THE Albanese government’s distraction from good governance is again on display, now on religious freedom.
The distracted Federal Labor Government wasted $450 million on a divisive referendum and were busy settling scores for their union masters in parliament while cost-of-living, energy affordability and key topics like religious freedom festered.
Faith leaders are telling the Opposition their ability to maintain the ethos and values of their schools is under constant attack from state and territory governments.
Under Queensland law, it may soon be unlawful for a Catholic school to prefer employing Catholics or ensure teacher conduct aligns with the school’s faith ethos.
Hundreds of thousands of Australian families enrol their children in faith-based schools.
Many of those families support the school community’s values and their choices deserve respect.
Families who send their children to Catholic, Christian or other faith-based schools remain in the dark about whether their school will be able to continue to operate as it has faithfully for generations.
Faith groups remain confused and banned from publicly discussing draft religious freedom legislation.
Even the Coalition’s Shadow Attorney-General only received a draft if she swore to silence.
Yet we hear that Labor’s draft laws are so drastic they force pastors, priests and preachers to change how they teach their beliefs in places of worship.
Attorney-General Dreyfus should immediately release the draft legislation for everyone to discuss in a public and independent inquiry.
The Prime Minister has been playing games on religious freedom, first saying he would not propose reform without Coalition support.
He then threatened to do a deal with the Australian Greens, while refusing to release the draft for public scrutiny.
Meanwhile, the Albanese government’s current Costs Protection legislation will mean many schools will have to pay significant legal bills when they are sued.
Every dollar spent in court is a dollar not spent educating a child.
The Coalition wants take people of faith, children at non-government schools and their families forwards, not backwards.
