PM told Alan Jones that he doesn’t want ‘values of others’ imposed on his children

This article is more than 2 years old

This article is more than 2 years old

Scott Morrison says he sends his children to private school because he doesn’t want “the values of others” imposed on his children.

The prime minister agreed with broadcaster Alan Jones that a Victorian program that contains material about teen sexuality made his “skin curl”.

Morrison also declined to take a position on gay conversion therapy, during a separate talkback radio interview on Monday.

In an interview on 2GB, Jones asked the new prime minister whether a high school program aimed at preventing family violence made his “skin curl”. Describing the building respectful relationships program as “a fancy word for safe schools”, Jones claimed students were told to role play students with various sexualities.

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“Does this make your skin curl? That there are character cards under this [program] where young kids in schools, girls, Megan, we’re told that Megan is 17, she lives in the city and works in the local cafe she’s had 15 sexual partners and describes herself as bisexual, and these girls in class are told to role model these particular people,” Jones said.

“Year 9 students are told to role play them and the teachers are given role-playing cards. And Kelly is 14 and she’s interested in girls she’s not sure but she thinks she might be a lesbian and all of this is going on in the classroom. Is that going to happen in classrooms under your prime ministership?”

Morrison, who sends his two daughters to an independent Baptist school, agreed that it made his skin curl, and said public schools should be focused on “things like learnings maths and science”.

“It does Alan for this reason, the values I have as a parent, that Jenny and I have as parents, that’s where you get your values from,” he said.

“I don’t want the values of others being imposed on my children in my school and I don’t think that should be happening in a public school or a private schools.

“That’s why I want to protect the independent schools to ensure they can continue on providing at least that choice. When it comes to public schools ... how about we just have state schools that focus on things like learning maths [and] learning science.”

Morrison said it was “one of the reasons” he sent his children to a religious school.

“It’s not happening in the school I send my kids to, and that’s one of the reasons I send them there,” he told 2GB in Sydney.

The building respectful relationships program is a Victorian government initiative designed to “address and prevent family violence, through the examination of topics around gender, power and respect”.

According to the Victorian government it came out of the 2016 Royal Commission into family violence, which “identified the critical role that schools and early childhood education have in creating a culture of respect to change the story of family violence for future generations”.

The Victorian education department has been contacted for comment.

Morrison is a devout Christian and a member of the Sutherland Shire’s Horizon Church in Sydney’s south. Housed in a 1200-seat auditorium, the church is part of the Pentecostal Christian church.

During another radio interview on Monday he was asked by 3AW’s Neil Mitchell about his position on gay conversion therapy, a term used to describe attempts to change someone’s sexual orientation or gender identity.

Conversion therapy practices have been discredited across the globe, but the practice still exists in some faith-based organisations.

A coalition of survivors, pastors and community advocates has been circulating a petition calling for a crackdown on the practice.

But when asked about the petition on Monday, Morrison refused to either endorse or condemn the practice.

Saying he had “never really thought about it”, the prime minister said people should “make their own decisions” about their lives.

“I respect people of all sexualities, I respect people of all religions, all faiths. I love all Australians,” he said.

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“I’ve never been involved in anything like that, I’ve never supported anything like that, it’s just not an issue for me and I’m not planning to get engaged in the issue.”

Labor has indicated it will crack down on the issue if the party wins government, and the Greens have long argued for reform.

“Conversion therapies and sexual orientation change efforts are harmful and can have fatal consequences. They must must be stamped out,” Greens senator Janet Rice said on Monday.



“The basic premise of conversion therapy and sexual orientation change efforts is that LGBTIQ people can and must be changed, rather than being perfect and accepted for who they are.”

Morrison’s public support for religious schools over the public sector comes amid an increasingly fractious education funding debate.

While new education minister Dan Tehan has been given a remit to solve the funding stand-off with the Catholic education sector, the public school sector has signalled its own unhappiness with current funding arrangements.