Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What a privilege to listen to the member for Blair's contribution to debate on the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021. There have been extraordinary speeches in this place on this legislation. One of the privileges we have as members of parliament is to read the minister's message at citizenship ceremonies throughout the year. One of my favourite parts of the message is: 'We believe in the freedom and dignity of each individual, freedom of religion, freedom of speech and freedom of association. We value the rule of law, democracy and equality of opportunity for all people.' This is what we say to people as we welcome them in becoming Australians. We talk about our values, and I wholeheartedly agree with this parliament supporting freedom of religion and stating explicitly in law that people should not be discriminated against because of their religion. I have no hesitation in doing that, whether it's for the Uniting Church members of Australia's oldest church at Ebenezer in my electorate, the parishioners of the historic Anglican and Catholic churches across the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, the Jewish members of my community or those of the Baha'i. There are also those citizens new to Australia who bring to our region an array of religions, from Hindu and Islam through to our large upper mountains Buddhist Tibetan community. None of them should face discrimination for any reason, let alone on the basis of religion. Freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief is a fundamental human right.

There can be no question that Labor supports the extension of the federal antidiscrimination framework to ensure Australians are not discriminated against because of their religious beliefs or activities. When, in those citizenship ceremonies, we say, 'We believe in the freedom and dignity of each individual,' we also mean that. That is why this legislation is flawed. That's why I cannot support it without amendments. In my view, the Prime Minister has done the nation a disservice by seeking to divide us rather than unite us.

I believed the Prime Minister when he said that the government would work with the opposition, the crossbench and stakeholders in a spirit of bipartisanship to introduce a religious discrimination bill into the parliament that would have cross-party support. This hasn't happened. I don't think I can forgive the Prime Minister for breaking that promise, because of the hurt that it has led to. I see that hurt and anger in the emails and messages that I've received in the last few days from people who are horrified about what the government has put forward.

And let's not shy away from the politics of this bill. The Prime Minister has rushed this through in the dying days of this term of parliament to create a wedge, to deliberately weaponise and create division. I think people can see that. On this side, we will do all we can to try and turn a divisive and damaging piece of law into something that represents progress in reducing discrimination and increasing protections. We encourage government members to support the series of amendments that Labor will pursue.

I've listened to more than a dozen speeches on our side of the House. We make the point time and time again that we do not support this bill. In the way this legislation is written, it offers protections to one group but removes protections for others. We surely should be able to do both—enhancing protections against discrimination without enhancing discrimination against others.

I will stand up for the rights of people to practice their religion, but, as the opposition leader said this evening, I won't support anyone who wants to use their religion as an excuse to be cruel and to deny the rights of others who just happen to be different. I note that the Leader of the Opposition earlier this evening did reach out a hand across the parliament to the Prime Minister, asking to work together to ensure we protect the freedoms of people of faith without hurting another group of vulnerable people. Labor will use every opportunity in this place and in the Senate to amend this bill so that it achieves progress rather than takes us backwards. We are the minority; we may not be successful, but we will try. And we'll urge those opposite who've expressed concern to join with us to change it for the better.

One of the ways that I've considered this bill is through the prism of mental health. It's something that I've spoken about many times in this place since my inaugural speech. And there's been much spoken on the subject by people on all sides of the parliament about the need to support those who are unwell or who have serious mental illness. It's one thing to put supports in and provide services and tackle issues once they occur, but today is where the rubber hits the road. These are the sorts of laws that can actually make a difference to a life. They can actually be the difference between life and death. Whether it's a gay teacher or—as the focus has narrowed in the debate on this legislation—a trans student, if we are serious about improving the mental health of our society, it can't just be for some; it needs to be for all. It can't just be: 'If you fall into one category, we'll care about you and protect you, but, if you're someone else, you're on your own.' That's why Labor wants to see changes to this bill.

As it stands, this legislation results in gay students being protected from expulsion from school but not from any other form of discrimination, such as suspension, detention and unfair treatment. It does not extend even that protection to trans students. I know that I'm not alone in feeling that this is an act of cruelty by those who've put forward this bill. It's not humane to do that to a person, especially a young person, who may already be grappling with complex issues within themselves and under extreme pressure as they navigate their journey to the person they'll become. We should not be making judgements about that person. They should be respected for who they are, and our laws should allow for them to be respected.

While we've had so little time to properly discuss the amendments the government has made back in our electorates—because we only got to see them in the last 24 hours—it's inconceivable to me that people of faith in my electorate would want to single out any group of kids and ask them to bear the brunt of this law. Labor's amendment will change that. My colleague the member for Whitlam gave us an insight into the way this bill makes parents of children who are excluded from its protections feel, and I commend his lovely, brave young son for reaching out to support other kids, as he has done on TikTok. I believe young people like Olivia Stewart, a transgender student who's spoken publicly about the impact on mental health of even having this debate, describing it as 'intensely distressing to see our basic rights up for debate'.

It's on the Prime Minister's conscience that we are here now having this debate about such deeply personal and private things. In fact, the reason we're here is that there has been a total failure by the government to engage in a consultative process, particularly given that we've always agreed with the principle of legislating for religious freedoms. Please, no-one blame COVID! This was announced by the Prime Minister in December 2018, and, when the promise wasn't honoured before the 2019 election, it became an election commitment for this current term of government. And here we are, rushing to an election and trying to tick something off the list. I think the Australian people deserve better. None of the promises to consult with us or the states or the territories were kept, and that's why there is a deep flaw in this bill, in that it overrides state laws. Our amendment will address that.

One of the promises made by the Prime Minister was:

People should not be cancelled or persecuted or vilified because their beliefs are different from someone else's in a free liberal democratic society such as Australia.

Yet the bill introduced by the Prime Minister does not prohibit vilification of people on the basis of religious belief, religious dress or religious activity. This bill will not protect a Muslim woman who's abused on a train or a Buddhist who's vilified for his religious beliefs. So another of Labor's amendments will address this.

I think it says a lot about the Morrison government that this is what the last few days of parliament for this term are being spent on—us trying to minimise the damage that the government is knowingly and wilfully doing. If we get our way, if Labor gets its way, we will have legislation that prohibits vilification, that prevents discrimination against children on the grounds of sexuality and gender identity and that makes it clear that in-home aged-care service providers and disability services can't discriminate on the basis of religion when they provide services. And we'll have a law that makes it clear that the statement-of-belief provision does not remove or diminish any existing protections against discrimination. We will have that plus the protection from discrimination that people of faith deserve. It's not too late for the Prime Minister to change this debate from disunity to unity. It's a chance to show leadership and to bring Australians together. If the Morrison government doesn't get this right, then Labor will take on that challenge, and we will do it in an Albanese Labor government.

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