Labor opposed bid to protect gay students

Labor rejected a recommendation that would have stopped LGBTI students from being denied enrolment at religious schools.

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Labor rejected a key recommendation that would have stopped LGBTI students from being ­expelled or denied enrolment from religious schools in an inquiry into a bill proposed by opposition Senate leader Penny Wong.

The Australian has obtained the draft recommendation that was suggested by Liberal members of a Senate committee during its inquiry into Senator Wong’s bill and which reported on Thursday.

The inclusion of the recommendation was conditional on it receiving the unanimous support of committee members. The failure to meet this test meant the draft recommendation was not included in the committee’s final report.

“The committee recommends the Senate pursue a targeted amendment to the Sex Discrimin­ation Act 1984to provide that subsection 38(3) of the act does not apply to discrimination which denies enrolment or suspends or terminates the enrolment of a student of an educational institution established for religious purposes,” it said.

The major parties failed to reach agreement last year on a deal that would preserve the ability of religious schools to uphold their ethos while removing the ability of schools, under exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act, to expel or turn away students on the basis of their sexual orientation.

The issue was referred by Scott Morrison and Attorney-General Christian Porter to the Australian Law Reform Commission for review to clear the issue from the government’s agenda.

A report is expected in the second half of this year.

The draft recommendation obtained by The Australian was proposed as an interim protection for LGBTI students until the findings of the ALRC could be more thoroughly considered by parliament.

The deputy chairwoman of the Senate legal and constitutional affairs legislation committee, Louise Pratt, did not confirm or deny whether Labor had rejected the draft recommendation when contacted by The Australian.

“It is improper to discuss privileged committee deliberations. The position of the Labor members of the committee on the issues being examined is reflected in our dissenting report,” she said.

In its dissenting report, Labor senators recommended the bill be amended to clarify its scope after receiving evidence that its reference to “bodies established for ­religious purposes” could reach into the pulpit and prevent churches, synagogues or mosques from providing education in accordance with their religious beliefs.

The dissenting report proposed that “the bill be passed with the above amendment only”.

Religious schools have previously said they do not use the ­existing exemptions in the Sex Discrimination Act to turn away gay students.

Religious schools concede, however, that they are concerned the removal of these exemptions will leave them without the necessary legal protections to defend their faith-based teachings.

Many religious educators argued for their legal protections to be set out in positive terms instead of being codified by way of ­exemptions allowing them only the ability to discriminate in certain ­circumstances.

In their dissenting report, Labor senators said they were “deeply disappointed” the government had failed to remove the exemptions from the Sex Discrimination Act.