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Catholic schools in Victoria are urging parents not to vote for the Greens in Australia’s federal election on July 2.
Anti-Greens flyers have been attached to Catholic school newsletters across the state.
The campaign is targeting school communities in marginal seats, electorates where members are retiring or where the Greens have a strong winning chance.
All in all, the pamphlet was distributed in about 100 schools.
The pamphlet noted that both major parties in the election have committed to fund the Catholic school system.
“Unfortunately, Catholic schools don’t have the same commitment from the Greens.”
Currently, 62 cents in every dollar of funding comes from government.
The Greens’ funding proposals would consider a school’s resources and its capacity to generate income from other sources including fees and contributions.
The impact on fees would “undermine our ability to welcome disadvantaged students and their families into our educational community”, the pamphlet warned.
The Catholic Education Commission’s Stephen Elder also criticised the Greens for seeking to “abolish our ability to hire staff on religious grounds”.
“Their education policy explicitly applies this proposal by linking government funding for Catholic schools to ‘non-discrimination in the hiring of staff’,” he said.
He said this could lead to Catholic principals being forced to employ staff who were critical of their faith.
Their plan was an “affront to the religious liberties currently exercised by the Church and our schools”.
Mr Elder said there was a “real chance” the Greens could hold the balance of power after the election.
The Greens argued that under their plan, Catholic schools would actually be better resourced than they would be under the Liberal-National Coalition.
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