There is no place for preaching in public schools

Today in Parliament, Abigail responded to a motion on special religious education (SRE), calling for its abolition in public schools due to ongoing issues with unregulated, discriminatory content and the Government's failure to ensure oversight, despite previous revelations of sexism, homophobia, caste-based discrimination, and extremist influence in SRE lessons.

Abigail said:

On behalf of The Greens, I oppose this motion. I cannot speak on this topic without instantly thinking of the late Dr John Kaye and his work exposing the content and delivery of special religious education [SRE] classes in public schools. His work as an MLC in this Parliament revealed a series of shocking facts and extreme material taught in New South Wales public schools which, for example, promoted sexism, homophobia and discrimination against students with disabilities and from multicultural backgrounds. John established that SRE materials and teaching were not adequately monitored to ensure they complied with Department of Education guidelines and fought hard to ensure that ethics classes would be an alternative to SRE in public schools. My colleague Senator David Shoebridge carried on John's work, exposing among other things that SRE lessons were being taught by far‑right Hindu extremist organisations in some New South Wales public schools.

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. In response to reports late last year of Hindu instructors teaching caste as part of SRE classes and seating children according to caste hierarchical order, the Department of Education, on behalf of the education Minister, maintained that religious organisations are free to teach whatever materials and pedagogy they wish in SRE lessons. In a letter to community group the Rationalist Society of Australia, the department stated:

It is … the approved provider's responsibility to make their curriculum scope and sequence(s) accessible publicly and in sufficient detail for parents/carers to be able to understand what is covered in lessons.

The Government's complete abdication of any responsibility over the content of these lessons is completely unacceptable. 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 this is taught in these lessons in our New South Wales public schools is really concerning. 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.

Read the full debate in Hansard here.

19 March 2025

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There is no place for preaching in public schools

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