Legal advice says “Safe Schools” could be a legal minefield for schools & governmentSchools that promote and instruct students on chest
binding, penis tucking and gender dysphoria could be sued decades into the
future by students who suffer harm from the advice, according to legal advice
obtained by the Australian Christian Lobby.
Around
500 schools with 330,000 students are signed up to the so-called Safe Schools
Coalition Australia which says children must have access to this extreme
material.
Australian
Christian Lobby spokesperson Wendy Francis said the $8 million federally-funded
government program could create a legal minefield for the government, schools
and teachers who may be vulnerable to litigation.
She
welcomed the opposition to SSCA that was voiced today by Deputy Prime Minister
Barnaby Joyce, who joined coalition colleagues in expressing concerns commonly
held by many federal and state parliamentarians.
“It
is irresponsible for the Government to be funding this ideologically-driven
program when government-run schools could be hit by potential litigation
claims,” Ms Francis said.
“The
program, through its Minus 18 affiliate and the cobranded resource “OMG I’m
Trans’, teaches young girls seven ways to bind their chests and boys to tuck
their penises, which by Safe Schools’ own admission is dangerous and can cause
long term physical damage.
“Legal
advice to ACL has warned that State Government’s face potential liability for
endorsing and promoting material distributed by the Safe Schools Coalition
Australia.
“As
with liability of school authorities for cyber bulling we may well see
litigation occur in the future.”
The
legal brief obtained by ACL states: “The school authority owes a duty of care to
its students. The duty is a non-delegable duty. That is, it is not sufficient
for a school authority to say that it employed competent teachers. The authority
has the legal duty to ensure that reasonable care is taken of the
students.”
It
goes on to state: “Further the liability of the school is not dependent on
whether the relevant incident occurred in school hours or on school
premises.”
Ms
Francis said SSCA had a duty of care and must explain to schools that are taking
on the program that it carried a litigation risk.
“There
is enough to indicate that school authorities which run the SSCA program should
be aware of, and take steps to protect themselves from, the risk of claims being
made against them.
“Perhaps
more importantly, they should consider whether their pupils are protected from
possible harm.
“As
with child sexual abuse claims, the school authority may only be notified of
claims many years after the relevant events.”
Ms
Francis said it was time for Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to heed the advice
of his colleagues and ensure the government is protected from a potential legal
minefield, but more importantly that children are not damaged by following the
advice contained in the program.
“We
call on State Parliaments and the Federal Parliament to hold an urgent review
into Safe Schools and to remove this harmful material immediately,” Ms Francis
said.
“The
Commonwealth Government should cancel its contracts funding Safe Schools because
it is not safe.
“Who
is liable if a child damages themselves or later has surgery they
regret?
“A
thorough investigation must be undertaken to see how this has slipped into our
school system.” <저작권자 ⓒ christianreview 무단전재 및 재배포 금지>
|
|