Labor Senator Penny Wong says Prime Minister Scott Morrison should just let parliamentarians vote on Labor’s legislation that will provide protections for LGBTI students.
The Prime Minister vowed to remove the exemptions from anti-discrimination laws that allow religious based schools to expel students because of their sexuality. Scott Morrison said the deal would be done before the end of the year, but with just one week of parliament remaining the government has been unable to come to an agreement with Labor on the issue.
Coalition MPs are concerned the proposed legislation may inadvertently prohibit schools from teaching the tenets of their faith.
“I’m happy to have a discussion about how we ensure that we preserve the capacity of religious schools to teach the tenets of their faith,” Labor Senator Penny Wong told the ABC’s Insiders program.
“Nothing in the bill that is being proposed by the Labor Party stops that.”
Senator Wong said the issue could be resolved quickly if the Prime Minister took action.
“Why doesn’t he just ask his people to vote and do what they said they’d do?”
Mathias Cormann, the government’s leader in the senate, also spoke about the issue, saying religous schools should be able to set their own rules for conduct.
“Religious schools should be able to set reasonable rules in relation to the conduct within their schools,” Cabinet Minister Mathias Cormann told Sky News.
The Australian Conservatives have said it is not acceptable to expel students for their sexuality, unless the school discovers they have acted upon those desires. Spokesperson Lyle Shelton has previously said that schools should be able to expel students who are caught participating in homosexual activity.
OIP Staff
