Labor and Greens say MPs’ opposition based on bigotry and prime minister has given in to ‘deeply offensive behaviour’

This article is more than 4 years old

This article is more than 4 years old

Opposition to the Safe Schools anti-bullying program is rooted in the homophobia and bigotry of some government MPs, Labor and the Greens say.

The opposition spokeswoman on education, Kate Ellis, said the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, had capitulated to the “deeply offensive behaviour” shown by some on his backbench.

“I have no doubt that there are some members of the Liberal and National parties who have displayed homophobic behaviour in recent days and weeks and who have made some utterly disgusting statements,” she told reporters on Sunday.

The leader of the Greens, Richard Di Natale, went even further in his criticism.

“This is not some nuanced debate about the sort of program that is being delivered in a school,” he told Sky News. “This is a view based in prejudice, based in homophobia, based in bigotry and it needs to be called out.”

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The education minister, Simon Birmingham, said some of the commentary about the program, from both sides of the debate, had been inflammatory.

“I don’t believe that MPs are homophobic, I believe MPs have expressed concerns and reservations,” he told reporters on Sunday. “At the extremes of this debate we have seen at times language or actions that are intemperate.

“There is a sensible middle way that protects the wellbeing of children, both in terms of from bullying, homophobic actions and protects the wellbeing of children from being exposed to inappropriate material or content.”

Birmingham on Friday released the government’s response to a review into the program, which aims to stamp out homophobia and transphobia in schools.



The response included broad-ranging changes to the program, including restricting it to secondary school students, reducing the content in it, requiring parent associations consent to its introduction and removing all links to external sites.

The prime minister initiated the review last month after concerns raised in the party room by the right wing of his party.

“We’ve seen Malcolm Turnbull be bullied by his own backbench into gutting a program that was put in place for children who need support,” Ellis said. “I am sure that there are some reasonable members of the community who are now left with some concerns because they have heard misinformation, they have heard lies and they have heard myths which have not been corrected by the government.”



The cabinet secretary, Arthur Sinodinos, backed Turnbull’s response to the program.

“What’s important about this is the prime minister’s listened to people who, in the party room, had reservations,” he told the ABC’s Insiders program.

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He admitted the program has become a “political plaything” but stopped short of acknowledging that it highlighted divisions over leadership within the Coalition.

“If you’re trying to say this was somehow a proxy for some Abbott/Turnbull sort of conflict, the fact of the matter is that some people have had reservations about this program for a while,” Sinodinos said.

He indicated that Turnbull, a strong personal supporter of same-sex marriage, could have more of a mandate on policy formation if he wins re-election.

“A returned government with Malcolm Turnbull at its head after the election I think will have the capacity to stamp its authority on all sorts of issues and I think people in the party will respect that,” Sinodinos said.

Tony Abbott was one of the 43 backbenchers to sign a petition calling for Safe Schools to be defunded, despite the fact that he had allowed the program to continue while he was prime minister.



Sinodinos said Abbott signed the petition as the time had come to contemplate the $8m program’s future. It has been funded at a rate of $2m a year over four years and is due to run out of cash in 2017.

Birmingham confirmed on Friday that the funding would not be extended beyond next year.



The Victorian government has announced it will persist with Safe Schools despite the changes recommended by the federal government.

Birmingham said Victoria was responsible for the content of its school curriculums but said the state would be “held accountable if they choose to ignore the rights of children to be protected from any inappropriate material, the rights of parents to know exactly what their children are being taught”.