Kegworth School posters slammed as ‘political indoctrination’ of children

One Nation MP Mark Latham says students at a school in Leichhardt are being “indoctrinated” and “misused” as they sign posters regarding Aboriginal history.

Young primary schoolers are being “indoctrinated” by a school project where they “authored” controversial political posters about “stolen land” and Aboriginal history, according to One Nation MP Mark Latham.

The signs, on public display on the school fence of the Kegworth Public School at Leichhardt, include contentious statements such as “the caring of Country has changed since the land was stolen”.

But Mr Latham, the chairman of the NSW Upper House Education Committee, says the perfect wording, grammar and the “intensely political messages” were unlikely to have come from children as young as five or six, particularly given NSW’s declining academic results.

One Nation leader in NSW Mark Latham. Picture: Richard Dobson

Other posters, some signed by kindergarten children, include the phrases: “Apologising for all we’ve done and accepting it was wrong.”

A Year 4 student said reconciliation meant “Aboriginal land was taken from them without permission and with violence” and “saying sorry for what was done”. A Year 3 student said “Aboriginal people stayed happy and spirited when the land was theirs”.

“No logical person would ever think the kids have actually said this themselves – it’s a ­misuse and exploitation of the kids for political purposes,” Mr Latham said. “These are highly contentious views that adults struggle with, they shouldn’t be thrust upon students and attributed to students.

“I don’t know how much a five-year-old can know about the complex debates about Australian history and reconciliation. It’s using the kids for a purpose that’s not valid.”

One of the posters on public display at Kegworth Public School, Leichhardt. Questions have been raised about the political content for children and the sophisticated language used by the youngsters.

Mr Latham has placed a question on notice to Education Minister Sarah Mitchell through parliament asking if the school’s teachers wrote out the statements and attached the student’s names to them.

Ms Mitchell said: “It is my understanding that the posters referred to were created by the students. The NSW Government supports reconciliation.”

The Education Department’s “Controversial Issues in Schools Policy” states that discussion of controversial issues in schools should allow “students to explore a range of viewpoints and not advance the interest of any particular group”. It also requires mat­erial to be “age appropriate”.