Principals, board members, teachers, and school leaders from across the country.

I want to acknowledge the wonderful work Daniel, Rachel and Naji do in advocating for Christian schools in this place. They are widely respected by colleagues around the building.

I know of no other organisation in Australia who actually reads all my speeches in parliament and provides feedback on them!

It’s not always easy advocating for Christian Schools.

Earlier this year Naji was stopped from delivering easter eggs to people’s offices in the Australian Parliament.

When you can’t share easter greetings in the parliament, we have got to a pretty sad place in this country.

Naji was undeterred. He made sure everyone got easter eggs at any rate. That’s the spirit I associate with Christian schools.

Dr Ted Boyce

Tonight, at this gathering, I particularly want to acknowledge a wonderful Christian educator and friend from my electorate and a lion of the Christian Schools movement—Dr Ted Boyce.

Dr Boyce retires at the end of this year after 41 years as the Principal of Pacific Hills Christian School. Under his leadership, Pacific Hills turned from one small school with eight students and one teacher—originally in Pennant Hills, now in Dural—to ten schools across NSW with 3294 students and 802 staff.

Dr Boyce is an Australian Christian educator of global influence. He is also my friend and has been a force for good in my life and the lives of thousands of people around the world.

His emphasis is on allowing God’s truth from the Bible to inform how we view all of life. He believes Christian education should bring glory to God first and foremost, and rich blessings to those who are served by, and work in, Christian education.

I know, even though this chapter of his work is closing, that he will remain involved in Christian education for years to come. I wish him good luck and God speed.

My support for Christian education

Long before I was Shadow Minister for Education, I was a supporter of Christian education.

I have been to this dinner and to events organised by Christian Schools Australia many times.

Over the decade of my political career, I have always stood strongly with the Christian schools movement—both in my own electorate and across our nation.

So, in my new role now as Shadow Minister for Education, I am honoured to be here and to have the opportunity to say a few words to you tonight.

I have often said that I am a Jewish man, educated by Anglicans, I worked for the largest mission of the Catholic Church, and that my best friend is a Muslim. Some have accused me of hedging my bets in the afterlife.

What it does show you is that, as a person of faith and as a beneficiary of Christian education, I understand the importance of Christian education to a free society. 

The Coalition will always fight for parents to have the right to choose authentic, caring Christian school communities where students can learn and experience the marriage of faith and reason in accordance with the faith of their family.

Outside my own family, the most important influence on my life has been the Late Chief Rabbi of the Commonwealth, Lord Jonathan Sacks, who wrote

…freedom is won, not on the battlefield, nor in the political arena, nor in the courts, national or international, but in the human imagination and will. To defend a country, you need an army. But to defend a free society, you need schools. You need families and an educational system in which ideals are passed on from one generation to the next, and never lost, or despaired of, or obscured.

Teaching children is one of the greatest responsibilities of any community.

And that teaching is not just about transmitting knowledge, but about the shaping of an imagination and the igniting of love.

Education is about identity and belonging. It is about formation.

Your schools understand this well.

And this is one of many reasons why I am so glad that you are doing the work that you are doing.

Principles of Coalition Policy

Tonight, I want to tell you about the principles behind  the Coalition’s policy as it relates to Christian schools

I want you to know that the Coalition appreciate and supports your efforts. Your schools matter to us, and we will fight for the rights of your families and your schools.

Parental choice and religious freedom are absolute non-negotiable articles of faith for which we will go to the barricades to defend.

Christian schools matter.

They matter to the families you serve.

They matter to the communities you build.

They matter to the country we want to be.

They matter to the moral ecology of the nation.

And they matter to the Coalition.

What we won’t do

Unlike their ABC, we won’t pollute the minds of the next generation of students by broadcasting Jane Caro’s propaganda as fact.

Instead of calling you “wealthy” or “elite” like Caro does, your schools, independent schools, deserve praise for educating 22,538 aboriginal students, 187,300 students with disability and keeping fees across the sector on average at $6060 a year.

And far from being segregated enclaves as Caro claims many Christian schools educate non-Christians just like you educated me!

Unlike Labor we will never commission reports that call for the abolition of deductible gift recipient status for your schools.

Unlike Labor we will never indulge the fantasies of the Law Reform Commission who wanted to attack your very identity as Christian schools.

Unlike Labor we will never devise hit lists which seek to diminish your funding on the basis of the politics of envy.

Unlike Victorian Labor we will never put a special tax on families sending their children to Christian schools to pay for Labors out of control spending.

Unlike Labor we don’t think your families are part of a privileged elite.

Unlike the Greens we don’t believe you are a “leech on public education”, “wealthy” or “overfunded”.

We know many families sending their children to your schools come from low socioeconomic backgrounds and make real sacrifices for their children’s education because they value the type of education you provide.

Unlike Labor we will keep a lid on inflation.

Under Labor education costs have risen by 21%. And we know this cost price inflation is ultimately born by parents.

We know many of your schools keep your fees deliberately low and in a high inflation environment that is a struggle.

When Labor loses control of the economy and inflation is rampant this has an effect on schools.

In government schools, the increased costs are born by taxpayers but in independent schools, in Christian schools, they are born by families in higher fees.

According to analysis by the AEC group, Independent schools saved Australian taxpayers an estimated $12.51 billion in expenditure through recurrent education and capital costs.   

The government to hold its side of the bargain, it means keeping downward pressure on the drivers that increase the out-of-pocket expenses for families.

On energy prices. Insurance premiums. Land and capital costs. Regulatory complexity. Taxes. And all of the other things that make it more expensive to deliver a high-quality education that parents ultimately pay for.

Labor’s failure to keep a lid on those costs through endless government spending and increases in regulatory complexity ultimately just makes it harder for families who are doing the right thing.

So we will put downward pressure on inflation by reducing wasteful government spending and red tape.

Unlike Labor I don’t want to tell parents where to send their children.

Parents—not governments—know what’s best for their children.

Unlike the Minister for Education, I won’t tell you that I want one type of school to be “parents’ first choice”.

Instead, I want parents to have the widest choice possible. I want great Government, Catholic and Independent schools, and I want whatever choice parents make to be a good choice for their families

I believe that governments should respect the education choices families make.

And I believe that governments should acknowledge that more and more families are choosing schools like yours.

Because in the tradition of my political philosophy – unlike my political opponents who have consistently attacked religious freedom and religious schools – we believe in parental choice, institutional autonomy, freedom of religion, and that schools with a faith mission should be able to remain genuinely faithful to that mission.

When your religious freedom was under attack by Labor in the last Parliament, I went to the My Christian School rally that was held in Western Sydney in the electorate of the Federal Minister for Education, Jason Clare.

He didn’t show, and again, he is not here tonight, and that’s a shame

In fact, you might ask—has he ever been to one of your events? How often has he visited your schools as minister?

He is not the minister for public schools, or Catholic Schools, or Independent schools.

He is the minister for education and that means he should give you and your schools the time and respect you deserve.

Why Christian Schools matter

Christian Schools Australia represents 211 schools and almost 100,000 students across every state and territory.

I believe Christian Schools have a particular role to play in the world in bringing meaning into people’s lives. 

The search for meaning has never been stronger than it is today.

Your schools call people to love God and their neighbour as themselves.

Your schools provide a sense of identity and a purpose in life that is larger and more enduring than fulfilling the needs of the material self.

They bring people together from different backgrounds, united by a common faith, and build a sense of community. 

If people have never had a proper visit to a Christian school, they can’t truly appreciate its unique identity and mission.

A Christian school is one where Christianity infuses all that the school does.

It is not a mere founding legacy but a living, breathing embodiment of faith in action.

In Christian schools, the Bible and Christian teaching are not confined to religious services and religious education but infuse everything about the school: from the interaction of staff, both academic and professional, and students, to the maths lessons, to the sporting fields and stage performances.

Christian schools are about creating Christian communities where a life of faith is modelled to all the students and families across the wider school community.

It’s about showing what it means to live in accordance with your faith, regardless of whether you’re the gardener, the technology teacher or the school principal.

It is about culture.

It is about ethos.

It is the marriage of faith and reason.

It is about a deep understanding that faith intersects with all aspects of life – not just the study of holy texts.

That is your unique offering.

Religious freedom, to the extent that your rights to create caring Christian community schools are protected at law, is about allowing schools not just to teach but to model the doctrines of your faith, without the threat of litigation.

Religious schools want to educate, not litigate.

They care deeply about their students.

They take a pastoral approach.

As a Jewish person who has worked in Christian education, I know that working in a Christian institution is deeply satisfying. The mission is clear. You are aware that you are working for a cause much bigger than yourself.

I recently opened the new early learning centre at Pacific Hills, and I was speaking to a mother, who was an old girl and a current drama teacher.

Pacific Hills has produced some amazing performers over the years, and its standards in music and drama are exceptional. I asked this person how that had come to be.

She told me that “as a Christian school, we believe that God has given us gifts that we cannot completely understand.” She went on, “It is our role to honour God by allowing students to explore those gifts to the fullest extent possible.”

I thought that was a beautiful summation of what your schools are all about.

You can’t build that sort of culture by accident.

It is deliberate.

It is work done by you.

And it is valued by Coalition parliamentarians like me.

Your schools understand more deeply than most that formation is slow.

That attention, time, patience and humility grow character. These traits must be part of our classrooms and part of the daily practices of our children.

For decades, Christian schooling has rightly been defended on the basis of parental choice. It should continue to be defended on that basis.

But I want to say to you today that you have more to offer than just a choice in the marketplace of education.

You have treasures from your faith and your heritage that you can offer to your students, but also to an education system that is groping around for answers.

So dig deep.

Continue to engage with the challenges young people face and offer the best you can from the wells of your professional experience and your faith heritage.

That’s your mission, and the Coalition will always have your back in delivering it.