Labor’s proposed amendments to the #ReligiousDiscriminationBill are a good start. But there’s far more that needs to be done to ensure LGBTQ+ students and teachers are protected. A thread: 🧵 /1 #auspol
Issue #1: Most of our political leaders have now committed to protecting kids in religious schools from discrimination on the basis of sexuality and gender identity. That’s great! The problem is, Labor’s amendments only seek to amend the Sex Discrimination Act 👎 /2
The Religious Discrimination Bill contains an alternative route to discriminate against LGBTQ+ kids under the guise of religion, in s 7. Schools might not be able to expel kids for being gay, but they could expel them for expressing supportive beliefs about being gay 🏳️🌈 /3
The test in s 7 is merely that one person of the same religion might consider the discrimination to accord with their beliefs. It’s a test not seen in any other discrimination laws. It is such a low bar that it’s hard to see any situation in which a school cannot rely on it 🏫 /4
If the bill becomes law (even with Labor’s proposed amendments), we will be closing one door to discrimination against LGBTQ+ kids in religious schools but opening another 🚪 /5
Issue #2: There are no amendments on the books to protect teachers or staff. Right now, the Sex Discrimination Act allows teachers to be sacked for being gay, bi, trans - you name it. This will stay the same, with teachers kicked down the road to a law reform inquiry 😑 /6
If that wasn’t bad enough, the Religious Discrimination Bill in s 7 allows religious schools to hire and fire on the basis of any religious views, even where such views are irrelevant to the position in question. The school only needs to publish a written policy on this 📝 /7
To make this EVEN WORSE (I know, it’s hard to imagine), s 11 of the bill overrides state & territory laws that provide stronger protection for teachers at religious schools. This includes Victoria, which bars discrimination except in faith-based roles (religious ed/pastors) 🙏 /8
If this bill becomes law (even with Labor’s proposed amendments), it will be the first explicit federal weakening of state & territory discrimination protections in the entire 50-year history of Australian discrimination law. This leaves LGBTQ+ teachers with ZERO protection ‼️ /9
How do we fix this? Simple.
In the Religious Discrimination Bill:
- remove s 11
- make s 7 a standard religious exception provision
- prohibit post-admission discrimination against students
In the Sex Discrimination Act:
- remove s 38
- ensure s 37 doesn’t apply to schools
/10
In the Religious Discrimination Bill:
- remove s 11
- make s 7 a standard religious exception provision
- prohibit post-admission discrimination against students
In the Sex Discrimination Act:
- remove s 38
- ensure s 37 doesn’t apply to schools
/10
Labor supports removing discrimination against kids on the basis of ‘who they are’, and against teachers (subject to schools’ faith-based requirements). These are worthy goals that most Australians support. But the proposed amendments don’t do enough to realise them. ❌ /11
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