Family First National Director Lyle Shelton has slammed the Tasmanian Liberal Government for allowing a taxpayer-funded sex education program to secretly teach "gender identity ideology" to primary school children without their parents' knowledge or consent.
"With more than 1000 party supporters in Tasmania, we have been considering setting up there for some time. Today's news of the Liberals' betrayal of children and parents is further motivation.
The revelations, reported in The Australian, expose that Family Planning Tasmania's 'Growing Up Program' — funded 50 per cent by the Tasmanian taxpayer — has been teaching primary school children that "boys can have vaginas, girls can have penises, and that gender is nothing more than a feeling."
One Tasmanian mother, herself a teacher, told The Australian her family's life was "irrevocably changed" after her daughter undertook the program over six years.
"She came out of her bedroom and said that she was a boy," the mother said. "She'd never before dressed as a tomboy or anything like that … but she wanted a new name and now presents like a male."
Another parent said she only learned about the program on the day it began. When she asked to see the materials, she was told they were "confidential" and would not be shared.
Women Speak Tasmania director Dr Elizabeth Caballero said multiple parents had provided "consistent and troubling accounts highlighting a lack of transparency, age-inappropriate content, and the implicit teaching of gender ideology to primary school children."
Dr Caballero warned that withholding course materials from parents may contravene the National Child Safe Principles, which require open communication with families about issues affecting child safety and wellbeing.
Mr Shelton said:
"It is utterly unacceptable that the Liberal Government is funding a program that hides its content from parents and teaches metaphysical gender theories as fact. This is not education — it's indoctrination."
"The Liberals have betrayed parents. They've failed to protect children from harmful LGBTIQA+ gender-fluid ideology, and they've failed to uphold transparency and parental rights."
Family First says this scandal shows that Tasmania urgently needs a political force committed to restoring parental rights and protecting children.
"Family First is now seriously considering registering in Tasmania," Mr Shelton said. "When even the Liberals capitulate to gender ideology, Tasmanian families are left without a voice. Family First will not stand by while governments allow activist organisations to groom children behind closed doors.
"Even a Liberal government in Tasmania is allowing the Victorianisation of the state," Mr Shelton said. "You'd expect this kind of secrecy and radical ideology under Labor in Victoria, not from a supposedly conservative government."
Mr Shelton said Family First would continue to campaign nationally to abolish LGBTIQA+ gender ideology in schools and childcare centres.
"The secrecy surrounding this program should alarm every parent in Tasmania," Mr Shelton said. "It's time for transparency, truth, and the protection of our children's innocence."
