“I don’t want it to become a political football. What I do fear is that our opponents may seek to make this a political argument in an election context and I don’t think that serves religious communities,” Senator Keneally said at an online forum hosted by conservative Christian group Family Voice on Monday night.
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“I don’t think it serves the broader community and I certainly don’t think it serves the ends of good public policy-making. There is a bipartisan position to be reached here.”
Senator Keneally,a former Catholic school teacher and youth worker,steered clear of the debate about protections for gay students and teachers but said she believed religious schools had a right to hire people who upheld the school’s values.
In a move that angered the Christian Schools Australia and the Australian Christian Lobby,Mr Morrisonlast week agreed to fast-track protections for students ahead of any vote on the bill following lobbying from moderate MPs,including Dave Sharma,Trent Zimmerman,Fiona Martin and Angie Bell. This commitment would involve scrapping an exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act that allows religious schools to suspend or expel LGBTQI students,but leaves untouched separate exemptions allowing religious schools to hire or fire teachers and other workers on the basis of their sex,sexual orientation,gender identity,marital or relationship status.
A key component of the billconfirms the right of church schools to make someone’s personal faith a factor in hiring decisions,adding a further layer of political and legal complexity as to how protections can be extended to teachers and staff.
Mr Morrisonstaked his personal view on the issue last month,but has made no commitments with respect to teachers,saying:“Gay students should not be expelled from religious schools and nor should gay teachers,who have been employed at those schools,be dismissed if they are gay.”
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Senator Keneally said she and Labor leader Anthony Albanese had sought torepair ties with faith communities,following a post-mortem of Labor’s 2019 campaign which found the party had failed to project an image that was appealing to devout Christians while Mr Morrison’s openness about his faith resonated with those voters.
“The work that Anthony and I and others have done,has sought to make clear that these conversations like the ones we’re having tonight,are not only appropriate,they should have always been happening,and they should always be happening,” she said.