Mark Latham has had a fiery exchange with NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet after the state Government seemingly rejected the NSW One Nation leader’s proposed parental rights bill.
Latham tabled the Education Legislation Amendment Bill 2020 for consideration last month, which would ‘recognise the primacy of parents’ in relation to their children’s education. As such, the bill proposes that parents should not only be made aware of what is being taught to their children but should also be involved in determining what is taught in the classroom.
The bill comes in response to what Latham described as, “the worst thing I’ve seen in 30 years in politics.”
The State Premier seemingly downplayed the urgency of Latham’s concerns, saying: “I don’t necessarily agree that your black and white recommendation is the right one.” The premier went on to say his government will, eventually, “come out with a better one.”
Things quickly heated up after Perrottet then accused the NSW One Nation leader of simply being “focused on getting a headline.”
Latham said he’s been in contact with parents whose families are being “absolutely destroyed by schools keeping them in the dark” about significant developments with their children, including changing gender.
“It’s a family destroyer,” he said.
“Perrottet asked me why I was upset,” Latham later tweeted. “Because I’ve been trying to help mothers distraught at schools keeping them in the dark about their children, watching their family disintegrate as a result. My question was: Why isn’t Perrottet upset about this?”
Caldron Pool spoke with a former school teacher of nine years who left the public system after he was notified that a 16-year-old student had an abortion after falling pregnant to her 25-year-old boyfriend.
“I was allowed to know, but her parents weren’t,” he said. “The age of consent is 16, so parents have no reason to be involved. That was the official line. It’s criminal.”
A concerned parent told Caldron Pool that schools are breaking faith with parents, and as a result, many parents are now considering homeschooling their children.
“The past two years have shown us that for many parents, it is possible,” she said.
“These schools should be teaching our kids reading, writing, and arithmetic, not indoctrinating them with political and ideological concepts that not only have irreversible, life-changing impacts, but undermine and break parental bonds and loyalties.”
Latham went on to post a follow-up tweet, saying: “Some progress with Perrottet at Estimates. He’s now looking at a ban on gender fluidity teaching in NSW schools. He seems shocked at the class run for Year 2 students at Umina Beach Public School describing gender as ‘how you feel on the inside’ that ‘changes over time.’”
