Janet Rice (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[inaudible] said that he would introduce legislation to protect students from expulsion because of their sexuality. He lied. We're still waiting. Instead, the Prime Minister has spent years in secret meetings with the religious Right. And what's the outcome? We still haven't found out! This is fitting because, for years, the negotiations over the religious discrimination bill have been secret and the updated text of that bill is still secret now. The only thing that hasn't been a secret is that Scott Morrison cannot be trusted to do the right thing for women, for disabled people, for LGBTIQA+ people and for people of minority faiths.

Based on what we know about the proposed legislation, we're really concerned about the clause that would specify that statements of belief don't constitute discrimination. That would ride roughshod over our existing antidiscrimination frameworks at both the federal and state and territory levels. The Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group said about the statement of belief in the previous draft that it would enable a whole range of awful situations. They said that the currently unlawful situations under state and territory laws that would likely become lawful if based on a religious belief include: an employer telling a transgender employee that their gender identity is against the laws of God; a childcare provider stating to a single mother that they are evil for depriving their child of a father; a receptionist at a medical practice telling a person with a disability that they've been given their disability by God so that they can learn important lessons; or a waiter in a cafe saying to clients that they would pray for their sins to a gay couple.

That's the Australia that Scott Morrison apparently wants to bring about. Our laws should protect people equally. No-one should be discriminated against on the basis of who they are, who they love or what they believe in.