Citipointe fiasco an example of why we should scrap ‘dangerous’ bill
After the absolute fiasco at a private Brisbane school this week it is time for the Prime Minister to take an axe to his government’s Religious Discrimination Bill, writes Kylie Lang. VOTE IN THE POLL
Kylie Lang
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Scott Morrison isn’t always the best at reading the room, but he’ll need to take an axe to his government’s Religious Discrimination Bill if he hopes to placate a furious Australian public.
While the Prime Minister was right to condemn the enrolment contract at Brisbane’s Citipointe Christian College, sensationally scrapped on Thursday after public outcry and media scrutiny, Australians want answers.
They want to know their rights will not be trampled by a new bill that overrides state legislation, which in Queensland means some of the strongest anti-discrimination laws in the country.
The Citipointe fiasco is far from over, and it’s the LGBTIQ+ community which is turning up the heat, along with a huge support base of fair-minded heterosexual people.
The enrolment contract, offensive to some but by no means all at the prep to year 12 school, asked parents to sign off on the college accepting students “only on the basis of the gender that corresponds to their biological sex” or face expulsion.
Principal pastor Brian Mulheran made attempts to justify the requirement after the proverbial hit the fan, including making a video in which he denied it was discriminatory.
It just didn’t stack up.
Such a contract would have, under the Religious Discrimination Bill as it stands this week, been fine.
So I’m left wondering if Pastor Mulheran jumped the gun. Did he have intel that the bill would be introduced in February so by emailing parents on January 28 thought it would be safe?
This and other questions will go unanswered because Pastor Mulheran has declined further media interviews on the matter.
But as human rights lawyer Matilda Alexander tells me, she wouldn’t be surprised if the contract resurfaced if or when the bill passes.
“I’m not confident this is the end of it,” says Ms Alexander, patron of the LGBTI Legal Service, in Fortitude Valley.
“I have come up against this school in the past in other litigation so I’m not surprised they tried to get away with something like this.”
The Carindale college, like many other faith-based schools, receives millions in government dollars to deliver education, which is a public service, so it must comply with the laws, she says.
“Five years ago this country said yes to equality of marriage and that message is clear and consistent today and the public will not support a religious institution making a statement of faith that is offensive, bigoted and discriminatory,” Ms Alexander says.
The proposed Religious Discrimination Bill surfaced in 2017 in response to marriage equality backlash from conservative religious groups and politicians.
Mr Morrison, then treasurer, said the five million Australians who voted against marriage equality had become a minority and their beliefs were “therefore under threat”.
Former Liberal cabinet minister Philip Ruddick was charged to review “religious freedoms” and found they were not, in fact, under threat.
But the government pushed on, seemingly blind to the risk of alienating the overwhelming majority of Australians who voted yes.
Jane Hopkins, national spokesperson of PFLAG+ (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays +), wants the bill scrapped.
She fears it will be “used as a sword rather than a shield”.
“People at dinner parties don’t know what it means, but we will be in a terrible predicament if this gets through,” Mrs Hopkins says.
“We already have stringent anti-discrimination laws that have served us very well, our kids are already protected, but if this comes in people can say and do what they want.”
She says many in the LGBTIQ+ community are “already fragile” and the Citipointe debacle has “triggered so much angst”.
“Parents make enrolment choices with the best of intentions, but sadly, if they are unaware of their child’s true sexuality or gender identity, they may unwittingly place them in a harmful environment with potentially devastating consequences.”
All children deserve to feel safe and be safe.
As the chorus for equality crescendos, it would do Scott Morrison well to not only listen but act, decisively.
Kylie Lang is associate editor of The Courier-Mail
kylie.lang@news.com.au
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