They said what?

Jones: I take it you do believe in evolution, then? Costello: Oh, yes. Look, you know, you shouldn't overstate the influence that kids are under. I think they're under a whole powerload of bad influences, frankly, that come from the media, through some forms of rap music, and actually, a bit of counterbalancing the other way may actually even the playing field a bit.

Jones: A bit of creationism can't hurt: is that what you're saying?

Costello: Well, look, they'll make up their own minds. I think that they'll principally get their views on biology from their teachers in school, and they'll principally get their views on faith from their pastors, and the fact that different people have different views, I don't see as a dangerous thing. In an open society where kids are encouraged to question and learn, hearing different views doesn't do them too much damage.

Peter Costello interviewed by Tony Jones on Lateline after his address to the Hillsong convention at the SuperDome, July 4

Abortion is the slavery debate of our time.

Barnaby Joyce's first speech to the Senate, (Hansard, August 16)

If your teacher's carrying that bias it tends to get passed on...Anti-Americanism can easily morph into anti-Westernism. Particularly you've seen that with terrorists. They don't really draw distinctions between Americans or Britons or Australians; they just like to hit anybody who they consider to be part of the West.

Peter Costello on teachers carrying left-wing ideological baggage from the 1970s (Sydney Morning Herald, August 21)

Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson has refused to back away from his warnings that new citizens must accept Australia's founding values, or clear off.

"If people don't want to accept and embrace those values, then they ought to clear off. I don't care where they're from."

AAP, August 25

It seems another Christian group called Campus Crusade for Christ gave a copy of Unlocking the Mysteries of Life to Federal Education Minister Brendan Nelson during a recent meeting in Canberra.

It was a very brief meeting and the group didn't even expect the Minister to watch the DVD, but it appears he did.

Earlier this month, during an address to the National Press Club Dr Nelson was asked about intelligent design and he said while current theories on evolution shouldn't be replaced, intelligent design could be taught in schools if parents approve.

Paula Kruger reporting on ABC Online (August 26)

Public schools where there is a uniform, the uniform is a great leveller, it is a great sign of a society that is working with different cultures. But it is being used by the sort of people who want to overturn our values as an iconic emblem of defiance and a point of difference.

If you say interviews with certain young Muslim girls recently, they said they in fact wore that as a point of difference.

Now, this morning on a debate with a Muslim lady, she said she felt free being a Muslim, and I would simply say that in Nazi Germany, Nazis felt free and comfortable. That is not the sort of definition of freedom that I want for my country.

Bronwyn Bishop to Louise Yaxley, ABC Online (August 29)

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