Our freedom to operate as a community of Christian believers in providing an authentic Christian education is under threat.

Background

On 4 November 2022, the Attorney- General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus, asked the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) to review religious exemptions for educational institutions in Federal anti-discrimination law.

The Government committed to this review prior to the election and tasked the ALRC with advising on the best way to protect staff in religious schools from discrimination at work, while maintaining the right of religious schools to preference people of their faith in the selection of staff.

In his media release, the Attorney General stated: ‘…the Government remains committed to legislating to protect people of faith from discrimination and vilification. This legislation will be drafted in a manner that does not remove existing legal protections against other forms of discrimination.’

However, the Terms of Reference set by the Government gave very narrow and specific directions to the ALRC to make proposals to ensure that ‘an educational institution conducted in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a particular religion or creed:

must not discriminate against a student on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy;
must not discriminate against a member of staff on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy;
can continue to build a community of faith by giving preference, in good faith, to persons of the same religion as the educational institution in the selection of staff.’

Consultation

Prior to the release of the Consultation Paper, the ALRC conducted targeted consultations with religious school leaders, faith leaders, academics, legal bodies, government agencies and LGBTQ lobby groups.

As part of this process, the Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS) – to which Donvale Christian College and all other CEN schools belong – was invited to a private, in person, consultation with the Hon. Justice Stephen Rothman (ALRC Chair) in December 2022.

In that meeting, the Chief Executive Officer of the AACS provided an overview of our member schools – including information provide by me to her about DCC – in terms of their mission and ethos, as well as the fundamental legal protections our schools require, including:

the ability to choose to employ staff who share the school’s religious values and beliefs, as outlined in governing documents and policies at the point of employment and the way lawful action can be taken should a staff member’s actions contradict these or be inconsistent with the school’s staff code of conduct, during their service at the College.
the ability to maintain their distinctive Christian School culture and ethos through teaching a Biblical worldview in the curriculum and being able to take action to ensure student behaviour does not undermine the schools’ community of faith.

Through these AACS representations on our behalf, Justice Rothman was made aware of the increasingly precarious legal protections in discrimination law, especially in Victoria with the recently introduced Victorian Equal Opportunity Amendment Act (2021).

Furthermore, in this meeting the ALRC was asked to recommend stronger legal protections to ensure Christian schools can continue to employ Christian staff, teach Christian doctrine and maintain a ‘community of faith’ through their staff codes of conduct and student behaviour policies.

Consultation Paper, January 2023

The release of the ALRC’s Consultation Paper following these targeted consultations is extremely alarming for all religious schools (Christian, Jewish and Islamic). It recommends the removal of vital protections our schools rely upon and shows a complete misunderstanding and disregard for the delivery of (in our case) authentic Christian education.

Although this is not the final report, the underlying principles and the proposals put forward by the report appear to be firmly established as a prevailing rhetoric, that the media and opponents of our schools have taken up as their own.

Given the narrow terms of reference, it will be very difficult to change the proposals as it heads back to parliament and into a legislation creation phase in the second quarter of this year.

Take action

I (Tim Argall) have been asked, on numerous occasions in recent days, what DCC is doing about this alarming development, which may well erode our ability to manage our College operations in a way that demonstrates our desire to be a Christian community together.

We will commit to act on a number of fronts including:

seeking meetings with individual MPs
supporting advocacy work that continues to be done by AACS
working in partnership with other like-minded schools to present unified messages to those who will ultimately be responsible for drafting legislation.

But it is clear that, without a groundswell of public support and an outcry from faith communities, the chances of this draft paper being significantly changed away from its alarming proposals is small.

Here's what you can do now

Click on this link:

https://www.alrc.gov.au/inquiry/anti-discrimination-laws/submission/survey/

Note that this survey closes tomorrow night, Friday 24 February

You will be asked questions about your experiences with, and views about, religious educational institutions. It also explains how responses will remain completely anonymous and confidential. Where possible, give a positive story. Affirm as strongly as you feel you can.

Please prayerfully consider doing this – this is your opportunity to be part of important opposition to unwanted limits that will be placed on our College, its community and operations. We've asked all our current parents to take action in this way.

Beyond this - pray!

And, yes, keep praying to our sovereign God - He has protected us from harm and opposition in the past; we do all that we can, in human terms, and trust His moving in the hearts of others we cannot reach.

Now and Then

'Act justly, love kindness, and walk humbly with God'

Issue 1 · 23 Feb 2023

In this issue