National LGBTIQA+ advocacy group Just.Equal Australia has welcomed a private member’s bill to be introduced by NSW federal member Allegra Spender, but says its scope is too narrow.
Spender announced last week that she would submit a bill that would provide protections for students and teachers against discrimination on the basis of sexuality, gender or marital status at religious schools.
The lobby group argues the bill does not address what it describes as the full extent of religious exemptions that adversely affect LGBTQIA+ people.
The Spender bill, to be tabled this week, aims to remove ongoing discrimination against LGBTQIA+ students and staff in religious schools.
However, it does not address similar issues in faith-based hospitals, aged care homes, employment agencies, disability services and other organisations contracted by the Commonwealth.
Just.Equal spokesperson Brian Greig said while it was unlikely the bill would ever be debated in parliament, it did open other pathways for progress.
“This bill will not be supported by the government, so it won’t be debated or voted on. However, it serves as a positive form of legislative activism to raise the issues, hold an inquiry, seek public submissions and press the major parties on policy.
“The Spender bill is a welcome opportunity to highlight discrimination in religious schools and the harm it causes. But it overlooks the very same discrimination happening in health, employment and other services, which are increasingly of concern to a wider range of LGBTQIA+ Australians, especially older Australians.
“In states such as Tasmania, Calvary Health Care’s acquisition of Healthscope hospitals has meant a range of gender-affirming, fertility and contraceptive services have ceased, simply because of religious opposition to those treatments.
“Major health and employment providers that receive public funding should be required to abide by the same anti-discrimination rules as everyone else when it comes to employment, enrolment and service provision.”
Spender has said her bill is based on recommendations from the Australian Law Reform Commission’s inquiry into discrimination in faith-based schools, but Greig said the same principles should apply to other services.
“The debate around special religious exemptions has deliberately been kept narrow by former prime minister Scott Morrison and current prime minister Anthony Albanese. This has created what we believe is a misleading narrative that must be challenged.
“The archaic religious exemptions that allow LGBTQIA+ people to be excluded, disadvantaged and stigmatised in Commonwealth-funded services extend far beyond schools. We must stop ignoring this and shift the debate back to the full picture.”
Just.Equal has called on Allegra Spender to consider expanding the scope of the bill, or at least broadening the terms of reference for any future inquiry.
“Let’s take this opportunity to expose the full scope of harm being caused by special religious exemptions in the law, and not just within schools,” Greig said.
