Education Minister Christopher Pyne has appointed two firm critics of Labor’s education policy to lead a government review of the national school curriculum.
Pyne has chosen former Liberal Party Chief of Staff Kevin Donnelly and member of the Institute of Public Administration Australia Ken Wiltshire.
Kevin Donnelly is known for his anti-LGBT attitudes, having ignored issues such as homophobia, transphobia, bullying, HIV and STIs on the draft health and physical education curriculum. He has also made a number of remarks which have been labeled homophobic and racist.
In various online opinion pieces Donnelly has spoken out against the teaching of multiculturalism, gender roles, and LGBT rights.
“The reality is that governments and teacher groups around Australia, for some years, have pushed the rights of gays, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people on the basis that there is nothing wrong with such lifestyles.” In the same article, Donnelly argues that exploring multiple gender identities in schools is unnecessary because they “undermine heterosexuality” and “Most parents are happy for their children to develop a traditional sense of what it means to be male or female.”
Donnelly has also been dismissive of LGBT families, stating in a 2004 article that “gays, lesbians and same-sex couples with children are a very small minority and such groups do not represent the mainstream.”
Donnelly is also an opponent to the way multiculturalism is taught in schools. “students should be taught the benefits of our Anglo-Celtic culture: a culture strongly influenced by the Judeo-Christian tradition” he stated.
In an ironic twist, Donnelly has also previously spoken out against a national curriculum, stating that ”if the curriculum is centrally mandated, especially by the state, then it is very easy for it to be co-opted by whoever is in control at the time to further their own ends”.
Pyne has stated that he wants a curriculum that will “celebrate Australia” and says that Donnelly and Wiltshire will “bring a balanced approach”.
