NSW Education Minister John Della Bosca says the government is committed to providing choice when it comes to schools of different religious denominations.

His comments come after Camden Council, in Sydney's south-west, on Tuesday night refused planning permission for a 1,200-student Islamic school, following an adverse report by council planners.

Mayor Chris Patterson says the decision was based on concerns surrounding the impact on traffic flows, loss of agricultural land, and not on religious grounds.

Mr Della Bosca said he was not in a position to comment about the council's decision because he had not examined the planning issues involved.

"From an education perspective, of course educational choice is part of the policy consensus between state and commonwealth governments and across the policy divide," he told reporters.

"Clearly, that is something that is supported by all governments.

"There is a number of Islamic based schools operating in NSW at the moment, they do so teaching the NSW curriculum, doing all the things that a school is required to do."

The planning matters were an issue for local councils, Mr Della Bosca said.

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User comments

There are so many Independent schools that were established around the morals of a particular religion. These schools all follow the curriculum set by the Dept. of Education, which is a must. Religious studies are not the basis of these schools, it is merely a small aspect that is offered as extra curricular. Believe it or not that is how schools established by Muslims are also run. The children in these schools are just as much Australian as any other child. They are taught the same things as kids in any other school and by both Muslim and non-Muslim teachers, who graduated from the same universities as teachers in any other school. The people with negative ill-informed comments here are the same as some Camden residents who were very blatant about their racism on TV recently. If you go into one of these 'Islamic' schools you will see how they are run and how well-behaved and educated these children. They are not taught to be terrorists as some may ignorantly believe.

To Joe Doe and KiKi maybe you should get your information correct. Lots of Muslim countries have Christian schools for example, Pakistan.

im not rasict but foriegners have to remember they are in australia and we are very multicultural but we are startin to lose our own culture quite a few other contries are not multicultural at all and it considered extremely rude and sometimes illegal to try and do some of the things that are okay in our culture it has to be two way street

Racism is certainly a symptom of a backward and feeble intellect, but is Culturism? Its not over race that people object to this school but, whether they realise it or not, it is over culture. Mr Seyit himself that 'Muslims are diverse and come from more than 65 different ethnic groups" which makes his claim of racism sound a bit ridiculous. I wonder if he'd be honest enough to declare that this was a victory for western culture which, lets face it, has been in steady decline scince the the advent of globalisation. It should come as no surprise to Islam or even China we're are feeling a bit threatened.

For your information, the United Arab Emirates, an islamic country, allows schools of other religious faith. Why can't they have an islamic school in sydney when there are schools for different religions such as the christian religion elsewhere in the country? Being multicultural means accepting and understanding other people's beliefs, not insulting people who would like to preserve theirs. It's also unfair to stereotype all Muslims. I don't really know how the council works, but if the grounds were truly based on land rather than religion, the proposal should be accepted if the site is changed.

this is just more racism pure and simple, any one who defends this decision is a racist, if it where a chatholic school or christion school it wouldent have bean rejected

I find it difficult to understand why every time there is a decision made that doesn't fit in with the wishes of certain group they start claiming "Racism." If it involved a race of people I could accept it but it doesn't. There is only one group of people that can make that claim and it's not Islamic. By the "Forum on Australia's Islamic Relations" (FAIR) own admission they are a diverse group and so this cannot be a race based decision. If they feel there is bigotry at play then call it for what it is. Stop playing the "Race Card!"

call me old fashioned but i beleive that if these people want to call australia home they should adopt the australian ways and not impose the very cultures on our society that they are moving away from. it has nothing to do with being racist but honoring the country they now want to call home instead of wanting to change it.

If you were a local to Camden you would totally understand where the residents are coming from. Already Camden is being built up with estates and the once Country close to the city is turning into a little city of it's own with estates, shopping centres growing and houses popping up everywhere. A trip to work (Liverpool) 10 years ago took me just 30 minutes. Now with the traffic it's a 55 minute drive minimum. The roads are terrible and in desperate need of resurfacing. Camden Valley Way and the M5 are absolute carparks. There is no way these roads can handle anymore traffic. The area isn't set up for public transport requirements that another school in the area would need either. Why does Camden have to have a Muslim school? Surely there are many other lot's of land out there that is close to public transport and closer still to the areas muslims populate in a higher volume that they could build there. My question is why Camden?

Out comes the tired, old 'racism' flag again!! Whatever happened to integration??? By all means, emigrate to our wonderful country, but please respect OUR culture, religion and decision-making, as I believe you would have us do in your country! I just hope our generous, compassionate Government takes a stand....AND SOON!

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