Angry Liberals are blaming the Prime Minister for putting them through a “shambles” in Parliament after he shelved a draft law on religious freedom to avoid a Senate defeat amid a new leak from federal cabinet.
This is an edited text of the speech Trent Zimmerman,Liberal MP for North Sydney,gave to Parliament on Wednesday night before he and four fellow Liberals crossed the floor early yesterday to support amendments to the Religious Discrimination Bill.
Labor rarely wins power from opposition. It has avoided the open division seen in the Coalition,but that doesn’t mean all are happy with the Opposition Leader’s strategy.
Sikh and Jewish bodies said transgender children should be protected in the religious discrimination debate,while the Australian National Imams Council urged the government to remember the bill’s core purpose.
The broad church of the Liberal Party was tested this week as five MPs crossed the floor and another threatened to do so in the Senate to strengthen protections for gay and transgender students.
Scott Morrison promised three years ago to legislate against religious discrimination. It became a last-minute rush job,and a failure of team unity.
Here are some of the key moments in the debates on the amendments of the Religious Discrimination Bill in Parliament over the past couple of days.
There’s a point in Labor’s statement outlining its amendments to the Religious Discrimination Bill that captures why this whole episode has been such a mess.
Contentious religious discrimination laws will be put on hold while the federal government pushes for a Senate inquiry into how they would affect transgender students.
Today on Please Explain,columnist Sean Kelly joins Nathanael Cooper to look at the calamity these bills have created.
The controversial religious freedom laws are headed to the Senate but it’s unclear whether the government is ready for another fight or will quietly let them lie.