Updated: 5.20pm (AEDT)
Sydney, Australia
Polling shows most Victorians do not support proposed State Government legislation that will make it harder for Christian schools to employ teachers and other staff based on their faith according to the school’s values.
Private polling by Christian Schools Australia and the Australian Association of Christian Schools last month found 78 per cent of Victorians across the mainstream political spectrum supported current employment practices in Christian schools.
This might include not employing people who practised or supported values or lifestyles against the schools’ stated values, such as same-sex relationships and marriage.
A scene in Melbourne, capital of the Australian state of Victoria, before the COVID-19 outbreak. PICTURE: Weyne Yew/Unsplash
The results showed 77 per cent of Labor voters, 89 per cent of Liberals, 92 per cent of Nationals supporters and 56 per cent of Greens support the right of religious schools to choose staff according to their specific criteria.
The results were compiled from national weighted polling of 1,515 Australians across key demographics as per the 2016 Census.
The Victorian Government’s Equal Opportunity (Religious Exceptions) Amendment Bill 2021, which was introduced into State Parliament last month, proposes to “strike a balance” between freedom of religion and equality for the LGBTIQ+ community, to prevent schools from sacking or refusing to hire people based on their sexual orientation or gender identity.
It says it wants to change the law so “when employing staff religious bodies and schools can only discriminate where conformity with religious beliefs is an inherent requirement of the job”.
“In addition, when running a school or providing services funded by the Victorian Government religious bodies will only be able to discriminate on the basis of a person’s religious belief (not on other personal characteristics)”.
Vanessa Cheng, executive officer with AACS said they are disappointed that the feedback they provided in earlier stakeholder consultations to the Department of Justice and Attorney-General’s Department weren’t taken into account before the final version of the Bill was put before Parliament.
She said it was too far ahead to think about challenging the legislation in court should the legislation pass.
“We are still in the space of hoping that there might be some sensible amendments proposed by the opposition that can be considered by the government, so we are not thinking that far ahead at the moment.”
She said they hadn’t heard what the Opposition’s position would be, but were hopeful it would propose amendments and they were currently awaiting a response to a request for a meeting with Opposition Leader Matthew Guy.
As well, they had sought support from parents and teachers through a campaign page on the AACS website, with hundreds of individual emails sent directly to political leaders.
“I know the Australian Christian Lobby is also calling on parents to send emails and call on their local representatives, so [there’s] lots of concern in the community around the impact these laws will have on our ability to keep doing what we are doing.”
A statement by Victorian Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes said people should not have to hide who they are to keep their job.
“We’re closing this unfair, hurtful gap in our laws so that Victoria’s LGBTIQ+ community won’t have to pretend to be someone they’re not, just to do the job they love,” Symes said in September.
“These laws strike the right balance between protecting the LGBTIQ+ community from discrimination and supporting the fundamental rights of religious bodies and schools to practice their faith.”
But Cheng and Mark Spencer, director of public policy at CSA, say if the legislation is passed, it will make it increasingly difficult for Christian schools to employ staff who share the beliefs of the school and practice the Christian faith.
“This polling shows that Australians understand that in a tolerant, multi-faith society, schools should be allowed the freedom to teach their values and beliefs regardless of whether they are Jewish, Muslim, Catholic or Christian schools,” Spencer said.
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Cheng told Sight in September that AACS schools don’t separate the religious and educational aspects of education, with all subjects taught from a Christian world-view, and that all its staff are Christian.
“Parents who choose to enrol their children in our schools want an education based on Christian values, which the state school system can no longer provide, and this Bill is trying to squeeze faith out of our schools too,” she said.
On Wednesday, Cheng reiterated her comments, saying AACS schools were a “unique subset” of the religious school sector because they sought to employ teachers of faith in all subjects.
If the legislation passes, she said there will still be exemptions around religious belief and activity in hiring staff and it all depended on how those inherent requirements were judged by a court or tribunal.
“That’s the main concern…that it will be secular judges, courts, tribunals who will decide whether or not we need a Christian teacher in a particular role. Up until now schools have been able to make those decisions in a way that reflects how they want their faith school to operate.
“We think it’s an over-reach of the government to say we can’t do that any more.”
Spencer and Cheng say the Victorian Government had “shown it is completely out of touch with faith communities” and did not understand how Christian schools operate in practice, with teachers also “involved in the spiritual formation” of students.
AACS and CSA have called on the Victorian Government to “listen to the concerns of our community” and allow schools to employ staff who live out the values of the school and “teach students the Christian faith in all areas of life”.
