The Leftists are "removing that parental choice", and attacking the family: the hallmark of communism.

Whether Australia can avoid full-blown communism is up to voters. But given that our ridiculous preferential voting system has seen an extreme Left government in power with less than a third of the primary vote; the apathetic acceptance of that, and the moribund Opposition, our future freedoms are on the line.

However, parents are more likely to desire escape from wokness and sexual perversions for their children than they are interested in a "higher authority”. Given that the 'authority' is more and more scorned in Australia, any mention of it is like a red rag to a bull to the extreme Leftists making the rules these days.

The more Christians talk about their faith, the harder the Left will come for them. Let concerned parents concentrate on a better education as the reason for escaping the brainwashing factories of the Leftist state.

Softly, softly is the way to go, and prayer for a rout of current politicians.

Support totally, faith schools hiring faith staff. Oppose, them simultaneously getting very similar public funding to non-faith schools.

Which latter can't get massive parent top-ups, have to take all on comers, can't hire and fire staff or students as they please, and so on.

As clear as anything, the organised-religion racket is linked to two-tier education for two-tier outcomes. As clear as anything, they reckon us heathens ought to butt out and look the other way. We never will.

PS: I might have a bit more sympathy, if religious schools didn't brainwash kids with climate change and identity politics. But many do.

Disagree, it's a good thing to remove the brainwashing that many faith-based schools' practise.

And the root cause of much conflict and bloodbaths.

Parents can still inculcate their kids and send them to Sunday school. I see no real issue here.
Alan B.

I believe that one goal of schools should be the encouraging of the ability to reason. I also believe that faith is an enemy to reason and will shrivel and die if subjected to reason. However, in a democratic society, we have the right to reject reason, but students are deprived if they do not have the knowledge that it exists.

Not true Steve S, my lady & I established & ran the text book hire scheme for our nearest state high school P&C association for over a decade. With a lot of help from other parents, but very little from teachers, we put an average of $160.000PA into the schools budget. This was only one of the fund raising efforts by local parents. We have found brainwashing is much more prolific at state schools in our experience.

Interestingly my kids went through that school, requiring considerable home effort & private coaching to make up for the many deficient teachers the education department & union imposed on them.

All of them are now paying for faith based schools for my grand kids, although none of them are members of the faith of the schools they are attending. They are at these schools to avoid the lousy teaching standards they suffered at that state school, & for the better behavior standards these schools insist on. Only someone with no recent experience could prefer state schools for their kids.

Typical dishonest offering re so called faith based "education" and culture altogether.

All "education" whether secular or so called faith based is political in its methods, goals and outcomes.

To claim that "faith" based education is based on appeal to a "higher authority" is a political gambit, especially (perhaps) when the author brings out the usual right-wing religious gambit about the perils of neo-Marxism.

Notice too that the author appeals to this higher authority as a male deity.
Rather than using the manipulative word faith it would be more honest if the proponents of such a gambit used the words religious beliefs, because that is what they are - mere beliefs.
Beliefs about what we are as human beings and the nature of Reality altogether which are quite childish, even infantile. Mommy-daddy beliefs were formulated long ago in the child-hood era of human beings, most of which are no longer tenable, and were (at best) only partially true.

Using the word faith explicitly implies that the proponents of such should enjoy special privileges not available to religious non-believers.

Of course there are many and varied version of religious beliefs which quite often contradict each other even within the same tradition. Beliefs which have historically and now in present-time too been the source of very deadly political conflicts - and very deadly conflicts to come too.
Are the religious beliefs of a Christian compatible with those of a Muslim, a Jew, a Hindu, a Buddhist etc etc? Which tells us that all mere religious beliefs are culture bound and quite often xenophobic in the nature and political intentions.