Preserving Positive Protections for Parents – An Update

Christian schools in Australia remain at a crossroads.

While funding and resourcing of public education has received increased attention in recent months with the Better and Fairer Schools Bill having recently passed, positive protections for the rights of Christian parents remain unsettled.

In August this year, after hearing from thousands of Australians via My Christian School (both through emails and postcards), the two major parties failed to negotiate a path forward on the federal Religious Discrimination Bill.

This bill, as drafted by the government, removed crucial protections for schools based on recommendations from the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC).

When speaking to members of parliament (of all ‘flavours’) after this bill was “put out with the trash”, many mentioned the strong campaign waged by My Christian School and how effective it was.

They recalled your strong voices expressed through the Forums and the postcards, and the influence this had on the decision to not proceed with the bill in its current form.

A Religious Discrimination Bill or ALRC recommendations will not be acted upon in this term of parliament, which leads us to start to look towards the federal election to be held in May next year.

The 2025 national election will be critical for our schools and for our parents.

We are aware of the Greens’ policies on education which do not support positive protections for parents. and which would undermine the ability of our Christian schools to remain viable.

The ‘status quo’ to which we have returned post-campaign provides some protections for Christian schools, especially in states that have watered down or excluded the rights of Christian parents to be guardians of their children’s education.

However, our rights are held tenuously.

In early 2025, we will begin to campaign for our rights as part of an election campaign.