These laws are no longer appropriate: Shorten call to protect gay teachers

Opposition leader Bill Shorten says religious schools shouldn’t be allowed to sack teachers due to their sexuality.

Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten wants the Coalition government’s changes to discrimination laws to stop religious schools expelling gay students to go further. Picture: Joel Carrett/AAP

Bill Shorten has called for religious schools to be banned from discriminating against gay teachers.

With the government set to table legislation banning independent schools from expelling gay students, the Opposition Leader said Labor would go further and push for the removal of exemptions for religious schools to choose its staff based on church teachings.

“As a father, I try to teach my children to treat everyone with respect, and to view everyone as equal,” Mr Shorten said in a statement.

“I’m pleased both sides of politics are now united in the view that exemptions allowing religious schools to discriminate against children should be removed. I believe we can use this goodwill to go further and remove the exemption that would allow a teacher or school staff member to be sacked or refused employment because of their sexual orientation.

“In my discussions with religious educators, it’s clear this is not an exemption that they use or want to use. These laws are no longer appropriate, if indeed they ever were appropriate. It’s time our laws reflected the values we teach our children.”

Earlier, Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said there should not be “any room for discrimination” in Australian schools as the government weighs up whether to allow religious schools from banning gay teachers.

Mr Frydenberg said the government would this week move legislation to prevent schools from expelling gay students and declared his own view was that teachers should also not face discrimination.

“These are negotiations that we will have both internally and with the opposition, I don’t think there is any room for discrimination and against a student or against a teacher,” Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio.

“But that being said we need to work through this process with the Labor Party and ensure that we provide a bipartisan front to the country.”

He said laws that allowed the discrimination against gay students were introduced by the Gillard Labor government.

“I don’t think these laws are right and I do think we need to ensure that there is no discrimination in either our workplaces or in our schools, that is my feeling,” he said.

Education Minister Dan Tehan this morning said the government was considering changing laws to prevent religious schools from banning gay teachers.

“That is obviously something we want to look at as part of the broader Ruddock review, the Prime Minister has already made some comments on that, but he said that he wants the issue of students dealt with quickly and that is what the focus is of the Attorney-General,” Mr Tehan told Sky News.

Mr Tehan said he did not believe there were enough religious protections in Australia and that a national framework, including a religious discrimination act, should be considered.

“I don’t think, when it comes to our national laws, that we do have the protections that are in place that are necessary, but that will be something that is part of a broader conversation that the government will have,” Mr Tehan said.

“We have got to make sure we get the balance right.”