Friday, 23 January 2004
Name
Address
Address
Anti-Discrimination
Amendment (Removal of Exemptions) Bill
The Greens Party anti-Christian Bill will remove ‘blanket’ exemptions for religious employers
Dear
(Name)
Your
help is urgently needed to defend our Christian freedom to educate our children
in church run schools according to the values taught in scripture.
On
11th November the NSW Greens gave notice in Parliament that they
intend to introduce legislation, which would remove the ‘blanket’ exemption for
religious educational employers to hire teachers and staff who hold similar
values.
Under
the NSW Green Party proposals, Christian parents who believe in the sanctity of
marriage and biblical values will lose the right to send their children to
non-government, church run schools which can legally require their teachers to
hold values which adhere to those of the school.
This
has already occurred in
In
February 2003 the NSW Greens made a campaign pledge to introduce legislation to
remove the exemption. Upper House MP,
Lee Rhiannon said, “The key component of our Bill is that private schools,
church organisations and small businesses will no longer be able to allow
homophobic practices to occur within their institutions.”[1]
Commenting
on the
Do
we want this to happen in
The removal of the exemption, or
even changes to the exemption, will seriously undermine the freedom of Churches
and private educational institutions to hire teachers and staff of similar
beliefs and values. These changes will
seriously restrict religious liberty.
Under the
The
Christian Democratic Party is the only party in the NSW Parliament who are enthusiasts
for non-government Christian based schools.
In late 2002 Fred Nile and I stood against the Australian Democrats’
amendment in the Upper House in December to remove the exclusion of religious
schools and Churches from the Anti-discrimination Act 1977 section 56D. We oppose the current proposals of the NSW
Greens to abolish the exemption.
We
need your help to spread the word to concerned church leaders, pastors and
parents to lobby the New South Wales Government to not support these proposals.
In
correspondence to both Rev Fred Nile, and myself the NSW Attorney General, Bob
Debus, rejected similar proposals by the NSW Law Reform Commission. The Attorney stated, “In view of
widespread community concern that the Commission’s proposals would unduly interfere
with fundamental religious freedoms, it was decided not to introduce the draft
Bill in its current form.”[2]
We
need to keep the NSW Government to their promise to not abolish the exemption
for Christian schools and churches in the Anti-discrimination Act.
Please
write to the Premier, the Attorney General Bob Debus and to the Leader of the
Opposition, John Brogden opposing the Greens’ Bill.
Rev
Fred Nile and I are working closely together on this matter. We would appreciate your written opinion/comments
on this issue. Please email your concerns to me at gordon.moyes@parliament.nsw.gov.au. I will raise your concerns in the House and
acknowledge your contribution in Hansard, unless you prefer your name or school
to not be mentioned. Your letters and
signed petitions will help us fight against this proposal in the NSW
Parliament.
This
is an extremely important issue, and unless stopped will flow over to tougher
restrictions under the NSW Anti-discrimination Act.
Also,
enclosed is a petition on this issue.
Please copy the petition and circulate it to as many people as possible
for signature. Signed petitions may be
returned to our CDP Parliamentary office or any Member (of your choosing) of
the Legislative Council, c/- NSW Parliament,
If
you would like to discuss this matter with me personally please contact my
personal assistant, Blossom Vickers, on (02) 9263 5438, (02) 9230 2132 or 0414
586 379 to organise a mutually convenient time.
The
Christian Democratic Party is dedicated to ensuring the voice of the Church is
heard.
Yours
sincerely
Gordon
Moyes MLC
Christian Democratic
Party
Enclosure – Petition: “Preserving the
right of Christian organizations to refuse employment to those whose beliefs or
practices conflict with established Christian doctrine”