On Wednesday 17 June 2026, Maryka Groenewald MLC delivered her WA Budget Reply speech to the Western Australian Parliament.

The following is an excerpt from her complete speech, which may inform supporters of Christian schools regarding her supportive positions for Christian schooling.

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WA Budget Replay Speech by Maryka Groenewald MLC

An excerpt from the complete speech on 17 June 2026

We know educational and children’s needs are becoming more complex. Even what parents are choosing within education is shifting.

More than one-third of students in this state now attend a non-government school, whether independent or Catholic. Why are so many parents choosing private and independent schools?

There is an important reason that people are sending their children to a lot of these faith-based schools.

Of course, it is great to have choice. Unfortunately, a perception has taken hold, perhaps amongst members, that Christian schools are simply good private schools that happen to have a chapel. It has been great talking to a lot of people about this because that is often the perception.

These schools are academically strong and provide all these services. That is fundamentally great, but it is often assumed that religion is just kind of put on to the name.

That is actually not the case for a lot of Christian schools.

Parents who choose a Christian school for their child are making that decision because that school is encouraging a specific view that the parents share—there is a community and a specific culture around that school. Of course, it is the parents’ prerogative.

They are paying money to send their child to a school that reinforces and supports those views.

There is another very interesting misconception by policymakers, and that is that children go to these religious schools but their faith does not really ring true to them. That is the veil.

This is so far from the case.

Many people I have spoken to over the last little while do not understand the importance of faith. Christian, independent and Catholic schools have an ethos and a foundation that underpins them. Our faith, our Christian faith, forms the foundation of what we believe and who we are.

The Bible guides the decision-making of the millions of churchgoers. For them to have the choice to send their kids to a school that reinforces that is great. Parents do not just send their kids to private schools because they are seeking a better ATAR result.

They send their kids to that school because they believe it upholds their values and that those values will be championed and reinforced. That freedom is the foundation to so much. Research from Christian Schools Australia confirmed that 74% of parents choosing Christian schools cite that value alignment as a main reason.

Parents often make significant financial sacrifices to send their kids to Catholic, Christian or otherwise independent schools. Preserving the distinctive character of a school is not just about institutional autonomy. It is about parental choice. It is about preserving the rights of parents to choose an education that is consistent with their values.

Christian schools need to remain distinctly Christian.

The distinctive character of those schools is precisely what holds and gives them their point of difference and why parents choose them. A line cannot be drawn between Christian and non-Christian jobs. You cannot draw a line between a Christian and non-Christian community. To attack the legal protections that allow Christian schools to hire staff who share their world view is just an unacceptable attack on freedom of religion in this country and this state. Just as a political party or MP has the right to ensure their staff are aligned with their values and their policies, so too should schools have the right to do so. Political ideology does not deserve greater protections.

Recommendation 79 of the WA Law Reform Commission report would only permit schools to prefer staff on the basis of their Christian faith where it is an inherent requirement to the job. These proposed changes would invite external bodies—tribunals, courts, independent commissioners—to determine when a job in a Christian school is religious enough. Even reading that out loud, it sounds ludicrous for the schools and parents.

According to the Law Reform Commission of Western Australia:

Under this approach, it seems likely that discrimination would not be permitted when employing a maths teacher or a gardener, as these jobs can be performed without conformity to religious doctrine, tenets or beliefs.

It even cites:

… religious affiliation would only be an inherent requirement of a principal and chaplain, who are both religious leaders of the school, or staff who teach religious education.

This is an important issue. It raises the critical issue of the ignorance and misunderstanding of the value and operations of Christian and independent schools.

This misunderstanding is so prevalent in these recommendations. Removing the exemptions for religious schools directly undermines the holistic community approach that characterises a lot of these communities. As I mentioned earlier, that is the reason that families choose to send their kids to these schools.

The fact that this government is allocating significant ongoing funding to lobby groups that are actively engaged in this type of political advocacy in favour of changes is also troubling to many of the principals and schools I have spoken to.

One of the recipients of this funding has publicly advocated for changes to religious exemptions under WA’s equal opportunity laws. It is seriously worth asking at this point: Why is there such a fixation on stopping Christian and other faith-based communities and schools from running according to their beliefs?

These schools are not asking for special treatment; they are just asking for the freedom to remain. A genuinely tolerant society does not demand that every institution becomes a mirror image of the state. It allows room for difference, including religious difference.

Undermining religious freedom is not progressive; it is the opposite of the tolerant and free culture that we want to have and cultivate in WA.

Frankly, that sentiment has been shared by members across political lines multiple times in this house when it suits them. I remember when I met with the previous Attorney General alongside the Jewish council, the Australian Christian Lobby and the Islamic Council of Western Australia. We left that meeting absolutely gobsmacked because we could not believe that the government and groups were trying to dictate how Christian and faith-based schools should operate and who they should employ.

The exemptions that are in place protect the ability of Christian schools and faith-based organisations to operate in accordance with their beliefs and values. This is important. The fact that Christians, conservatives and faith-based Western Australian taxpayers are funding groups that are campaigning to remove their legal protections that are enshrined in human rights conventions is unacceptable. The whole notion is quite bizarre.

As I have reiterated, many parents who send their kids to these schools and, indeed, many West Aussies of faith would feel highly uncomfortable knowing that their taxes are supporting a body of work that is literally undermining their ability to send their kids to school.

Source: Daily Hansard in the Parliament of Western Australia