Arabic version: نصيحة بشأن فعالية عيد الميلاد وصلت إلى مكتب رئيس وزراء تسمانيا

According to ABC News, Tasmanian Premier Jeremy Rockliff posted that he had been told there were efforts to remove references to Christmas from a primary school’s end-of-year celebrations on the same day his office received departmental advice that Christmas remained an important part of the event.

Trevallyn Primary School had planned to rename its event from “Christmas on the Hill” to “End of Year Extravaganza”. The Education Department secretary, Ginna Webster, told the premier in an October 14 letter that Christmas carols would remain, some classes would perform Christmas-themed items and Santa Claus would attend.

Mr Rockliff said he was travelling when the advice arrived at his office and did not see the letter until the following day. He told the ABC the correspondence confirmed changes were being made to Christmas events. His Facebook post, made 14 minutes after a Pulse story was published, said there had been efforts to remove all references to Christmas at an unnamed school.

The ABC reported that Meredith and Nathan Thurlow were understood to have emailed school leaders and Education Minister Jo Palmer on October 2 with concerns about the planned changes. Nathan Thurlow, general manager of Tas Petroleum, is yet to respond to ABC questions. The school later faced a social media pile-on, while the education union said staff and the school had suffered distress and harm.

Greens Member for Bass Cecily Rosol said in parliament that the letter showed the premier knew Christmas events were still proceeding before making his post. Mr Rockliff has refused to apologise, saying he had a right to voice his opinion and that his public commentary had been measured. The post remains online.