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The Bishop of Darwin has threatened to close Catholic schools if the Northern Territory’s Labor government changes laws that strip schools of the right to hire employees based on faith.
Bishop Charles Gauci wants the Northern Territory government to shelve its plan to remove the right of religious schools to employ staff who share their faith.
The NT parliament is considering government amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act.
The change will end an existing provision that lets “religious educational institutions discriminate against staff based on their sexuality’’.
Bishop Gauci has warned that the draft bill has the “unintended consequences’’ of preventing religious schools from requiring staff to teach in line with the school’s faith.
“Denying faith schools the right of ensuring that their belief systems are upheld by employing the right people is a violation of religious freedom,’’ he wrote in his Bishop’s Reflection on Thursday.
“Can you imagine a Catholic school employing a leader of a school who advocates atheism, or thinks that the beliefs of our church are silly?
“Now, it doesn’t mean that every teacher is a Catholic or even a believer. But we certainly have a firm policy that the principal, the deputy, the director of religious education, are practising members of our faith community,” Bishop Gauci said on Darwin’s Mix 104.9 Radio on 16 November.
“I’m taking this very, very seriously.
“It’s really questioning whether we are going to be viable in all of our schools. And we have plenty of them, giving a great contribution to people across the NT,” Bishop Gauci said.
Government taking a “radical approach’’
He said the legislative amendments could force Catholic schools to let teachers promote atheism or polygamy to students.
“If I cannot have a faith school … then we would have to seriously consider closing them, and then all the kids would have to go to the state schools,’’ he said on Wednesday.
“We are not talking about a teacher’s personal beliefs or even their own private lives; we are talking about what they do in schools and what they teach.
“I repeat: more than half the students to come to our schools are not Catholic, but they value what we present and what we hold.”
The Australian Association of Christian Schools said the NT government was taking a “radical approach’’ towards anti-discrimination laws by removing the longstanding employment exemption for religious schools.
“Completely removing (section) 37a from the Discrimination Act leaves our schools vulnerable to claims of discrimination when it comes to employing staff who share the faith,’’ AACS executive officer Vanessa Cheng said on Thursday.
The Australian Christian Lobby also called on the NT government to reverse the amendment.
“Everyone understands the right of political parties to hire staff who are members of their parties, and for other values-based organisations to hire staff who adhere to their ethos,’’ the ACL’s NT director Christopher Brohier said.
“And yet the NT government plans to deny faith-based schools this same right.
“Religious schools should not be forced to hire staff opposed to, or out of step with, their beliefs.’’
Mr Brohier said the NT bill “discriminates against parents who choose to send their children to religious schools”.
Sources
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