Ruddock Report: religious schools and same sex attracted students

Posted on October 13, 2018 
Filed under Australia, Culture wars

“A media outlet here in Australia has released what it says are the 20 recommendations made by the Expert Panel on Religious Freedom chaired by the Hon Philip Ruddock. The Report itself was delivered to the Government in May 2018, but has not officially been released. Apparently the Government is planning to release the Report at the same time as announcing its official response.

The main issue which has generated controversy during the last week, in which there was a selective leaking of some of the recommendations, were proposals dealing with the rights of religious schools to take into account the sexual orientation of students in certain areas. The changes proposed were not radical changes to the existing law, but were presented as such when first publicised.

In this post I want to briefly set these recommendations in context and offer my preliminary response. …”

– At Law and Religion Australia, Assoc. Prof. Neil Foster provides some helpful background to the media reports.