Key Points
- Long-awaited reforms to religious discrimination legislation are likely to be delayed.
- Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has declared Labor would not proceed with the reforms without bipartisan support.
- Labor seeks to change a part of the Sex Discrimination Act allowing religious schools to discriminate on some grounds.
Long-awaited reforms that would protect gay and transgender students from discrimination at school will likely be delayed, as Labor seeks to avoid another divisive debate just months after the failed Indigenous Voice to Parliament referendum.
The controversial laws would also carve out protections for religious schools to discriminate in some cases.
Despite these changes being a key election promise, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese declared Labor would not proceed without bipartisan support this week.
At the same time, he ruled out key Coalition demands.
There are currently no draft bills to consider, and Albanese has ruled out a parliamentary committee process to scrutinise any proposed changes.
“Since 2016 there have been at least 10 inquiries, 260 hearings and consultations, and over 70,000 submissions to committees,” he said.
“It is now time to determine whether we progress forward or not.”
Opposition leader Peter Dutton the issue of bipartisanship as a scapegoat.
“He is looking for a way to crash this before the legislation is released. He is trying to find an out on a topic he doesn’t want to go near,” he said.
So, what’s next?
First, here’s what’s set to change.
Labor is seeking to alter two pieces of legislation: the Sex Discrimination Act (SDA) and the Religious Discrimination Act (RDA).
The specifically contentious changes relate to section 38 of the SDA, which allows religious schools to discriminate against a student on certain grounds — including sexual orientation and gender identity.
The government directed the Australian Law Reform Commission to come up with reforms that ensured religious schools did not discriminate against students and staff due to their sexuality, gender, relationship status or pregnancy.
However, the Commission was also told to ensure religious institutions could continue to build a community based on faith and preference for people of the same religion when hiring staff.
What did a review recommend?
The report also recommended protections for relatives and loved ones from discrimination, including same-sex, divorced or unmarried parents.
Many religious schools have argued they should be allowed to discriminate against students and staff based on faith. The review found that the Sexual Discrimination Act needed to be updated and outline specific circumstances in which faith-based discrimination is acceptable.
It also recommended protections for relatives and loved ones from discrimination, including same-sex, divorced or unmarried parents.
While no one should be discriminated against, the commission’s report was not the government’s policy and it would take the recommendations on board when drafting legislation, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.
“Just as Commonwealth law already prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, gender, sexuality, disability and age, no one should be discriminated against because of their faith,” he said in a statement.
“Equally, no student or member of staff should be discriminated against because of who they are. At the same time, religious schools must continue to be able to build and maintain communities of faith.”
Wait, hasn’t this happened before?
Yes. In 2022, then-prime minister Scott Morrison tried to amend the SDA to prevent gay students from being expelled from religious schools.
But there were no protections for transgender students, which some moderates within the Liberal Party could not support.
In the end, to vote with Labor and the crossbench.
Labor is seeking to change two pieces of legislation: the Sex Discrimination Act and the Religious Discrimination Act. Source: Getty / SOPA Images/LightRocket
The Morrison government then indefinitely shelved its amendments to the Religious Discrimination Act because some religious groups felt the amendments undermined the bill’s purpose — to allow religious groups to exercise their faith, even if that includes elements of discrimination.
Before the 2022 federal election, then-Opposition leader Albanese promised to revisit the laws, if elected.
“We will address the issues of religious discrimination and the need to legislate there. We’ll do that during the term of parliament,” he said at the time.
So it’s OK to discriminate?
Federal anti-discrimination and employment laws, including the Sex Discrimination Act and the Fair Work Act, prohibit discrimination in a wide range of settings.
However, these laws currently provide broad exceptions for religious educational institutions, including early childhood education centres, schools, colleges, and universities, when acting in “good faith”.
These exceptions are contained in section 38 of the SDA.
Specifically, s38 allows religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status, or pregnancy.
Why is this politically sensitive?
Labor came out of campaign bruised and politically deflated, having lost the war of words and standing accused of unleashing a level of vitriol towards First Nations peoples unseen in decades.
Albanese is not cruising for another bruising debate. He fears doing so would only sow further social disharmony amid in the wake of the war in Gaza.
An unsuccessful reform agenda would also risk putting LGBTIQ+ children in the firing line and angering religious educational providers and advocates who are all expecting action.
– Additional reporting by the Australian Associated Press.
