Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to indicate that the Labor Party will not be supporting the Greens in respect of this matter today and to reject the comments by Senator Rice about the Labor Party's position in respect of this matter. The matter arose, of course, in the lead-up to the Wentworth by-election, where individuals sought to release sections of the so-called Ruddock report into religious freedoms. There was speculation about what the contents of that report said, and, in particular, sections of that report were leaked to the media. As a result of that, there was significant debate in the lead-up to the Wentworth by-election about the responses of the various political parties to that report. I think it's very clear that, in relation to the first of those so-called leaks, the Labor Party, the Liberals and the Greens all made it very clear that they didn't support discrimination against LGBTI students in religious schools and that those current discrimination provisions that are in the law should be removed as a matter of priority. It's the removal of that discrimination that continues to be the priority of the Labor Party, and that's what we are focused on. We don't believe, especially in the lead-up to the Victorian elections next week, that the Greens should be playing games with such an important issue as discrimination against LGBTI students.

Labor has made it absolutely clear that we will work co-operatively with the government, as we like to do on so many occasions, and with everyone in this place to remove discrimination against students as a matter of priority. While Labor is also committed to removing discrimination against staff, I note that many of the religious schools that this current provision, as an exemption to the Sex Discrimination Act, applies to say that they do not use these provisions. But we recognise that there is an obligation, especially on the Labor Party, to consult further with the schools about a change to this legislation and the best way to achieve the result that we all want—that is, a discrimination-free society and, in particular, a discrimination-free society in religious schools. That's why we're seeking to progress this matter through the appropriate course, which we believe is a review by a committee. Labor's inquiry will progress the issue of discrimination against students by examining the government's proposed bill, and we are proposing that that should be done as a matter of priority.

The Labor Party does want to get this done by the end of the year, and we do note that the government had also indicated, especially in relation to the situation in regard to students, that they also wanted to get this legislation through the parliament. I do note that Christmas is heading towards us like a steam train at the moment and there are only a limited number of days left to deal with this issue. We are committed to removing discrimination against staff. We are going to examine the issue as part of our inquiry. What's become very clear is that the issue is complex and there will be some consequential amendments to other legislation required, but we've got a process to sensibly work through this issue to get the result that we seek, which is an end to these discriminatory clauses in the Sex Discrimination Act.