PM: Government Education Keeps Kids From Becoming “Far-Right”
The Australian Prime Minister has implied non-Government schools teach "hate and division" and expose students to "far-right" ideology.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has suggested that children educated outside the government system are more likely to be influenced by what he describes as “far-right ideology” and to learning attitudes of “hatred and division.”
Addressing the Australian Education Union in Melbourne, Albanese said children educated by the state are less likely to see religion, race, and gender than children raised in non-government schools:
“One of the things about public schools is that they’re open to everyone—open to everyone,” he said. “And that is about people being able to participate, of different faiths, different backgrounds, learn and engage from each other.”
“With the rise in some of the far-right ideological positions in recent times, one of the things about — and it’s the same, particularly if it’s an early learning centre, or in a primary school — kids don’t see race, religion, gender, anything else. They just see other kids,” he said.
“You know. Hatred and division is something that’s learned and so public schooling is so important and that engagement I think as we go forward can make a big difference.”
While the Prime Minister did not explicitly reference private, independent, or faith-based schools, his remarks positioned government education as a counterforce to dangerous ideologies he described as “divisive and hateful.” By linking state schooling with the prevention of learned hatred and the rejection of “far-right” ideology, he implicitly contrasted the government system with every alternative educational setting.
In Australia, independent and Christian schools educate a significant share of students alongside the government system. According to the most recent national data, about 36.6% of Australian students attend private, non-government schools, with the remaining 63.4% enrolled in government education.
Yet Albanese’s remarks imply that children educated outside the state-run system are more likely to be exposed to or influenced by “far-right ideology.” But what is the Prime Minister referring to, precisely? What, exactly, is the “hatred” that students in non-government schools are “learning”? Is it Christianity? Is it a biblical view of religion, race, and gender? What else could he possibly mean, if not Christian education?
Evidently, for the Prime Minister, government schooling is not merely about academic instruction—it is about ideological gatekeeping. In effect, state schools function as a form of indoctrination: determining what constitutes “hatred” or “far-right” thought and actively shaping Australia’s youth to avoid exposure to and influence by ideas deemed unacceptable by the government.
That is how the “far-right” label is consistently used. It has come to encompass everything a left‑wing government disapproves of and seeks to suppress. It’s how they’ve long treated all political opposition. Brand them “far-right,” brand the “far-right” dangerous, and then they have for themselves a pretext for banning anyone and anything they want.
So, how long will it be before “hateful, far-right, and divisive” non-government schools are on the chopping block?