Updated 5.30pm (AEDT)
Sydney, Australia
Key rights currently enjoyed by Australian Christian schools under existing laws would be lost if amendments to the Federal Government’s package of Religious Discrimination Bills are passed, the Australian Christian Lobby warns.
The coalition’s proposed Bill has been pulled from debate in the Senate on Thursday after five MPs crossed the floor in the early hours of the morning to support amendments protecting members of the LGBTQI+ community.
Australia Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaking in Federal Parliament on 8th February, 2022. The Federal Government’s Religious Discimination Bill passed through the lower house in the early hours of Thursday, 10th February. PICTURE: Reuters.
The Bill was passed 90 to six in the Lower House about 5am on 10th February after Labor, independents and Liberals, Bridget Archer, Dave Sharma, Trent Zimmerman, Katie Allen and Fiona Martin voted for an amendment to remove section 38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act.
Wendy Francis, the Australian Christian Lobby’s national director of politics, said she was disappointed at the outcome and fearful that religious schools, particularly Christian schools, will see existing rights significantly diminished.
“They will not be better off. They will actually lose some of the rights they have without this Bill,” Francis told Vision Christian Radio’s 20twenty program on Thursday.
“Mr Morrison…did hold the line last night on protecting religious schools to maintain their code of conduct around sexuality, sex and gender and he is pushing for the Sex Discrimination Act to go to the Australian Law Reform Commission so that it can be looked at more carefully in order to protect children who identify as ‘trans’.
“This needs to be looked at by the experts – that’s what Mr Morrison is saying and that’s what we agree with – but the Sharkie amendment that has gone through last night that the [Australian Labor Party] supported last night and some of the moderate Liberals, will actually take away the rights of religious and Christian schools in this country to teach their religious beliefs. The protection for that will be severely diminished.”
She said other discrimination acts were already in place in Australia that ensure no one is unfairly treated because of their gender, sexuality, age, race or ability.
But if the Bill goes through with the current amendment intact, Christian schools would no longer be able to teach their belief that God created two biological sexes: male and female, or that God describes marriage as between man and woman, she warned.
“This is our big concern,” Francis said.
She acknowledged there were competing views which were at odds with those of religious schools which may disallow transgender students from using facilities of their adopted sex rather than their biological sex, and argued that religious schools needed to be allowed to “uphold their Christian view on these things”.
Greg Bondar, director of Family Voice in New South Wales and ACT, told the programme there were some “very good and very disturbing things” about developments, but of most concern was that the Senate may not debate the Bill before the next election.
“It [the legislation] may not see the light of day if these amendments continue to be added,” he said. “We need a Religious Discrimination Bill, there’s no question of that; what we don’t need is for it to be watered down – diluted – because it will be unfit for the purpose.
“We made made it clear some time ago that Family Voice will not accept changes to the Sex Discrimination Act, in particular Section 38, because once you remove that, we’ve got a big issue with schools in terms of trying to fulfil their faith and values – in terms of their reason for being a faith/Christian school.”
Mark Spencer, director of Public Policy of Christian Schools Australia, said the Religious Discrimination Bill still provides the important protections that people of faith across Australia have been calling for and which were “overdue”.
“The political problem that has been created by the lies that have been put out since 2017 around how supposedly gay students are being expelled from Christian schools all over Australia which simply isn’t happening,” he told 20twenty. “It’s the most gas-lighted piece of legislation in our history.”
Spencer said despite having two parliamentary enquiries recommending the legislation be passed, “we are still back into the muddy waters of political argy-bargy and these other amendments being thrown into the mix”.
“No-one, no person of faith, wants to do the harm that we allegedly sit around all the time conspiring to do to vulnerable young Australians. No-one have I ever heard say that.
“We need to care for them; we need to show them the love of God and we also need to be able to teach them and show them the truth as we believe it.”
Correction: The number of votes made to pass the Bill have been corrected.
