Government seeking bipartisan support for gay student protection

The government was negotiating with Labor last night over legislation to prevent school students from being discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality.

Attorney General Christian Porter in the House of Representatives Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. Picture: Kym Smith

The government was negotiating with Labor last night over legislation to prevent school students from being discriminated against on the basis of their sexuality, following the damaging leak of a key review into religious freedoms.

Attorney-General Christian Porter tried to secure bipartisan support for the government’s legislation yesterday afternoon and shared a draft copy of the bill with Labor’s legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus.

The Coalition and Labor remain divided on whether the extra measures to protect gay students from discrimination in religious schools should be extended to cover teachers. A joint partyroom meeting will be required today if, overnight, the government successfully secures Labor support for its legislation. This will allow ­Coalition MPs to approve the bill and raise any objections before it is introduced into parliament.

Mr Porter’s spokesman said: “The government has provided a first draft and is continuing to negotiate on the proposed amendments. It remains the government’s intention to introduce the bill this week. It is preferable to have an agreed bill to introduce.”

Mr Dreyfus said Labor would “scrutinise the government’s proposals thoroughly”.

“We will continue to work ­constructively with the government. We want to end discrimination against LGBTI+ kids,” he said.

Religious freedoms are now preserved by way of exemptions to existing anti-discrimination law, allowing faith-based bodies the ability to “discriminate” in line with their key religious values.

The Coalition has proposed to remove these exemptions as they relate to students, preventing gay children from being turned away because of their sexuality.

But it has stopped short of removing the exemptions for teachers because faith-based schools are concerned they will lose the ability to employ staff who uphold the key tenets of their religion.

The Catholic Archbishop of Sydney Anthony Fisher said last week: “Catholic schools should be permitted to be Catholic.”