Teachers in New South Wales could be more easily dismissed for hate speech under amendments to school codes of conduct introduced by the Minns government.
The NSW government says it has amended school codes of conduct to explicitly prohibit hate speech across all education sectors, covering more than 3,000 government, independent and Catholic schools. The changes take effect from today and apply to all school staff, including principals.
The government said the amendments align school conduct rules with hate speech legislation passed by the NSW and Commonwealth parliaments. However, it remains unclear what threshold would trigger dismissal in individual cases.
Premier Chris Minns told radio station 2GB the changes were prompted by cases where the government believed it was unable to act after teachers were accused of engaging in hate speech.
“If you participate in hate speech, even if it’s not on the school grounds, then you’re not the kind of person that we want shaping young minds,” Mr Minns said.
As NSW Parliament resumes today, attention is also expected to focus on the response to the Bondi massacre. The NSW opposition has flagged legislation requiring universities and government agencies to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.
