Equality Australia has condemned the federal government for walking back on an election promise for religious discrimination reforms to better protect the LGBTQIA+ community in schools.
The Albanese Labor government has been delaying progress on reforms to legislation that would stop religious schools from discriminating against its students and staff based on their identity if they belong to the LGBTQIA+ community.
The government has cited the lack of bipartisan support from the Opposition on the reforms as the reason for the delays to progress.
But on Friday last week, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the window for action has closed and a bipartisan agreement has yet to be reached with the Coalition.
Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown said the LGBTQIA+ community needs have “again been overlooked” and “blatant injustices ignored” from this walkback.
“This news is devastating to every Australian waiting for better protections including gay and trans teachers, pregnant women, people who are divorced or in de facto relationships, as well as people of faith,” Brown said.
“More children are going to miss out on leadership roles or be refused enrolment, teachers will continue to lose their jobs or be denied promotions while many more live with the constant fear that someone will finally discover who they are.”
In March this year, Equality Australia released results from a report that found discrimination in religious schools and institutions against the LGBTQIA+ community is “endemic”.
The report found that Australian Catholic schools in particular are the main culprits for discriminatory behaviours towards LGBTQIA+ students and staff, with Equality Australia receiving 26 personal accounts of discrimination in their research.
Out of ten Catholic schools reviewed in the report, which educate 70 per cent of Catholic school students in the country, nine of them did not have enough information about LGBTQIA+ inclusion, so much so that prospective parents, students or employees could not tell if they would be welcomed or face discrimination at the school. This was the case for one in three non-religious independent schools in Australia.
There is strong public support, including from parents and from religious communities, for proposed reforms that would outlaw discrimination against the LGTBQIA+ community in these schools and institutions, Equality Australia sais.
“Religious schools should not have to harm students or punish teachers to uphold their faith,” Brown said.
“This is not who we are as a nation and it doesn’t reflect what many people of faith want or believe to be fair.
“Only two years ago five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor to back changes to the Sex Discrimination Act to protect trans students. There is support for the reforms that would protect LGBTQ+ staff and students among the Greens and crossbench.
“The government is playing a dangerous game by not acting now and pursuing the available pathway through parliament when the stakes are so high for thousands of vulnerable Australians.”
Stephen Bates, the federal Member for Brisbane in the Greens party, released a statement today calling on stronger government action.
“Enough broken promises,” Bates said.
“If this government cares at all about LGBTIQA+ workers, they would move right now to remove section 38 of the Sex Discrimination Act like the Law Reform Commission said to.
“This Labor government has had the numbers to get this done for months and The Greens have offered time and again to work collaboratively to make this change.
“The LGBTIQA+ community wants protections. Communities of faith want protections. The vast majority of the country wants this positive and progressive change.
“When it comes to keeping progressive promises, it seems this Labor government is incapable of delivering without the LNP’s sign off.”