Mr BAYLEY (Clark) – It gives me no pleasure to rise on adjournment tonight to talk about this issue. On Anzac Day this year, I met Archbishop Julian Porteous. We had a friendly and courteous introductive conversation. I am not a man of religion, but I am happy to accept people’s faith and their commitment to that faith. I celebrate that. I am married to a self-described lapsed catholic. I completely respect people’s views.
Yesterday, at the parliamentary afternoon tea, I again met Archbishop Porteous and had a respectful and courteous conversation about his letter distributed through the catholic school system. I told him I thought the letter was lamentable, an abuse of his position, wholly inappropriate, and dangerous to some of the students in the care of the catholic education system. I welcomed the opportunity to do him the courtesy of telling him that because I knew I would raise it in this place. It is something constituents have contacted me about and asked me to do, parents of catholic students, teachers of catholic students, and indeed both parents and teachers of students. They are appalled by the language. Some are appalled by the message, some are appalled by the division and the derision. Most were explicitly appalled using the school system to disseminate information that some would call propaganda, in a political conversation. I do not want to read the letter into Hansard in its entirety but, by way of example, I will read just a small part which includes:
Over the last 30 to 40 years, we have witnessed an organised campaign to overturn the traditional Christian understanding of sex and sexuality in western society.
It really does seem like the archbishop confuses sex and sexuality for love. He goes on and describes that:
Since this time, we have seen the growth in what has been referred to as the woke movement, seeking to overturn other traditional values and beliefs.
Woke. Yesterday I challenged the archbishop on his definition of woke. I asked him ‘What do you think woke is? What is woke?’. Woke is an awakedness to the needs of others. Woke is compassion; woke is alertness to discrimination and injustice. Woke has been weaponised and turned into a pejorative. It has been turned, by many on the political right, into a pejorative and an attack on anyone who seeks to better the lives of others, to better understanding and to promote inclusion and acceptance. It has turned into rhetoric for a shallow political narrative.
I told the archbishop I was incredibly disappointed, surprised, and shocked to think this kind of language would find it into a letter that is sent through the catholic school system to students and to parents. Some of these letters, I am informed, were printed copies given to students to take home. Some of them have been emailed. As I understand it, they were not all emailed at the same time by the system because they were emailed by principals. Some principals seemingly held out significantly because they completely questioned both the ethics and wisdom of sending this kind information out to students. This is not an indication on the catholic doctrine, but I want to contrast it with some of the words from Richard Condie yesterday in his service, that many here in this place attended. He said –
… what if we actually loved each other in the midst of the contest of ideas? What if we made the decision to love and to give and turn away from retaliation as we went about our business?
I welcome that kind of language and that kind of approach. Of course, that was delivered in a church, in a sermon where the participants willingly attended and participated.
I congratulate Equality Tasmania. I also acknowledge the independent member for Clark and Dr Woodruff, Leader of the Greens, who have publicly come out and questioned and condemned this letter and stood with members of the community to question the wisdom of this.
When it comes to the community advocates, Rowan Richardson is very clear. As a transgender man, very clear about the potential impact of this kind of information to vulnerable students, vulnerable people still finding their way through the world, he said –
… the views that are expressed in the letter are draconian and totally out of touch of what we actually need to do to make young people feel safe in schools and ready to learn.
I welcome the fact that they have written to the Catholic Archdiocese and each of those schools, seeking the right of reply. I think that really is a challenge to those schools and a challenge to the Archdiocese to uphold the claimed notions of freedom of speech and actually award that right of reply so that a balanced set of information can be received by families.
I will finish by noting the irony of this kind of letter. This is an organisation that actively campaigned against the freedoms of other people to love who they wanted to love and for all of those people to share the ability to demonstrate that love through marriage. Yet, as part of this letter, it is highly hypocritical and unfortunate for the Archbishop to write –
… slowly but surely our freedoms are being undermined.
This letter is lamentable. I told the Archbishop that yesterday and I take no pleasure in saying it here today.
