‘Not in Our Children’s Best Interest’: Australian Opposition Leader Declares War on Radical Ideology

School students write slogans on their masks during a School Strike 4 Climate protest at Sydney Town Hall in Sydney, Australia, on May 6, 2022. (AAP Image/Nikki Short)

Australian Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has pledged to work with families to fight against the radical gender theory being taught in the classrooms that is contrary to the values of millions of Australians.

In his budget reply speech, delivered on Oct. 27, Dutton said the education system allowed ideological-driven advocates have “too much influence” over what is taught to children.

“Teaching a sanitised and selective version of history and the arts—and radical gender theory—is not in our children’s best interests,” he said.

“What is needed is a focus on making the basics a priority—reading, writing, and maths.”

Despite record levels of funding going into both public and private schools, Australia’s education standards are falling both on a relative and absolute level.

Dutton said Australian schools should help the next generations foster love and pride for the country, without sugarcoating the past.

“As a nation, we celebrate our wonderful Indigenous history,” he said. “But we need to be equally proud of our British heritage and our migrant story.”

He added that teachers also need to lead instruction in the classroom to help students “learn respect, discipline, and ‘how to think’ not ‘what to think.’”

Leader of the Opposition Peter Dutton delivers his Budget Reply Speech in the House of Representatives of Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, on Oct. 27, 2022. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas)

However, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the speech was the “worst budget reply” that he has seen during his time in politics.

“It was just all about him being stuck in the past, trying to rehash old arguments about climate change and about culture wars,” he told Sky News Australia.

Meanwhile, Bella d’Abrera, the director of the Foundations of Western Civilisation Program at the Institute of Public Affairs, welcomed Dutton’s “culture war call.”

“Peter Dutton has declared he will move the Liberals back into the political mainstream and that he will fight for the values of middle Australia,” she said.

“Up until now the views and concerns of Australian parents about what their children are taught have been ignored.”

D’Abrera criticised the previous Liberal governments for “surrendering” in Australia’s culture wars and allowing a “radical” national curriculum that taught young Australians to be ashamed of Australian and Western culture.

“It now looks as if Peter Dutton and the Liberals are waking up to what they allowed to happen,” she said.

“It is significant that the leader of the opposition specifically identified that Australians should be proud ‘of our British heritage and our migrant story.’”