The Victorian Liberal Party is tight-lipped on whether it plans to thrust religious missionaries back into public school classrooms during normal learning time as part of the scripture program. 

The party, which hopes to form government following this month’s election, has not responded to multiple inquiries from the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) since August last year in regards to its policy on the Special Religious Instruction (SRI) program.

In December last year, the RSA sought clarity from Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, having not received a reply to its previous letter to her when she was the Liberal Party’s education spokesperson. 

The RSA followed up with another letter in August this year to Liberal education spokesperson Brad Rowswell, but he has not replied.

At a previous election, the state Liberal Party pledged to return the deeply unpopular SRI program to class time and also review the state curriculum. In the lead-up to this year’s election, it has again promised to review the curriculum, but has made no statement about its intentions for changes to SRI.

In 2015, the Andrews government shifted the SRI program to be conducted outside normal learning time, making way for new lessons on global cultures, ethics and respectful relationships.

SRI used to disrupt the normal learning time for thousands of students who had to fill their time with other non-curricular activities while religious missionaries delivered indoctrination classes to some of their peers.

In 2023, The Age reported that student enrolment in the program had plummeted by 99 per cent as a result of the reforms, leaving fewer than 1,000 children across the state still attending scripture classes in their own time.

As recently as 2024, one Liberal member of parliament called for the Victorian government to directly fund the missionary activities of SRI provider Korus Connect.

In his letter to Ms Wilson last August, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman said the current SRI policy allowed children and parents the choice to take part in the extra-curricular activity while not disrupting the normal learning of other students.

“Changing the SRI program to re-introduce SRI classes to normal class time would be a regressive step,” he told her.

“The Liberal Party should be clear for Victorian families and school communities on its SRI policy ahead of the upcoming state election.”

In the current term of parliament, the Liberal Party has worked closely with religious interest groups on other policy issues.

The party has boasted of standing “shoulder to shoulder” with faith communities to “force Labor to keep the Lord’s Prayer” as part of the parliament’s daily proceedings. In 2024, several Liberal MPs fronted a social media campaign by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) calling for the Labor government to continue imposing daily Christian worship in the houses of state parliament.

In a speech to a church in August, ACL spokesperson Jasmine Yuen said that the Liberal Party would remove the Respectful Relationships program as part of a review of the Victorian curriculum.

The ACL has long complained about the Labor government’s SRI changes and the introduction of the Respectful Relationships program soon after, linking the two in an article on its website and lamenting: “Tens of thousands of students once received SRI in Victoria, now it is rare.”

In 2018, the ACL applauded the Liberal Party’s pledge to return scripture to classtime, with then spokesperson Dan Flynn saying the policy marked “a return to the sensible centre”. 

The RSA has expressed its disappointment to state Labor MPs on their government’s capitulation to the demands of religious lobby groups and pressure from Liberal MPs on the issue of observing daily prayers in parliament.

The Labor government failed to deliver on the commitment – made 1,921 days ago in 2021 – to replace prayers with something more inclusive, welcoming of all people, and reflective of Victoria’s diverse population.

The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively lobbying for secular reform of scripture programs in public schools. Follow our campaign here.

If you want to support our work, please make a donation or become a member.

Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.

Photo: Jess Wilson MP (Facebook)

Authorised by S Gladman, Rationalist Society of Australia, Melbourne, Victoria.