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$1100 the price for parents to know if their school is running “Safe Schools”The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed dismay that
the Queensland Government wants to charge $1100 so parents can know if their
school is running the controversial “Safe Schools” program.
ACL
has been told by the QLD Government that it may be liable to pay $1100 for a
Freedom of Information request to receive the list of 32 QLD schools which have
signed up to the Safe Schools Coalition which promotes the idea that children’s
gender is fluid.
ACL
QLD Director Wendy Francis said the decision by QLD Education Minister, Kate
Jones, to deny parents access to the list runs contrary to Federal Education
Minister Simon Birmingham’s undertaking that parents had to be made fully aware
if their school is teaching “Safe Schools” gender
theory.
The
Department of Education and Training is claiming it will take 39.5 hours to
retrieve the short list of 32 schools.
ACL
QLD Director Wendy Francis said the ACL had been waiting five weeks for the list
since it lodged a FOI request on February 25.
“All
that is required is one phone call to the Safe Schools Coalition, that could
have been done five weeks ago, to get the names of the schools. There is simply
no justification for the charges or for the estimated time the Department of
Education and Training has said it could take to get hold of the information,”
Ms Francis said.
“To
receive this estimated cost notice five weeks after the request indicates that
the Government has taken no action to date on the FOI request. This is simply
not good enough and very disappointing, in light of the damning evidence that
has emerged about the Safe Schools material.
“The
list of schools signed up to the so-called Safe Schools is available everywhere
else in the country and yet in QLD we have the ridiculous situation where the
Government is imposing onerous costs on anyone who wants to receive this
information and appears to be taking every measure to keep the information
secret.
“The
QLD Government has an obligation to work with, rather than against, parents and
the community and make this list freely available.”
Ms
Francis said there was deep concern in the community about the way the QLD
Government is blindly defending the program. More than 9,200 people have signed
an ACL-sponsored petition that, among other requests, calls on the QLD
Government to release the names of the schools.
“We
ask Minister Jones to explain to ACL and the wider community why she and her
Department are stalling in providing this information,” she
said.
Ms
Francis said the Federal Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, had a
responsibility to ensure that each State cooperated with the Federal Government
in ensuring schools are safe from contested gender
theory.
“We
call on the Federal Education Minister, Simon Birmingham, to impress on the QLD
Government their duty to be open and transparent,” Ms Francis
said. <저작권자 ⓒ christianreview 무단전재 및 재배포 금지>
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