The ABC’s flagship radio program Background Briefing investigates ACCESS Ministries and the Special Religious Instruction mess in Victoria.

More than 60 schools have dropped SRI amid concerns about its indoctrination. Acting ACCESS Ministries CEO Dawn Penney says there may have been some “human error” but that parents just need more information. School principal Joe Kelly says SRI is “anti-educational and divisive. This is religious indoctrination and it’s happening in our public schools.”

Former ACCESS Ministries instructor George Aslanis says ACCESS Ministries is “just following (the gospel of) Matthew … we conservative evangelicals believe the Bible is inerrant … we believe there’s a call to salvation to win over all people to the Lord”.

Former Victorian Education Minister Bronwyn Pike explains how ACCESS Ministries was taken over by the evangelical churches in the late 1990s. “I think politicians are a bit gutless … at the time I could have been more critical in my analysis…”  True! Back in 2010, the RSA criticised Pike for her gutlessness.

Listen to this important investigation here:

Or read the transcript here.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash.