Labor leader Bill Shorten has restated his support for the Safe Schools Coalition anti-bulling program during a media conference in Sydney this morning.
“When it comes to Safe Schools, the approach that Labor has taken is that we do support the provision of anti-bullying programs in our school system.
“I know that there were a lot of Australians who were deeply surprised when Malcolm Turnbull caved in to the right wing of his party, and instead of debating the issue intelligently in a fashion which recognises the need to have anti-bullying programs, he caved in, had a very quick review and said they won’t keep funding it into the future.
“Labor believes our children when they go to school should be safe from bullying.” Shorten said.
“The other thing I believe is that I don’t want politicians trying to dictate the books kids read in school or their curriculum. That’s what we’ve got teachers an experts for.
Shorten said if there was a beauty parade over who was best qualified to teach the kids of Australia he’d pick teachers and curriculum experts over the right wing of the Liberal party.
The Labor leader also responded to the suggestion that the religious exemptions in anti-discrimination laws should be removed. Yesterday The Greens released a raft of policies relating to the LGBTIQ community including a commitment to change the anti-discrimination laws.
Yesterday The Greens senator Robert Simms said the laws needed to be changed.
“Under current anti-discrimination laws, a gay man can be fired from working at a private school and a transgender person can be turned away from a religious homeless shelter. We shouldn’t be giving religious organisations a get-out-of-jail-free card and the right to discriminate,” Senator Robert Simms said.
“Allowing a right to discriminate undermines the effectiveness of these kinds of laws. These exemptions can ruin someone’s life.”
Today Labor leader Bill Shorten said his party did not see any need for the religious exception provisions in the laws to be altered.
OIP Staff
Tags: anti-bullying, Bill SHorten, education, election 2016, Labor, Robert Simms, safe schools coalition, Sydney, The GreensOUTinPerth is news website focusing on diversity in sexuality and gender. Established in 2002, OUTinPerth was a print magazine until 2019 when it became a fully digital publication.
OUTinPerth is created on the land of the Whadjuk people of the Noongar nation. We acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the Traditional Custodians of this country and its waters, and pay our respect to Elders past and present.
OUTinPerth is owned by Speirins Media Pty Ltd. P.O. Box 69, Gosnells, 6990.
Help create OUTinPerth. We're always looking for writers, researchers and creative people. Find out more here.
The publication of the name, photograph or likeness of any person within this this site in no way implies anything about their sexuality or gender identity.
Copyright on contributions to and ads published in OUTinPerth is retained by the author/advertiser respectively. Permission to reprint should be sought via the Editor.
The views of this publication are contained in editorials. Opinions expressed in columns or articles are those of the author/s and do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher.
Advertisers are advised that all advertising copy is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. The appearance of any advert/advertorial herein does not imply endorsement by OUTinPerth.