The Minns government has joined with Liberal and National MPs in praising the religious indoctrination program that segregates children in New South Wales’ public schools, as some speakers in a parliamentary debate also attacked the Victorian government’s policy on scripture.
In the New South Wales Legislative Council last week, Liberal Party member Rachel Merton – whose mother was a scripture instructor – introduced a motion that recognised the “long and proud history” of the Special Religious Education (SRE) program.
Ms Merton applauded Deputy Premier and Minister for Education Prue Car for committing to keeping SRE in class time.
She also took aim at the Victorian government for having moved its version of the program to out-of-class hours, triggering a collapse in student participation.
“I was pleased to note at [budget] estimates [hearings] last August that the Deputy Premier reconfirmed the commitment of the Minns Labor Government to SRE. She stated that the government had no plans to make changes to the program,” said Ms Merton.
“This stands in contrast to the reprehensible and deliberately destructive behaviour of the failed socialist Victorian Labor government, where, under Daniel Andrews, classes were shifted to after school or lunchtime, resulting in a drop in participation of 99 per cent in a decade.”
During the debate, a number of Liberal-National MPs claimed that SRE was integral to supporting the moral and spiritual development of students, and teaching about faith, ethics, tradition and values. They also claimed it fostered tolerance and respect for others.
Among the speakers, Liberal Susan Carter declared that she previously worked as an SRE instructor.
Liberal Chris Rath argued that SRE provided an opportunity for children to “think about those questions that science or mathematics cannot answer”, such as, he suggested, how the world was “created” and who “created mankind”. In a speech to parliament in late 2023, Mr Rath claimed that Christianity had been “demonised by the left” and said that atheists could not prove that God did not exist.
Speaking in the debate last week, Labor minister Courtney Houssos reiterated the Labor government’s commitment to SRE.
“It takes all of us playing a role to respect each other’s faiths and cultures and to be open to learning about those who may be different to us,” she said.
“SRE is a critical way in which our public schools support this. SRE gives students the chance to learn about faith, values and ethics and how to live those values every day.”
Only the Greens’ Abigail Boyd spoke in opposition to the motion.
“School curriculums must be evidence based and free from religious interference. The Greens know how crowded the teaching week is, and we know there is no place for preaching in public schools. Our policy is for special religious education to be abolished and to return the lost learning time to the curriculum,” she said.
“Unfortunately, we still hear regular concerns about the teaching of SRE in our public schools. Despite significant numbers of students opting out of classes, coalition and Labor governments continue to be committed to SRE.”
Ms Boyd again raised concerns about the lack of departmental oversight of content being taught in SRE.
Recently, she questioned Minister Car about allegations of Hindu instructors teaching caste discrimination and Christian instructors teaching anti-science and anti-evolution materials.
In her speech, Ms Boyd cited correspondence from the Department of Education to the Rationalist Society of Australia in which the department said it was up to religious organisations to authorise the materials and pedagogy used in SRE.
“The government’s complete abdication of any responsibility over the content of these lessons is completely unacceptable,” said Ms Boyd.
“When I confronted the education Minister about this in budget estimates hearings last month, she claimed to have no knowledge of this letter being written by the Department of Education. To her credit, she said she would look into it.
“But the idea that we have a Department of Education that does not view itself as having any responsibility for intervening to stop children being taught that they are lesser because of their caste or any other marker — whether it is a person with disability, a person of a particular sexuality or whatever it happens to be—and that that is being taught in these lessons in our New South Wales public schools is really concerning.”
Key education sector stakeholders, pro-secular advocates and parents and carers are calling for the Minns government to move SRE to outside class time or abolish it, as the program segregates children along religious lines, interrupts normal learning time and forces non-participating students to fill their time with non-curricular activities.
The Speaker of the state’s Legislative Assembly, Greg Piper, has called for SRE to be moved out of normal learning time.
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.