“Allegations include that the school is not paying its staff and that teachers are ‘volunteers’ not employees,” the IEU said in its statement, adding that additional allegations raised “serious child protection concerns.”
The IEU’s intervention follows a joint investigation published by The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, which revealed that Redeemer Baptist School had received approximately $106.7 million in combined government grants and parent fees between 2015 and 2024, according to financial records examined by Clinton Free, Professor of Accounting at the University of Sydney in New South Wales – while reporting zero salary expenses across that entire period.
What the financial records show
Professor Free described the school’s accounts as “a deeply unusual set of accounts that raise a whole raft of issues.” He noted that labour costs typically account for between 60 and 75 per cent of overall expenses at comparable schools. At Redeemer Baptist School, that figure is zero.
Instead of paying wages, the school classifies all staff as members of the Ministry Order of Redeemer Baptist Church – a religious order. Staff receive a discretionary stipend of approximately $2,000 per month, according to accounts from former church members cited by The Sydney Morning Herald. By comparison, the minimum award wage for a teacher in NSW is $7,515 per month.
Because staff are classified as volunteers rather than employees, standard obligations under Australian employment law – including superannuation contributions – do not appear to apply. The school did not specifically address the question of superannuation in its public response.