Catholic Education Tasmania cops heat over refusal to employ people in same-sex relationships to senior positions

The head of Catholic Education Tasmania and Archbishop Julian Porteous are under fire for refusing to employ people in same-sex relationships to senior positions in Catholic schools.

Rodney Croome, Equality Tasmania spokesman, has blasted the leadership of Tasmania’s Catholic Church for refusing to recruit people in same-sex or de facto relationships to senior leadership positions in the Catholic school system. Picture: Linda Higginson

Catholic Education Tasmania’s admission that it refuses to recruit people in same-sex or de facto relationships to senior positions has drawn the ire of a leading LGBTQIA+ advocate, who claims the hiring practices are in breach of state anti-discrimination laws.

In a Talking Point in today’s Mercury, Equality Tasmania spokesman Rodney Croome has hit out at the leadership of Catholic Education Tasmania, including Archbishop Julian Porteous, for comments made in the course of a parliamentary inquiry into school bullying earlier this month.

During the hearing on February 14, Archbishop Porteous and Catholic Education Tasmania (CET) executive director, Dr Gerard Gaskin, spoke about the employment criteria for senior leadership positions – such as principals and deputy principals – within the state’s 38 Catholic schools.

Catholic Education Tasmania executive director Gerard Gaskin. Picture: Supplied

Dr Gaskin said CET abided by a Vatican-issued document setting out the expectations “that the Catholic Church has for those who teach in our system”.

He told the hearing that if a person was in a same-sex or de facto relationship, this would “preclude them from applying for the position”.

Mr Croome said that it seemed “pretty clear to me” that Tasmanian Catholic schools were “operating unlawfully under instructions that may also breach the law”.

“Twenty-six years ago Tasmania’s law-makers passed a law prohibiting discrimination against vulnerable students and hardworking teachers in faith-based schools,” he said.

“It’s time our current political leaders honoured that achievement by ensuring all schools abide by the Anti-Discrimination Act.”

Archbishop Porteous told the Mercury that Catholic schools “respect and uphold the dignity of every student” and that CET complied with “all relevant state and federal legislation”.

“Everyone would accept that an organisation would choose leadership that supports and advances the ethos of their organisation,” he said.

Archbishop Julian Porteous. Picture: Chris Kidd

“Any political party would choose leaders whose beliefs reflect the ideals of the party. So, it should not be surprising that a Catholic school would choose leaders that advance the mission of the school.”

The church relies on a religious freedom exemption in the federal Sex Discrimination Act when making its hiring decisions for senior leadership positions but the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act seeks to prevent faith-based schools from discriminating on the basis of a student or teacher’s sexual orientation, relationship status, or gender identity.

Mr Croome said the Sex Discrimination Act explicitly stated that the federal legislation is “not intended to exclude or limit the operation of a law of a state or territory”.

Tasmania’s acting Anti-Discrimination Commissioner, Pia Saturno, said it was “important to note” that state and territory anti-discrimination laws “run concurrently” with federal legislation.

Rodney Croome of Equality Tasmania.

A 2023 report produced by the Australian Law Reform Commission stated that if state laws provided greater protection from discrimination than the Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act “religious educational institutions in that state … must comply with the more restrictive state or territory law”.

Concerned Catholics Tasmania (CCT), a group of 174 registered members who oppose the current leadership of the church, has also written to the Archbishop to express its alarm about perceived cultural issues within Catholic schools.

CCT chair Susan Chen said school staff had contacted the group “raising concerns about the conservative nature of the senior leadership of [CET]” and that “enforcing … [conservative] views has developed a culture of fear”.

In a reply to Ms Chen in December, Archbishop Porteous said CET had recently been audited by education regulators and “received a very positive report”.

Originally published as Catholic Education Tasmania cops heat over refusal to employ people in same-sex relationships to senior positions