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Christian schools in Western Australia can currently hire staff who share their faith. Under reforms flagged by the Cook Government, they may lose that protection wherever faith is not deemed an “inherent requirement” of the role.

Western Australian MP Maryka Groenewald has launched a campaign to protect the freedom of Christian schools to prefer Christian staff. Her campaign, My Christian School Story, comes in response to a promised overhaul of the state’s Equal Opportunity Act which is expected before year’s end.

Groenewald, who leads the Australian Christians, told supporters on Wednesday that Christian schools face “real pressure” to “surrender something precious” — “the freedom to employ staff who genuinely share, live and pass on the faith”.

At present, Christian schools in WA can choose staff who share their beliefs thanks to protections in Section 73 of the state’s Equal Opportunity Act.

In February, Labor Premier Roger Cook announced that amendments to the Act would be introduced this year. The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) expects those amendments will draw on a 2022 Law Reform Commission review that urged narrower protections for religious schools.

Groenewald’s Case

Groenewald told The Daily Declaration that the changes would hold Christian schools to a standard that MPs themselves are not held to. “We could live in a state where MPs can make staffing decisions based on values and worldview, but schools can’t,” she said. “That would be completely unacceptable.”

Groenewald said her office has been involved in deliberations and meeting with stakeholders since the changes were first proposed. The difference now, she said, is that amendments could be put to Parliament at any time.

Groenewald has warned that, if the protections are narrowed, “Christian schools risk becoming Christian in name only.”

“If schools’ freedom of association is abolished, they will no longer truly be Christian,” she said.

The freedoms currently protected, she said, allow staff to “pray together and support students and each other in a faith-filled, biblical environment.”

Groenewald’s campaign website hosts a tool that converts supporters’ accounts of Christian schooling into emails addressed to key MPs. The page asks parents, staff and former students what “an authentically and distinctively Christian school experience” has meant to them. Supporters then review their email before sending it from their own address.

Her aim, she said, is to show the Government what is at stake if it gets Christian school communities offside. “I want to help key decision makers in the WA Labor Government understand the value and impact of Christian education,” she said.

What the Commission Recommended

The Commission’s review made 163 recommendations. Then-Attorney General John Quigley said the McGowan Government had “broadly accepted” them. Among the reforms that Quigley flagged in 2022 was “strengthening equal opportunity protections for LGBTIQA+ staff and students in religious schools”.

Recommendation 79 would permit faith-based hiring only where faith is an “inherent requirement” of a particular job. The preference must also be “reasonable and proportionate”. According to Vision Christian Media, schools would need to justify faith requirements for each position, from maths teacher and sports coach to office manager.

The ACL has also flagged recommendations that would create new protections for a person’s claimed gender identity and lawful sexual activity. A separate recommendation would only allow schools to apply faith-based criteria to students at the time of enrolment, not after, the ACL reported.

Groenewald’s Record in Parliament

Groenewald has urged supporters to keep asking MPs about their party’s stance on the proposed changes. Graduation season, she wrote, is “the perfect time for MPs to assure you and your families where they stand.”

The campaign follows Groenewald’s question to the Legislative Council on 9 June. She cited the Australian Christian Freedom Index, which found that 92 per cent of Christians surveyed feel their faith is now riskier to live out than five years ago. The Index also flagged the Cook Government’s commitment to limit hiring and enrolment decisions based on beliefs about marriage and sexuality.

When Groenewald asked whether the Government would commit to protecting Christians’ right to express their faith freely, Parliamentary Secretary Dan Caddy, answering for Attorney General Dr Tony Buti, avoided making a commitment and instead pledged “balance” for the state’s “diverse” population.

Groenewald is the first Australian Christians MP elected to any Australian parliament and has pressed the issue since taking her seat in 2025. She has defended Christian schools’ hiring protections ever since, naming threats to it among her concerns in her maiden speech.

The Cook Government has not yet introduced its bill or released a draft. Until it does, Groenewald is asking supporters to share the My Christian School Story campaign with friends, relatives, former students and school staff.

She told supporters that the more MPs hear from Christian school communities, “the harder those experiences will be to overlook.”

Speaking with The Daily Declaration, she added, “I hope everyone who has had a positive experience with Christian education will participate!”

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