The Victorian Government has moved away from last year’s claim the Safe Schools program would be locked into every state-funded high school, with Education Minister James Merlino today saying the government no longer intended for the LGBTI anti-bullying tools to be mandatory.
Instead, according to Brisbane Times, schools will be able to choose “if and how” they want to adopt the much-debated set of resources. That goes against last February’s statement, where the Labor Premier Daniel Andrews said they were moving to install the tools at all government schools across Victoria.
Currently, the Safe Schools Coalition is working with around 160 of the state’s government-funded high schools. That’s half of them, in total.
Merlino’s spokesperson told the Times “at the end of the day it’s their decision to make – in consultation with their school communities,” but that it’s “strongly encouraged by the government.”
While it’s a sizeable backdown from the assumption Safe Schools would be instituted across the board, they’re still in obvious support.
A day after Mardi Gras, Matthew Guy says he doesn’t support Safe Schools. Another Lib leader pandering to extreme views in party. Pathetic.
— James Merlino (@JamesMerlinoMP) March 6, 2016
It’s also far, far away from the fervent criticism of the program thrown around by conservative commentators, including the idea the inclusive anti-bullying material could work without flowing into “contested gender ideology.” Of course, Cory Bernardi hasn’t been too keen on it, either.
Source: Brisbane Times.
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