Debate on the government’s Religious Discrimination Bill has continued through the night and into the early morning. Shortly before 1am Prime Minister Scott Morrison rose and rounded off the debate that has dominated the first week of parliament for 2022.
Yesterday the government announced that while it was willing to make changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to protect gay, lesbian and bisexual students from expulsion from faith-based schools, protections for transgender students would not be considered until later.
The government announced that there approach would continue to be to request a report from the Australian Law Reform Commission, 12 months after the successful passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill. The Labor party are calling for amendments to be made now, for all LGBTIQA+ students, and have also promised to look into more protections for teachers in the future.
As the PM closed off the debate he said there was a “time and place” to consider if additional protections were needed for transgender youth, but he conceded the time could be sooner, proposing a wait of six months before looking into the issue.
“Navigating adolescence is extremely difficult, in my generation that was true, but I must confess that I think that these days I think it’s even harder. Navigating adolescence, even more-so difficult for children working out their sexuality, or their gender identity.” Morrison said.
The Prime Minister recalled that Liberal MP Tim Wilson had spoken about his own experiences of losing confidence as a teenager because of his sexuality, and said nobody wanted anyone else to feel like they’d “lost their place in the world”.
The Prime Minister said the sections of the Sex Discrimination Act that were causing concern had been created by the Labor government in 2013, but the current Coalition government was now trying to improve them in relation to gay, lesbian and bisexual students.
“Times have changed, these amendments recognize this, and so we are taking that step tonight. During the course of this debate, the issue of transgender students and teachers has also been raised and there will be a time and place to address that as well.
Prime Minister Morrison said the request for the Law Reform Commission to investigate the situation of transgender students would be reduced to six months, rather than a year. Morrison said the recommendations of the Law Reform Commissioner would be tabled in parliament and kick off another round of parliamentary debate.
The PM said that legal change on it’s own would not be sufficient and more support and investment of resources would be need.
“Legal reforms on these questions will not on their own will not fix this issue,” the PM said, listing understanding, education, support, care, and love in a school community as areas that need more assistance.
Scott Morrison said he would establish a new select committee of the House of Representatives that would be headed by Liberal MP Dr Katie Allen, and supported by Fiona Reed, who both have a background in psychology.
The PM said earlier in the day he had spoken to Professor Patrick McGorry, who had confirmed that many teenagers facing challenges relating to gender identity were making use of services at youth mental health service Headspace.
Debate on the bill is still continuing in the House of Representatives, despite it being 3am in Canberra.
Graeme Watson
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