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Tony Abbott says Safe Schools LGBTI program's funding should be 'terminated' Tony Abbott says Safe Schools LGBTI program's funding should be 'terminated'
(35 minutes later)
The former prime minister Tony Abbott has weighed into the debate over the schools program focused on same-sex issues, describing it as “social engineering”. Former prime minister Tony Abbott has called for the immediate defunding of the Safe Schools program, saying it goes beyond its scope as an anti-bullying initiative.
The government is reviewing the Safe Schools anti-bullying program following concerns raised by Coalition critics, led by the outspoken Liberal senator Cory Bernardi. Abbott spoke to the Australian newspaper on Tuesday.
“It’s not an anti-bullying program ... its funding should be terminated,” Mr Abbott told the Australian. “It’s not an anti-bullying program,” he said. “It’s a social engineering program. Its funding should be terminated.”
Conservative opposition to the program was led by Bernardi but found a surprise supporter in the Labor senator Joe Bullock. Abbott is the latest conservative member of the Coalition to speak out against the initiative, which aims to stamp out homophobia and transphobia in schools.
Last week six Coalition MPs, led by backbencher Cory Bernardi, expressed their concerns about Safe Schools in the party room meeting, prompting the prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, to order a review of the program.
Related: Malcolm Turnbull urges calm heads over Safe Schools LGBTI programRelated: Malcolm Turnbull urges calm heads over Safe Schools LGBTI program
The conservative government backbencher George Christensen last week likened the anti-bullying initiative to child grooming and claimed in parliament the Safe Schools program recommended pornographic content, sex shops, sex clubs and adult communities to school children in the name of an anti-bullying initiative. Many say that the material presented to young children is hyper-sexual and inappropriate. Others say that it does not promote heterosexuality, and urges young people to take radical measures to address their gender or sexuality concerns, such as chest-binding and penis tucking.
When asked if he supported Christensen’s comments, Turnbull said: “I encourage everybody who is discussing these issues to do so in very measured language, and to consider very carefully the impact of the words they use on young people and on their families.” At least one MP, West Australian backbencher Luke Simpkins, thinks discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people is overstated.
Last week the program’s organisers revealed that only one school had pulled out of the Safe Schools program as a result of pressure from concerned parents, despite comments from conservatives who say parents do not want the anti-bullying initiative. “I have never met anyone that displays an extreme or irrational fear of homosexuality,” he told parliament on Thursday. “I have an army background and a sporting background and never have I met anyone who has such fears.”
Experts say LGBTI young people suffer greater levels of discrimination and higher rates of suicide and self-harm.
The federal government has committed $2m a year over four years to the voluntary Safe Schools program, which has the broad support of the state and territory governments. About 515 schools across the country take part in the program.
Two eminent professors will undertake the Safe Schools review and will report back to the federal Department of Education on March 11.
Liberal backbencher, Ewen Jones, has broken ranks with his party to outwardly support the program.
“We must address it. No one committed suicide when I was a kid, because we could go home at three o’clock, you get past the bully, you could get home and it was over. Now, the bullying can be 24 hours a day and anonymous,” he told reporters on Monday.
“I don’t know any teacher who is going to sit down and talk about ‘tucking’ or anything like that. What they will do, what teachers and school principals will do, will take the bits of it that are relevant to their schoolchildren and they will make sure that what they’re saying to their schoolchildren is good and make sure that it’s appropriate.”
Labor initiated the program before it left office in 2013, but at least one member, WA senator, Joe Bullock, opposes it.
“This program is so narrowly focused on homosexual issues that it doesn’t provide the sort of balance one would hope,” he told the Australian last week.