Enough is Enough

Christian schooling needs your help.

'WHAT YOU CAN DO' is at the end of this article.

I’m writing this to you, fresh from a meeting with 80 other Christian Education National (CEN) and Christian Schools Australia (CSA) principals.  In that meeting, we were brought up to date with the latest developments in the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws consultation process.

Some local background.

In recent years, Christian schools in Victoria have had to respond with significant energy as we have faced a changed legislative landscape, which fundamentally challenges our capacity to operate as we understand is the best way for our community of Christians to gather and work together each day.  

In this State, we have increasingly been restricted in the way we exercise our choices about whom we employ, what individual community behaviours we consider appropriate, and how we deal with those that contradict the standards we have set.

We continue to trust in our sovereign God, and so we pray that He will enable us to continue in everything that makes this community what it is – Christian staff partnering with Christian families in Christian education for all our students.

This is our 48-year heritage, and we hold it as a critical part of who we are.

The wider background.

Federal anti-discrimination laws, including the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Fair Work Act 2009, prohibit discrimination in a wide range of settings against people on grounds including sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status, or pregnancy. 

However, these laws also provide exemptions or ‘balancing clauses’ for religious educational institutions, including Christian schools, as a means of respecting other important human rights such as religious freedom.

This means that discrimination by religious schools is not unlawful under Federal law where it is ‘in good faith’ and ‘in order to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of that religion or creed’.

The exemptions recognise the impacts that anti-discrimination law, which protects fundamental rights to non-discrimination and equality, may also have on the exercise of the fundamental right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.

Recent Federal Government activity.

On 4 November 2022, the Attorney- General, the Hon Mark Dreyfus asked the 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.

The Government also committed to protecting all students from discrimination. The Attorney General stated in his media release ‘…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.’

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 Process

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.

The suggestion was made that any reforms to federal discrimination law should clearly state that a religious school is not discriminating when its actions are consistent with its religious beliefs and practices.

The ALRC’s Consultation Paper, released in late 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. 

Now for our own action.

I 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 propositions is small.

Here's what you can do

Click on this link:

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

It explains that 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.

Please answer as fully as you can.  Where possible, give a positive story.  Affirm as strongly as you feel you can.  If all 2000 adults (1800 parents and 200 staff) in our community did this, the beginning of a groundswell starts.

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.

Beyond this.

1. PRAY!
2. Commit the Board and Senior Leadership Team to prayer, as we seek to engage further in exerting influence in places and gatherings of people where a voice into the decision makers could affect change. 
3. If you know anyone involved in the ALRC or in Federal Government, and you would be happy to introduce me to them, I would welcome that connection being made.
4. Pray again. God is sovereign, and we must put all this at His feet.  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.
5. If there is anything more, we will let you know as soon as possible.

 * I am thankful to Vanessa Cheng, CEO of AACS, for her provision of detailed briefing notes on the full process to date – some of which are used in this article.