Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support Senator Rice and Senator Farrell in their comments today about the Ruddock report. The Senate required and requested that it be released, but it has not been. I find it to be an insult to the Senate and the Australian public that the Leader of the Government in the Senate can get up here today and say that it's being considered by cabinet, is protected by the public interest defence et cetera when, in fact, his own government—somebody in his own cabinet—released this last week to The Sydney Morning Herald, and then more of it later on to The Australian, because some people in the government want it out. They want it out there.

I know Senator Farrell says we need to have a debate about it. The debate is going on. The debate's been going on for months. The debate's been going on since the government, under Prime Minister Turnbull, actually announced this sop, and it was a sop, this religious freedom of speech issue. It was put out there so that the Abbotts, the Morrisons and the others who either abstained or voted against the same-sex marriage vote could have some say. Then it went to Ruddock. The government got it in May, and they've sat on it ever since. They've leaked little bits when they wanted to. It should be released in full. It should be out there.

I don't totally let the opposition off the hook on this, because they're demanding the Ruddock statement be released and the report be released, yet, yesterday, they joined with the government to vote me down 47 to 12 on the issue, on my notice of motion, in which I said that any independent school—or its owners or its runners—that discriminates against a student or against a teacher on the grounds of their sexual orientation should not be entitled to government funds or to a charitable status. The ALP joined with the government and voted me down, because they didn't want to see the risk of money being taken away from Catholic schools.

I stand by what I've said about independent schools. If you want to defy the law of the land and want to put your religious credo ahead of the law of the land, you do not deserve one dollar from the Australian taxpayer and you do not deserve a charitable status. That will be challenged, and I shall challenge it as long as I am here.

On the issue of the Ruddock report, it should be released. It must be released. I don't know if it is true that it's being withheld because of the Wentworth by-election, because they were holding it for months and months before former Prime Minister Turnbull actually quit his seat in a tizzy. I don't know if it is tied to the Wentworth by-election, but it must be released. It should be released. We are entitled to it. It does not interfere with religious freedoms for us to have a copy of this report so we can discuss it at length.