Aboriginal Spirituality And PoliticS Taught Without Consent

Kids Are Being Subjected To Government Mandated Spiritual Instruction

The current Australian education system is beholden to gaining 'permission' and 'guidance' from Aboriginal Elders and is required to infuse their perspectives into every aspect of education.

Schools are explicitly instructed to consult with Elders on every school matter, because after all we are all on 'their land' and therefore when you are only a guest in someone's home, you must ask permission to do anything in that home and must follow their rules.

We stole their children and oppressed them, not our ancestors, we did it, personally, and must apologise constantly and admit how awful we are, until the end of time. That's how we achieve 'reconciliation' according to the ideology behind these events.

This is effectively the view being taught to preschool children who don't even understand yet what it means to belong to a country as a natural born citizen. This guilt trip also applies to immigrants, who by some mind bending mental gymnastics are also subject to the colonial guilt 'educational' sessions hosted during NAIDOC Week and 'Sorry Day' across virtually every Australian school, which yes, even includes preschools.

The EYLF instructs preschool educators to infuse these tenets into all aspects of teaching:

ancestral knowledges are ways of knowing
and understanding shared through history and
culture, in the written, oral and spiritual traditions
of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

This may sound innocuous at surface level but these 'ways of knowing' include routine visits from extra-curricular Elders and Aboriginal organisations that are entirely government funded to visit preschools and primary schools, on a weekly basis in some cases, to teach Aboriginal politics and spirituality to small children.

This even occurs in schools without a single Aboriginal child and there is no opt-out available for the parents of any child who is forced to participate in these courses.

These extra-curricular courses do not just contain 'cultural' practices but are explicitly pushing spiritual and political agendas to children who are barely out of wearing nappies. Some of the activities conducted in these visits are clearly religious in nature such as explicit teachings about dreamtime belief systems, referring to 'Country' as a deity or spiritual entity, discussion about conversing with 'ancestor spirits' all followed by the ritual painting of children's faces in ceremonial patterns, and tribal dances that are a part of real spiritual ceremonies.

This is, by any reasonable definition, institution led religious instruction that's been clothed in the deceptive 'culture' umbrella that everyone views as harmless. This is how they sneak it into your child's classroom without raising alarms about the religious and political indoctrination of small children.

The Department’s 'Controversial Issues in Schools' policy requires that where it is known that such issues are likely to be addressed, such as when Aboriginal Elder-led groups enter the school grounds for incursion events, parents must be informed in the consent form.

Similarly, as stated in the 'Other activities of a religious nature' policy for events containing religious or spiritual elements, parents are to be informed of the nature of the event and provided withdrawal options and alternative supervision. This also does not occur despite the policy stating that schools need to:

• inform parents and carers of the nature of the event, and the option to withdraw their child from any general religious education (Education Act 1990 [NSW], section 33)

• provide alternative activities or supervision in another area of the school for students not participating.

From birth to age five when these specific EYLF policies apply, most children have not even been exposed to the concept of spirits or God and their very first encounter with these concepts is mandated to occur through Aboriginal spiritual beliefs taught to them in preschool. Not their parents, not their church, the supposedly secular preschool system and through government mandated education frameworks.

Then, in the MTOP framework for children aged 5-13, the term 'Country' is described (accurately) as being inherently tied to the spiritual beliefs of Aboriginal people and that belief system is then made mandatory for all children in the very same paragraph.

‘All children and young people benefit from learning on Country and from Country.

For Aboriginal andTorres Strait Islander children and young people,

their spirituality is connected to Country, and the connection is strong.

It is in their relationships and how they communicate with their ancestors,

families, kinship systems and communities.

It is in their connection to the land – the trees, waterholes, and mountains.’

'Country' in Aboriginal belief systems is effectively a deity or supreme spiritual entity and relationship to it is equivalent to the relationship with God that peoples of major religions engage in as part of their belief system. Therefore, forcing children to engage with 'Country' as a living spiritual entity is equivalent to forcing religious instruction on the entire Australian child population.

Just swap those terms out for a moment as a thought exercise:

All children and young people benefit from learning about Jesus and from Jesus.

For Caucasian and European children and young people, their spirituality is

connected to Jesus, and the connection is strong.

It is in their relationships and how they communicate with Jesus,

the Saints, church faculty and Christian communities.

It is in their connection to the Eucharist – the body, the blood, and the divinity of God.

Does this sound religious to you?

Just Turn A Blind Eye To Religous Instruction Because… Colonial Guilt, OK?

With all other major belief systems, it is absolutely not allowed to bring a priest or representative of the faith in to a school classroom to teach children their particular religion on school premises.

Any references to major religious calendar events are watered down to remove their core spiritual meanings, such as using the Easter bunny at Easter, Santa at Christmas, celebrations of 'light' in Diwali, and any other child-friendly versions of mainstream religions.

In a multicultural country this is an acceptable middle ground as it draws the line well enough between what children are experiencing at home and in their culture and keeping things age-appropriate in a school setting. I think most reasonable people are fiine with this practice.

However, when it comes to Aboriginal spirituality, it is not watered down in the same way, the actual dreamtime beliefs are taught to preschoolers. The actual spiritual ceremonies are conducted in front of the entire school and presented to children as important community events that everyone must take part in.

For context, schools are not allowed to promote religious instruction from any religion to children without explicit consent or it being contained within an SRE (Special Religious Education) unit at school that children's parents must sign them up for. This rule is cleverly avoided by labelling Aboriginal content 'cultural' and making it difficult for parents to object to this lest they be viewed as 'racist' but the fact is that these ceremonies are religious in nature by definition and as described by Aboriginal people themselves.

Smoking ceremonies, which are explicitly religious and address ancestral spirits and 'Country' directly, are made into whole-school events to be celebrated. No permission is sought from parents and no alternative activities are provided despite this being an explicit provision in the 'Controversial Issues in Schools' and 'Other activities of a religious nature' policies.

A child's attendance in a religious ceremony is equivalent to participation in that ceremony, regardless of your taking part in the ritual being performed on stage.

If this is not religious instruction, I don't know what is.

The Aboriginal-led Ngarrngga curriculum resource describes smoking ceremonies this way:

"Smoking ceremonies have been performed by some Aboriginal Peoples for thousands of years to cleanse people and places of bad spirits and to treat sickness."

It also states:

"They are regarded as an important part of connecting people to Country and keeping them safe from the dangerous powers of the spiritual beings residing in the land and waters."

"These ceremonies are used to connect with ancestors and the spiritual realm, seeking protection."

An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Catholic community document explaining smoking ceremonies states they are used for:

"Spirit or Health healing"

"To warn off bad spirits on land or people"

"Blessings of safe passage when entering and travelling on Country"

This sounds like a spiritual belief system, doesn't it?

If you’re not sorry now, you will be…

Then there's the political aspect which is currently a government sponsored indoctrination program aimed at small children. With national events such as 'Sorry Day' and NAIDOC week among others, children are not just exposed to the above spiritual and religious content but are then infused with political views that are designed to make them feel shame for being in their country of birth or residence.

Preschool aged children are taught about adult concepts such as colonisation and the stolen generation at an age where they simply cannot understand what these things mean. These are children at the developmental age where they have no cognitive capacity to ingest these complex topics and, we believe, that is by design.

The powers that be seem to wish for every Australian child to develop an internal sense of guilt over the occupation of this land and to treat themselves and their own ancestors from any other nation as thieves and murderers so they might grow up to feel the need to constantly apologise for their presence in their own homeland.

Do you think this is an exaggeration? Here is the direct result of the teachings from NAIDOC week 2025. This is how this 4-year-old interpreted the teachings pushed on him in that week of 'culture' when asked what he learned that week.

This response was highlighted on a wall mural as one of the best responses:

A wall chart from a preschool asking children what ‘Reconciliation is…’ at the end of NAIDOC Week.

This is deeply inappropriate from so many angles; from a developmental perspective this is extremely harmful to install a sense of guilt and shame into a child who cannot process this information in any positive way. It can only lead to internalised guilt, but since he had nothing to do with the actual proposed crime in the first place, the guilt is not even linked to an action he committed and therefore cannot be processed emotionally or let go through any normal psychological means.

The result is a feeling of shame that is not earned, and a sense of not belonging in his own home country, which is unfair and borders on abuse considering the long-term effects this can have on a child's wellbeing.

Since these events are often school-wide and effectively compulsory, despite being demonstrably political and spiritual in nature, this violates both basic parental rights and guidance from the Controversial Issues in Schools policy which states that any study of these issues must:

• not be intended to advance the interest of any particular group, political or otherwise.

I don’t think any reasonable person would try to claim that the content here is not based around a political issue, yet it is being taught to preschool children as a mandatory, auditable, aspect of their education and is shaping their views and sense of belonging in their own home country. This is not acceptable.

I Don’t Like This but What can be done?

The conclusion seems clear, we need to remove all spiritual and political instruction from preschool and primary schools. Children do not need to learn about these topics and should not be exposed to Aboriginal spirituality without consent having been explicitly given.

Any learning about colonisation and the stolen generation should not begin, at minimum, until high school. This would allow children to develop without the government imposing its political views and without being taught tribal perspectives on spirituality before they are even taught their own family's values and belief system.

As things stand now, what is being taught in schools is the definition of indoctrination, which is the government pushing belief systems on children without parental consent and with the explicit aim of shaping children to grow up to adhere to their party's specific political agendas.

There is nothing wrong with showing kids some actual Aboriginal culture at an appropriate age, the beautiful instruments, the art, the food, and so forth, but the spiritual and political narratives and enforced stance of having to ask permission from a minority population on how to educate an entire country of children who come from a huge variety of cultures is madness.

This 'way of being' is only serving to create further resentment between both groups. We must respect one another but not force our views on the other and most importantly, we must keep the children out of this at all costs because they are the ones paying the price and will carry the effects of this for the rest of their lives.

It is a parent’s right to guide the formation and values of their childen, not the school, not the government. What is being doing is obvious identity, values, and spiritual formation, and is in violation of the rights of parents Australia-wide regardless of what they try to spin it as.

We need to not be afraid to raise this with our schools, Principals in particular hold unfathomable power at the moment to make any distinction they like regarding school content, gender transitions of kids in schools, and which rights a parent does and does not have.

Make schools aware that you are not happy with the state of things by putting it in writing and forcing written responses from Principals and staff. Do not accept phone calls or in-person meetings to discuss these matters unless they also supply a written breakdown because this is how they hide what they are doing.

Share these responses here. Shine a light on what is being done so that more people can become aware and voice their concerns so we might change this before more children fall under the spell of this worldview that we did not consent to them being indoctrinated with.

Bureaucracy is their language.

Learn it.

Use it.

Turn it against them.