Photo by Flickr user Sam T

On the night of March 15, Western Australian academic Bill Louden met with 30 Coalition MPs, and presented them his confidential review of the embattled national Safe Schools Coalition program. Sources with knowledge of the closed door session told VICE that although Louden proposed some structural changes, he recommended the program retain its federal funding.

The Safe Schools Coalition is a taxpayer funded program, which offers support services for LGBTI youth in Australian schools. Recently, it has come under fire from conservative MPs and Christian lobby groups who feel it exposes young people to inappropriate information. This has prompted the government to launch an independent review into its activities.

Bill Louden has extensive experience with school programs as he’s worked with the Western Australian Curriculum Council and as a curriculum studies academic. Currently, he is an Emeritus Professor of Education at the University of Western Australia.

For the moment he’s declined to publicly comment on the findings of his inquiry. A spokesperson for Education Minister Simon Birmingham also told VICE that the details of last night’s briefing will not be released to the public.

Instead, George Christensen, the federal member for Dawson in Queensland, told us that Louden’s review had raised issues with some aspects of the Safe Schools program, but he felt its recommendations had not gone far enough.

“My concerns relate to the online material that is recommended to students out of the Safe Schools program, and the appropriateness of the resources it recommends to teachers. And I have to say neither of those concerns were allayed by the outcome of the review. In fact, they were confirmed.”

To illustrate his concerns with the Safe School program, he shared a screenshot from the website of LGBTQI youth support website Minus 18 with VICE, which was passed on to him by a concerned parent in his electorate. It depicts an adult interacting with underage users of a chatroom on the site.

“Quite clearly there are people who are adults mixing with minors in this chatroom. It’s meant to be a safe place young people can go to. My great concern is that there is potential for child sex offenders or predators to try and entrap someone,” he said.

“So that makes the whole Safe Schools regime a misnomer. If that’s the kind of thing it’s promoting, it’s not a Safe Schools program, it’s a very Unsafe Schools program.”

Speaking to VICE, a representative from the Safe Schools Coalition said in response that while Minus 18 has made use of Safe Schools resources in the past, the organisation, its website and chatroom are unaffiliated with the taxpayer-funded Coalition.

Christensen is joining forces with fellow MP Cory Bernardi to push for a parliamentary inquiry into the Safe Schools program. “We’ve had inquiries into issues far less controversial,” he said. “In the interim, all Safe Schools services should be suspended.”

A spokesperson for Education Minister Simon Birmingham said the government is still considering its response to Louden’s review, and will issue a formal statement in time.

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