Labor frontbencher Tony Burke would not say whether the Opposition would accept the exclusion of transgender students from the scope of the amendments,telling ABC radio the party would determine its position once it had seen the final version of the bill.
But he added:“The Prime Minister previously said he would end discrimination for all students,and he should be true to his word on that.”
In a letter to Labor leader Anthony Albanese in December,Mr Morrison told his opponent there was “no place in our education system for any form of discrimination against a student on the basis of their sexuality or gender identity” and informed him the government would amend the SDA to address the issue.
The amendment has been welcomed by the Australian Christian Lobby,which revealed on Monday that it had been negotiating with the government “about a very narrow and very precise amendment”.
“It needs to focus merely on the expulsion of students or the non-expulsion of students based on sexual orientation only,” ACL deputy director Dan Flynn told Vision Christian Radio.
“The government is wanting to know our opinion on a day-by-day basis.”
Swimming champion and LGBTQI advocate Ian Thorpe,who was in Canberra to lobby against the proposed laws,condemned the bill as “state-sanctioned discrimination” that sought to “gain rights for one group of people,whilst excluding another group of people”.
A group of moderate Liberal MPs,including Dave Sharma,Katie Allen and Fiona Martin,had been pushing for the full repeal of s 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act,which gives religious schools a legal exemption to discriminate against students on the basis ofsexual orientation,gender identity,marital or relationship status or pregnancy providing it is done “in good faith in order to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents” of the religion.
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The government’s proposed amendment will deal only with the expulsion of gay students and will leave untouched the provisions relating to gender identity,marital and relationship status and pregnancy. Instead,the government has commissioned the Australian Law Reform Commission to review the operation of s38(3) and advise whether further changes are required once the Religious Discrimination Act has been in operation for 12 months.
Senator Cash said the ALRC process was “an important and crucial step that cannot be rushed”.
The proposed amendment does not involve the full repeal of section 38(3) of the act,which gives religious schools a legal exemption to discriminate against students on the basis ofsexual orientation,gender identity,marital or relationship status or pregnancy providing it is done “in good faith in order to avoid injury to the religious susceptibilities of adherents” of the religion.
Queensland Liberal MP Angie Bell,who had been a key hold out within the party,confirmed she would now vote for the bill in light of the amendment covering gay students,agreeing that protections for transgender students should instead be addressed by the ALRC.
“Transitioning students are at the highest risk of experiencing mental health difficulties and present particular challenges for single sex schools. Those details will be looked at through the ALRC process and reported back 12 months after the passage of the religious discrimination bill.”
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