Australian politician Mark Latham, the leader of the New South Wales (NSW) state branch of the right-leaning One Nation party, has raised concerns about the increasing presence of “left-wing politics and woke concepts” being taught in schools, including on transgender topics, which he said amounts to “child abuse.”
“There’s a lot of left-wing politics and woke concepts that have snuck into our schools, and parents should have a right to say, ‘well, that’s unacceptable, and legally, I’m taking my child out of that class,’” Latham told The Epoch Times.
Latham said concerned parents have brought “a whole range of complaints” to him about school teaching materials on progressive topics that contradict their families’ moral and ethical values.
Some of the classroom topics raising the ire of parents are gender studies, Marxist movements like Black Lives Matter, and genocidal colonial figures from Australia’s history.
The proposed legislation, introduced in 2020, has been rejected by the state NSW Parliament and NSW education unions, but Latham said he would continue to muster parliamentary support.
At an inquiry chaired by Latham in September 2021, the bill faced pushback from Greens MP David Shoebridge and Labor MP Anthony D’Adam, but received support from religious advocates and some other state parliamentarians including government MP Scott Farlow and Labor MP Courtney Houssos.
If passed, the bill would have prohibited schools and teachers from teaching gender fluidity concepts, allow parents to be consulted at the beginning of the school year on what their children will learn, ban students from playing in high school sports team that does not correspond with their biological sex, ask trans students to undergo full medical transition to use toilets aligning with their identified gender, and ban school’s practice to keep students’ new gender identity a secret from their parents.
The proposal states that: “schools must recognise that parents are primarily responsible for the development and formation of moral and ethical standards and social and political values in their children.”
“Every child has the right to receive an education of the highest quality, and the NSW government supports the right of every student and teacher to be themselves at school and to fulfil their potential,” she said. “NSW schools have legal obligations to protect and support students, including those who are same-sex attracted or transgender.”
“Teachers and parents should be partners in providing the best educational opportunities to students. One Nation’s Bill would instead pit parents against schools and teachers, and fail to put students first,” Gavrielatos said.
But Latham rejects the idea that his proposed legislation would “disadvantage” any student, among which are cohorts as young as seven- or eight-years-old. Instead, he has asserted that it is about protecting children from confusing gender ideology that he cannot fathom being “a legitimate part of the education system.”
“If adults want to change their gender every other day, that’s their business. But if they inflict this transgender ideology upon little kids, it is child abuse,” he said.
“I don’t see how this has got anything to do with discrimination. This is basic child welfare and child protection question. And also a basic question about what is the true and proper role of a school.”
Parents would be “horrified” to know that the state government’s policy is to “keep parents in the dark” if their children identify with a different gender or undergo medical gender transition procedures. He warned this would ”only break up the family unit and cause untold problems.”
“Transgender is unique in the medical world, where it’s the only example where the patient gets to diagnose themselves,” Latham added. “And if they’re allowed to separate themselves from parents, and come under negative influences at the school. That can only end badly.”
