Australia: Senate debates anti-discrimination protections for students and teachers

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.

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.

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. 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.

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.

Read more via OutinPerth