Christian Democrat Fred Nile denies he asked for ethics changes in NSW schools in exchange for privatisation support

Updated

Christian Democrat MP Fred Nile has denied he asked the New South Wales Government to strip any reference to ethics classes from public school enrolment forms in exchange for his support for power privatisation.

Current enrolment forms give parents a clear option for picking ethics classes as an alternative to Special Religious Education (SRE) for their child, but under the changes being considered by the Government, parents would only be asked what religion their child is.

Freedom of Information documents revealed the Government is considering the proposal and also showed that the Premier's office was behind a push to fast-track the change.

The Greens and Labor have suggested the Government is trying to keep Reverend Nile onside so he uses his crucial balance of power vote to back the electricity lease, but he has told 702 ABC Sydney that is not the case.

"Before you ask the question, absolutely not," Reverend Nile told Linda Mottram.

"I don't do deals and the Premier himself is the one who is initiating this clarification of the SRE and the enrolments."

Reverend Nile suggested that offering ethics classes alongside SRE classes confused parents.

He said some parents believed the Ten Commandments were taught in the ethics classes, which is not the case.

"There is no ethics taught in the ethics classes, it's a philosophical discussion group," Reverend Nile told 702 ABC Sydney.

Premier 'pandering' to Christian Democrat Fred Nile

The NSW Opposition and the Greens said earlier Premier Mike Baird was pandering to Reverend Nile.

Christian democrat MP Fred Nile has for many years been obsessed with destroying the ethics alternative to scripture. Greens MP John Kaye

Greens MP John Kaye said it was about helping to secure the MP's vote on power privatisation.

"Christian democrat MP Fred Nile has for many years been obsessed with destroying the ethics alternative to scripture," Mr Kaye said.

"The compromise that seems to have been struck is to hide ethics away from parents and simultaneously to trick them into enrolling their kids into special religious education."

The NSW Opposition also slammed the proposal as a political tactic.

"In a move designed to carry favour with the Reverend Fred Nile, he's acting against the interest of parental and pupil choice when it comes to ethics classes," NSW Opposition Leader Luke Foley said.

"Pupils and parents should have a free choice whether to enrol in scripture classes or ethics classes."

Mr Foley said there was no role for the state in favouring one over the other.

"This is just a sop to the most fierce opponents of ethics classes in our schools," he said.

Premier denies connection to poles and wires negotiations

A spokesman for the Premier said in a statement: "There is no connection whatsoever between this issue and negotiations over the electricity bills".

He said the Government was reviewing changes to the enrolment to ensure that it remained in line with the Government's position on the issue.

The spokesman said that included advising parents about the option of ethics classes for their child, after opting out of special religious education.

He said it was the Government's position to allow schools to advise the school community that ethics classes are available, via a newsletter or website.

'Parents should be concerned'

The chairman of Primary Ethics, the body who provides the classes, said faith groups lobbied the State Government after a drop in the number of students opting to go to scripture classes.

"It's denying parents the knowledge that they need to make an informed decision to choose between scripture or ethics or supervised activity and that, we believe, is simply wrong," Bruce Hogan said.

"I think all parents should be concerned because we're talking about the welfare of the children.

"We're happy with the current form."

Mr Hogan said he requested a meeting with the NSW Education Minister to discuss his concerns but was declined.

Topics: ethics, public-schools, states-and-territories, nsw

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