign to "educating voters about the anti-religious freedom provisions of Labor’s policy" would be launched this week.
– DAVID ADAMS