Boys Will Be Boys, For Now

Newington College has become the latest battleground in the crusade against male-only spaces.

Written by Matthew Fischer, co-host of the Backbench Drivers podcast

Newington College, a boy’s private school in Sydney’s inner-west, has recently come under attack by alumni over a plan to accept female enrolment into the school by 2026. This follows similar decisions by fellow methodist/presbyterian school Clayfield College in Brisbane’s inner-north which recently expanded enrolment to include boys, and various Catholic schools such as Sydney’s formerly all-boys St Mary’s Cathedral College.

The revolt by the College’s old boys has garnered some 1,400 signatures on an online petition, with the school facing the possibility of losing millions in old boy’s contributions, as well as possible legal action from parents.

To the old boys of Newington, and similar schools, their college is more than just a school. It is a place of Christian formation, a place where they make life-long friends and fond memories, and a place where they can contribute to a tradition which they hope to entrust to their own sons and grandsons after them. To introduce girls into these colleges destroys this opportunity for their progeny.

To some, this reform may seem insignicant, however, what happens at schools like Newington will ripple through society for generations to come. As the graduates of schools like Newington often go on to inhabit the highest rungs of Australian business, political and social institutions, the question arises, do we want our future leaders to be moulded in an environment catered to them, or suffer the fate that typically befalls boys in co-ed schools? Would we prefer our future leaders to grow up in male-only spaces, where female sensibilities are often flaunted and where conservative, if not regressive, social positions are promoted? or do we want the next generation of leaders to be feminised by the introduction of girls into their schools?

Whatever your answers to the questions above, they may soon be irrelevant, as will be the actions of the Newington old boys and parents mentioned above. This is thanks to a report currently being produced by the Australian Law Reform Commission which is putting forward the ‘Religious Educational Institutions and Anti-Discrimination Laws: Consultation Paper (2023)’ outlining their intention to eliminate all single-sex schools.

The report proposes the repeal of Section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act (1984), which outlines all of the exemptions of the Act that apply to educational institutions established for religious purposes. The current legislation allows for religious institutions to ...

“... discriminate against another person on the ground of the other person’s sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy in connection with employment as a member of the staff of an educational institution that is conducted in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a particular religion or creed, if the rst‐mentioned person so discriminates in good faith in order to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents of that religion or creed.”

The report outlines the wish for the ALRC to repeal this section of the Sex Discrimination Act (1984) within propositions A and B. Both propositions would eliminate the ability of private schools to adhere to Christian teachings, by removing their ability to be selective with both hiring and enrollment policies, forcing schools to adhere to a policy of absolute inclusivity. The relevant excerpts from the report are presented below:

Proposition A: Discrimination against students on the grounds of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationships status, or pregnancy

1. Religious educational institutions should not be allowed to discriminate against students (current or prospective) on the grounds of their sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status, or pregnancy, or on the grounds that a family member or carer has one of those attributes.

Proposition B: Discrimination against staff on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationships status, or pregnancy

1. Religious educational institutions should not be allowed to discriminate against any staff (current or prospective) on the grounds of sex, sexual orientation, gender
identity, marital or relationship status, or pregnancy

This is yet another attack on Christian education, which I have catalogued extensively in my previous National Observer articles, examples include the attack on St. Ursula’s for its stance against homosexuality, and the Livingstone Christian College dress code, we can expect many more examples in the future.

To secure a Christian future for Australia, we must secure the future for individual Christians, and the uncompromising protection of our institutions.