Anthony Albanese told to address discrimination in religious charities and hospitals

Anthony Albanese is being encouraged to do more to address discrimination outside of faith-based schools, including inside religious charities and hospitals

Just Equal Australia spokesman Rodney Croome.

An LGBTIQA+ equality group is urging the Greens to use any negotiations with the government on religious freedoms to target the full range of faith-based services, including health providers, charities and schools.

After Anthony Albanese signalled he could turn to the Greens on negotiations to secure changes to discrimination laws and new protections for religious institutions, spokesman for Just Equal Australia Rodney Croome said on Friday that religious discrimin­ation was not an issue limited to schools.

“Publicly funded faith-based services, including hospitals, charities and employment agencies, have special exemptions in federal law to discriminate against LGBTIQA+ staff, clients and volunteers,” he said.

“Some states have outlawed this along with discrimination in schools, but some have not.

“The inquiry by the Australian Law Reform Commission into religious exemptions had terms of reference limited to schools because Labor drafted it that way.

“However, if discrimination against LGBTIQA+ teachers and students in faith-based schools is wrong and must be eliminated, the same principle must apply to all staff and clients in all faith-based services.”

Mr Croome said negotiations between Labor and the Greens on a religious discrimin­ation bill should be accompanied by the appointment of an LGBTIQA+ human rights commissioner.

“The AHRC has commissioners for sex, race, age, disability, children and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders but there is no dedicated commissioner to advocate for the human rights of the LGBTIQA+ community, despite the obvious need,” he said.

“Mr Albanese wants to appoint a religious discrimination commissioner as part of his religious discrimination bill but continues to ignore the absence of an LGBTIQA+ human rights commissioner.”

West Australian senator Louise Pratt told The Weekend Australian she had seen examples of “discrimination against teachers for being unmarried and having children, getting pregnant, hetero­sexuals living together unmarried, being gay, being divorced and for using IVF.”

She said she had seen “cases of discrimination against staff and clients in community services run by religious organisations and funded by government”.

Senator Pratt said it was “reasonable” for the Prime Minister to ask Peter Dutton to “take a stand against this discrimination.” Many people did not realise they were working in an organisation that had the “right to discriminate against them until they are subjected to it … We don’t hear about these cases because they have no reasonable right to protect themselves,” she said.

Senator Louise Pratt. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Brendan Beckett

Senator David Shoebridge. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Martin Ollman

Greens justice spokesman, David Shoebridge, said they wanted to “work with the government to ensure that LGBTIQA+ people are safe from discrimin­ation and protections against religious vilification are strength­ened”.

“The Greens support the package of reforms proposed by the ALRC, and are prepared to sit down with Labor to discuss how to implement their intent,” he said.

“It’s important no one is dogmatic about this – what is important is protecting LGBTIQA+ people and those of faith from discrimination … “Peter Dutton should not get a veto on the religious discrimination bill.”

A letter to the Prime Minister on Thursday, signed by 41 spiritual leaders and educators, urged him to honour an election commitment to “maintain the right of religious educational institutions to preference people of their faith, and not to compromise this to secure support of the Greens.”