The Rationalist Society of Australia is seeking ministerial support from within the Queensland government to see that religious-based discrimination is finally removed from the chaplaincy program in the public school system.

Given the state government’s lack of progress on the issue, the RSA has written to Meaghan Scanlon (pictured), the Minister for Science and Youth Affairs, urging her to make an intervention.

In recent weeks, Minister Scanlon publicly criticised the federal government’s proposal to increase funding for the National School Chaplaincy Program to help young people deal with their fear of climate change.

In December 2020, RSA president Meredith Doig wrote a letter to the Queensland Human Rights Commissioner complaining that job advertisements for chaplain positions in government schools required applicants to be Christian.

Dr Doig told Commissioner Scott McDougall that such practices contravened the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act 1991, as it was unlawful to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of religion.

Commissioner McDougall subsequently advised the RSA that he would write to the Department of Education to “suggest changes [to the school chaplains program] addressing potential contraventions of the [Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination] Act”.

Despite this assurance, religious-based discrimination remains a feature of the chaplaincy program in Queensland, with non-religious people and people of minority faiths blocked from filling the student welfare roles.

In the letter to Minister Scanlon earlier this month, Dr Doig asked whether the minister would work with the Minister for Education and the Human Rights Commissioner to remove the religious discrimination in the chaplaincy program.

“The RSA believes suitably qualified youth workers should be eligible to work in Queensland government schools, regardless of their faith affiliation or lack of faith affiliation. It is within the power of your government to make this happen,” she wrote.

Dr Doig told Minister Scanlon that the RSA agreed with her that the federal government should fund meaningful action on climate change to address the concerns of young people instead of funding more religious chaplains.

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Si Gladman is Campaigns & Communications Coordinator at the Rationalist Society of Australia. You can contact him at sigladman@rationalist.com.au or follow him on Twitter at @si_gladman

Image: Meaghan Scanlon MP (Facebook)

RSA letter to Minister Scanlon, 2 September 2021

Dear Minister,

I am writing to you in your capacity as Minister for Science and Youth Affairs in response to your public criticism of a proposal to increase federal funding for school chaplains for the purpose of allaying the concerns of young people about the lack of federal government action on climate change. Like you, the Rationalist Society (RSA) believes that taking meaningful action on climate action would be a more suitable thing for the Federal Government to do.

The school chaplains program in Queensland government schools is the responsibility of the Queensland Government. Despite the misleading job title, school chaplains perform a student welfare function that could just as effectively be undertaken by suitably qualified youth workers.

We recently wrote to the Queensland Human Rights Commissioner complaining that job advertisements for chaplain positions in Queensland government schools require applicants to be Christian – in contravention of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld). That Act makes it unlawful to discriminate against job applicants on the basis of religion. 

In response to our complaint, Queensland’s Human Rights Commissioner Scott McDougall advised the RSA that he would write to the Department of Education to “suggest changes [to the school chaplains program] addressing potential contraventions of the [Queensland’s Anti-Discrimination] Act”. 

Despite the Commissioner’s intervention, religious discrimination is still a feature of the recruitment of school chaplains for Queensland government schools.

The RSA believes suitably qualified youth workers should be eligible to work in Queensland government schools, regardless of their faith affiliation or lack of faith affiliation. It is within the power of your government to make this happen.

Accordingly, we ask:

• Do you support the Queensland Government’s current approach of allowing youth workers in Queensland government schools to be hired on the basis of religion?
• Will you work with the Minister for Education and the Human Rights Commissioner to remove the religious discrimination currently at play in the school chaplains program?

Yours sincerely,

Dr Meredith Doig

President, Rationalist Society of Australia