Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Labor welcomes the opportunity to address these issues, and I note Senator Cormann's remarks about moving forward with respect to them. Australia is a tolerant and accepting nation, and discrimination against LGBTI Australians has no place in our national laws. Equally, the right of our churches and churchgoers to live by their traditions and beliefs is also part of our national identity. Balancing these two things can be complex, and we know that there are many strong views in the current debate about how best to balance freedom of religion with the right of all Australians to live free from discrimination. We respect all of those views. We had hoped that this debate could be carried out in a mature and measured way. But, unfortunately, the government has had the review into religious freedom since May and has so far refused to release it so Australia can have a proper debate about these important issues. It's clear that they are doing this to hide it from the voters in Wentworth. Why else would they continue so consistently to refuse to release it?

Many religious education institutions have made it clear that they do not use these exemptions. However, we respect their view that they should be allowed to run their organisations in line with their beliefs. We respect the right of parents to send children to the school of their choice and to have their children educated in accordance with their religious convictions. We know that many parents choose religious schools because they want their children to be grounded in the identity and mission of a particular religious faith. We also understand that the mission of a religious school is delivered not just in religious education or scripture classes but also throughout the culture of the school via religious services, sporting activities, community service, student leadership and in many areas of the education curriculum.

When it comes to employment, we understand that religious schools and parents of students expect that teachers and staff support the ethos, values and principles of the particular faith, and not act in ways that undermine the school's mission. The reality is that staff who choose to work in religious schools understand this too, and that is why there are very few examples of faith based schools needing to rely on exemptions from the discrimination law based on identity when making employment decisions. We also believe that in 2018 these exemptions from discrimination for gender identity, sexual orientation and relationship status are out of step with community expectations and are no longer the best way to safeguard the mission and identity of religious schools.

While every employer is entitled to require employees to act and perform their duties in accordance with the stated policies and mission of their organisation, in the absence of such exemptions it is necessary to ensure that religious schools are positively entitled to teach and operate in accordance with their faith and mission.

We propose an affirmative position for religious schools that upholds their exercise of religious freedoms and freedom of association. Our approach to legislation on this issue would remove exemptions from the Sex Discrimination Act that would allow schools to discriminate against children and staff on the basis of sexuality or gender identity. We would also like to see in legislation a recognition that religious schools are entitled to require employees to act in their roles in a way that upholds the ethos and values of that faith, and that this requirement may be taken into account when a person is first employed and in the course of their employment.

This is where we have some concerns about the narrowness of the Discrimination Free Schools Bill that the Greens have introduced this week. Our concern is that, while the bill does appear to address one side of the equation—that is, removing discrimination—it appears to do so without addressing the other side of the equation that I've already talked about: the right of religious communities and their institutions, such as schools, to educate in accordance with the doctrines of their faith. We do not say that finding the right balance between these two principles is easy. I've already indicated that we respect that that's quite complex, particularly in the legislative context, but we are concerned that this bill does not appear to grapple with the problem and addresses only the question of removing discrimination.

Another concern we have about the bill is that it would appear that it might remove the right of religious seminaries—as opposed to religious schools—to discriminate. So while we in Labor will work to amend our laws so that religious schools are no longer able to discriminate against students and their staff on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex status, we do not believe that this change to the law should extend to religious seminaries. As we have done previously, we call on the government to come to the table and work with the opposition and the crossbench on a suitable way forward. As I've previously noted, Senator Cormann has indicated some elements of that path. It is disappointing, though, that despite saying they were willing to do so earlier in the week, the government had so far refused to do so—so some benefit of the Greens introducing this bill has been to assist in bringing the government to the table. The government could start by releasing the religious freedom report so that we can discuss these issues constructively. Whilst the recommendations of the report have been leaked, we still lack the consideration, the discussion and the logic that the panel put to reaching those recommendations which address those very issues of balance in this area. We firmly believe that it is possible to protect religious freedom and protect people from discrimination. We call on the Senate, the government, the crossbench and the Greens to work together to do that in a respectful way.