On Wednesday parliament began debating a bill from The Greens that would bring in protections for both LGBTI students and teachers in anti-discrimination legislation.

The government had announced it would bring it new protections for students following community reaction to leaked sections of the Ruddock Religious Freedom Review, but had argued that discussion about bringing in laws that would stop teachers being sacked would have to wait for later.

The Greens joined together with Labor and cross brenchers to bring on a debate in the senate over a bill put forward by the Greens. The government would clearly have prefered to wait until after the Wentworth by-election to have the discussion but did not have the numbers to fend off the debate.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale opened the debate by referring to the story of Western Australian teacher Craig Campbell. OUTinPerth was the first media outlet to report on his story.

“Just this week we heard the story of Craig Campbell, a teacher in Western Australia who lost his job after telling his school he was in a same-sex relationship.” Senator Di Natale said.

“Craig was a practising Christian and had been teaching at the school for two years. The school mentioned nothing about his performance as an educator. It was a straightforward case of discrimination. He was sacked because he was gay. Those actions have no place in modern Australia. They have no place in any decent or civilised modern democracy.”

The Greens leader said the problem with the current laws were not just the discrimination that can occur against students and teachers, but the message the existence of such laws send to all members of society.

“ls. It is about the message that simply the existence of these laws sends, particularly to young people who are coming to terms with their own sexuality and hearing from their communities that the way they feel is somehow wrong, that it’s morally repugnant. That’s what these laws do; they send that message.” Senator Di Natale said.

The government’s leader in the senate, Mathias Cormann said the government would not be supporting the bill and would be putting forward it’s own legislation at a later date during the current sitting fortnight.

Senator Cormann criticised the media for reporting on the recommendations contained within the leaked report for former Attorney General Philip Ruddock.

“We are of the view that it is very sad that the inaccurate way the Ruddock review, in particular, has been
reported has caused unnecessary anxiety amongst parents and amongst children.” Senator Cormann said.

Labor’s Senator Jacinta Collins said there was some concern that the bill putforward by the Greens did not get the balance right.

“Our concern is that, while the bill does appear to address one side of the equation—that is, removing discrimination—it appears to do so without addressing the other side of the equation…the right of religious communities and their institutions, such as schools, to educate in accordance with the doctrines of their faith.” Senator Collins said.

Senator Collins said she also had concerns that seminaries, which could also be classed as schools, might be captured under the new legislation.

Senator Janet Rice, the Greens spokesperson on sexuality and equality, said politicians should consider what it’s like to be a student or a teacher who has to live under the current laws.

Senator Rice said she had met teachers who were afraid to acknowledge their partners in public out of fear that they may be seen by a colleague or students from the school that they work at.

“We’ve heard how some teachers and staff members have been forced back into the closet as soon as they’ve been offered a job.” Senator Rice said of people who had contacted her office.

“We’ve heard how they’ve feared holding their partner’s hand in public in case they bump into a colleague or a student who could out them, which would see them lose their job and their livelihood. We also know that LGBT+ people already suffer worse mental health than their heterosexual and cisgendered peers, because of the stress of things like these exemptions, which mean they could be expelled from their school or fired from their workplace.”

Liberal senator James Paterson, who last year unsuccessful argued for amendments to the marriage equality bill, said people needed to remember that Australia is a pluralistic society and there would be disagreements about moral issues.

“No Australian should seek to impose on other Australians values that they don’t share. We can, of course, do our best to persuade each other to our world view. But, if we are unsuccessful, we shouldn’t resort to other means to force people to live as we choose to live.” Senator Paterson said.

Senator Paterson argued that Ruddock Review was proposing to improve the lives of LGBTI students.

“There is no proposal in the Ruddock review or anywhere else to make it easier to kick gay kids out of school.” Senator Paterson said.” In fact, the Ruddock review actually recommends that the existing powers to do so should be substantially narrowed.

Senator Paterson dismissed calls for the Ruddock Review to be released, saying that government was being responsible by taking a cautious approach to the issue.

“It’s entirely appropriate that the report be released in conjunction with the government response to that
report, to ensure that there’s no unnecessary panic about what the government might do in responding to that
report.” Senator Paterson said.

Labor Senator Louise Pratt questioned why the government would not release the full report ahead of the upcoming by-election in Wentworth.

“The Australian public deserve to know what is in that report. Why keep it a secret if it doesn’t contain inflammatory and discriminatory content? The timing of the Wentworth by-election suggestions that this is a ploy by government to cling to the majority in their federal seats.” Senator Pratt said.

The Liberal’s Senator Jane Hume said that religious schools had been unfairly characterised as homophobic and discriminatory in the public debate over the legislation. Senator Hume said the Anglican school that she sends her sons to has a chapel and a chaplain, but also has a gay-straight alliance.

Senator Hume said people would need to travel to an “alternate universe” to find a school that wanted to discriminate against LGBTI students, arguing that in reality no students were actually being discriminated against.

“Do members here genuinely believe the wider school community would accept this? Of course not. Would Australians accept this? Of course they wouldn’t. There would be complete and utter outrage, and rightly so. We won’t support the politicisation of our school students and we won’t allow the Greens to make this an issue. We won’t allow them to try to pit Australians against each other .” argued Senator Hume.

Debate on the bill is expected to recommence later this afternoon. Follow OUTinPerth on Twitter for updates. 

OIP Staff