The peak body for Catholic schools in Australia has told the Senate that “Catholic schools should be free to be Catholic” and only hire staff who “operate in sympathy with the faith which employs them”, in the ongoing fight over the Coalition’s controversial religious freedom laws.

Executive director of the National Catholic Education Commission (NCEC) Jacinta Collins told the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights on Tuesday that such policies were aimed at protecting religious rights rather than discriminating against those who did not hold them.