Andrew Laming (Bowman, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It was 1910 when Queenslanders voted by referendum to incorporate religious education in state school curricula, and since that time that system has worked extraordinarily well—or that was until the Beattie government took a bat to it with their modifications to the Education (General Provisions) Bill from last week. The long and short of it is that, with very little consultation, this bill was brought off the shelf at a time when the nation was focused on Beaconsfield and the federal budget and the communities around Queensland that have the most to lose with this religious education bill found it hovering above them to be debated in state parliament in the next couple of weeks.

That was until today. Today the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training stood up for Queenslanders, and six hours later the fold came—the Beattie Bible backflip—when the Queensland Minister for Education, Rod Welford, withdrew the bill at 2.30 today. To analyse that story a little further, very little consultation has occurred in what is now being called the ‘opt-out’ provisions of the education bill. In short, the Beattie government attempted to move from the current situation that works well, with a high degree of participation in religious education in our state schools, to an opt-in arrangement mandating that every parent sign a consent form for their child to be exposed to religious education, as if it were an optional extra in the cafeteria of educational provision that religious education was something that required a consent form collected by principals who, fearing litigation, would have no option but to caution chaplains in their day-to-day work and delivery of pastoral care. It was an appalling piece of legislation that should never have been drafted.

In this retraction today we do not have a terribly clear indication that this backflip is a permanent removal, because the education minister in Queensland states that ‘the proposed changes have not been well understood’ by members of the Queensland public. He says there would be no change and then in the fine print of the press release he says, ‘The appropriate course of action is not to proceed with the amendments at this time.’ Is that code for ‘after the next state election’? I am sure they hope so. Later in the press release he states that ‘state schools have not brought significant objections’ and that they appear to be ‘a satisfactory arrangement at this time’.

So this clearly remains on the agenda of Anna Bligh, the former education minister. When we brought church leaders together at community meetings in Bowman their concerns were entirely reasonable. There will always be 30 per cent of Australians—certainly over the last decade—who identify strongly with their Christian faith and who will support and sign whatever they have to sign to ensure religious education is available in state schools. There are 25 per cent who do not identify with a religious faith and, under the current provisions, can opt out. My concern was for the 45 per cent of Christian families who support Christian values in schools but are not actively practising Christians, who stood to lose if this bill had been passed. You do not have to be at Sunday school every Sunday to know that Christian values play an important part in our education. You do not have to doorknock many houses to know that, even if people are not going to church every Sunday, they strongly support having 40 hours of religious education each year available to their children until they can make up their own minds. Those who support smaller faiths are welcome to opt out under the current provisions—and those arrangements currently exist. In short, there was no good reason for changing what we have.

Of the state members in my area, the electorate of Bowman, one chose not to turn up to the community forum, one was there for two minutes and then scurried away and one had the honesty to stand up and say he did not support the bill conceived by his own state education minister—but later said he could not vote against it. It is great to be honest, but not at the expense of integrity. I refer to it as the ‘Old Cleveland Road syndrome’ whereby on the way towards the parliament in George Street one votes differently to what was said to constituents. Thankfully, with the Queensland education minister pulling this bill, his local members have been spared the decision. I am grateful for the support of the federal Minister for Education, Science and Training in this matter.

I think these changes were unconstitutional and represent a recurring pattern of behaviour. The state government has used antidiscrimination laws, levied rates on church schools and has now removed the Bible from Queensland public hospitals. If there were a time I would want to be able to reach for the Bible, it would be in one of the Queensland public hospitals from which Peter Beattie is removing the Bible. I say to Peter Beattie: commit to returning the Bible to public hospitals—they have served us so well for so long—fund chaplaincy adequately and have a state policy to do so. (Time expired)