Jane Foreman - Family First Legislative Council Candidate
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
14 June 2026
CAN A VICTORIAN STILL SAY WHAT THEY BELIEVE?
Pastors, parents, and teachers across Victoria are self-censoring for fear of vilification complaints. Jane Foreman says the erosion of free speech and religious freedom is not hypothetical — it is happening right now, in Victoria, to ordinary people.
The question is not rhetorical. Under the Allan government’s watch, Victoria has become one of the most legally hostile environments in Australia for citizens who hold mainstream views on family, faith, and biology. Anti-vilification laws, hate speech provisions, and the broad reach of Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Act have created a chilling effect that most Victorians feel but few dare to name publicly — for fear of proving the point.
Religious schools — the backbone of communities right across Victoria, serving hundreds of thousands of families — face ongoing legal pressure over their right to employ staff who share their values and ethos. A Christian school that declines to hire a teacher whose lifestyle contradicts its faith faces the real prospect of anti-discrimination action. The same tolerance being demanded of Christians, Jews, and Muslims is not extended to them
“Freedom of speech and freedom of religion are not fringe issues for a small minority. They are the foundations on which every other freedom rests. When governments start deciding which views are acceptable and which are not, we are all in danger — regardless of which side of any debate we sit on. I believe in a Victoria where you can speak your mind, live your faith, and raise your children according to your values, without fear of a knock on the door from a government bureaucrat.”
Family First’s Jane Foreman will work for:
the repeal of subjective vilification and hate speech provisions that criminalise everyday speech,
legislative protection for religious schools’ right to employ staff consistent with their ethos,
repealing Victoria's Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021, which criminalises pastoral counselling and prayer.
“Free speech only means something if it protects the speech you disagree with. Anything less is not freedom — it’s a permission slip.”
“The political class demands tolerance for every identity while showing zero tolerance for the mainstream Victorians of faith who simply wish to live by their convictions. Family First will change that — not by removing rights from anyone, but by restoring them to everyone.”
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About us:
About Family First
Family First exists to restore Australia by restoring the primacy of the family in public policy. This will be achieved through a grass roots political party which raises courageous voices in our nation’s parliaments. More details are available on our website: https://www.familyfirstparty.org.au/
