Queensland MP levels accusation at university professor Gary Dowsett as Coalition MPs step up attack on anti-bullying initiatives for LGBTI students

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

One of parliament’s biggest opponents of the Safe Schools program, Queensland MP George Christensen, has accused a professor linked to the anti-bullying program of being an advocate of paedophilia.



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Christensen used parliamentary privilege to level the accusation at Gary Dowsett, deputy director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe University.

Another La Trobe academic runs the Safe Schools Coalition and the group is based at the university.

He alleged Dowsett was a “long-time advocate of intergenerational sex, otherwise known as paedophilia” and quoted from a 1982 article in the quarterly newsletter, “Gay information”, that equated the touch of a parent to that between a paedophile and child.

The information was first brought to light by the conservative group, the Australian Family Association.

“I think it would shock many parents to learn that a paedophilia advocate was overseeing the organisation that came up with the Safe Schools programs,” Christensen told the House of Representatives. “It’s imperative all federal funding be suspended to Safe Schools pending a full parliamentary inquiry.”

Dowsett has been contacted for comment about the article, which was written in 1982 and which has been seen by Guardian Australia.

Earlier on Wednesday, Dowsett told Australian Associated Press he is yet to hear Christensen’s full accusation.

“I really don’t want to comment about him,” Dowsett said. “I will leave that to other people at this point to comment. There might be other people who might want to comment.”

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La Trobe University put out a statement backing Dowsett late on Wednesday evening.

“We are appalled that a respected academic has been attacked using parliamentary privilege. This is a blatant attempt to distract attention from the independent endorsement of the highly effective Safe Schools program,” a university spokesman said. “We stand by the important work of Professor Dowsett and his team.”

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, called a review into the Safe Schools program late last month, amid concerns from conservatives in his own party.

Backbenchers were briefed on the review – which has not yet been made public – on Tuesday night.

Many conservative MPs were unhappy with the short duration of the review and its limited scope.

“They [the terms of reference] were deliberately quite narrow to deal with some materials that were made available in the classroom but they didn’t deal with materials that were available outside of the classroom and were part of the Safe Schools program. They’re the materials that are really concerning, I think, many of my colleagues and many parents around the country,” Cory Bernardi told ABC TV.

Christensen said more than half of the Coalition backbench in the lower house had concerns with the program. He had written to Turnbull, replete with “a few pages of signatures” from fellow MPs, calling for federal funding to be shelved until a full parliamentary inquiry into the program is conducted.

The Victorian premier, Daniel Andrews, vowed to continue funding the program at a state level if federal funding is pulled.

“If it saves just one life, it’s worth it,” Andrews wrote on his Facebook page. “Safe Schools is officially saved in Victoria and it will have a place in our schools long after Cory Bernardi and the rest of his dinosaurs eventually disappear from the Senate.”