The Australian Law Reform Commission was expected to deliver its report into the laws which currently allow LGBTIQA+ students to be expelled and teachers to be sacked from religious based schools on Friday, but the government has given them an extra 8 months to complete their work.
Just a day ahead of the report’s expected delivery date Attorney General Mark Dreyfus revealed that an extension had been granted.
“At the request of Commissioner, the Hon Justice Stephen Rothman AM, I have agreed to an extension for the reporting date for the Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) review of religious exemptions for educational institutions in Federal anti-discrimination law,” Dreyfus said in a statement.
“The extension will give the ALRC further time to properly consider the very large number of submissions to the inquiry.” he said.
The report will look into all grounds which currently allow religious based school to discriminate against staff and students. While sexuality is a prominent attribute being examined, marital status, pregnancy and other attributes are also being reviewed.
Concern about the delay was raised by the Public Interest Advocacy Centre (PIAC) who said they were seriously concerned about the report being pushed back to the end of the year. PIAC Director of Policy and Advocacy Alastair Lawrie said the delay was troubling.
“The length of this extension is particularly concerning as it means vital protections will likely not be passed this year. No LGBTQ+ student should be forced to enter the classroom in Term 1 of 2024 fearful of discrimination.
“It’s time for Dreyfus, and the Albanese government, to step up and pass amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act before the end of the year. Religious schools – which receive significant public funding – should not have a free pass to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.” Lawrie said.
Equality Australia have also voiced concern about the drawn-out process.
The legal director of Equality Australia, Ghassan Kassisieh, told The Guardian that discrimination against LGBTQ+ people was happening in religious schools across the country because of gaps in Australian laws that made it lawful.
“While we have waited for the law to change to protect our community, more people have lost their jobs and more children have been forced to leave school or been denied leadership roles. These legal gaps could have been addressed very simply, and quickly.
“We have engaged constructively with the ALRC and hope it uses the extension to get the detail right. People should not lose their jobs because they refer to their same-sex partners at work or be denied opportunities for leadership because they come out as gay or transgender, or support LGBTQ+ people.” Kassisieh said.
Just.Equal Australia responded to the news saying the extension of time should be used to extend the inquiry to all faith-based services, including hospitals and charities.
Just.Equal spokesperson, Sally Goldner, said the ALRC could use the additional time to broaden their scope.
“Discrimination in faith-based hospitals, disability, welfare and employment services and charities is just as serious as discrimination in faith-based schools and should be subject to the current inquiry.”
“Those who seek help from faith-based services are often vulnerable and in great need, while staff in these services are under immense pressure to meet this need.”
“It is completely unacceptable that these clients and staff members should face the possibility of discrimination because they are LGBTQ+ without any legal protection.”
“If it’s wrong to expel LGBTQ+ students and sack LGBTQ+ teachers, then it’s also wrong to discriminate against employees and clients of hospitals, disability, welfare and employment services and charities.” Goldner said.
“We call on the Federal Government and Australian Law Reform Commission to use the eight-month extension to the current inquiry to include all faith-based services.”
Goldner said faith-based aged care facilities are an example of where discrimination protections have worked to protect LGBTQ+ people accessing services.
“This protection has been in place since 2013 without the sky falling in. It’s time it was extended to protect LGBTQ+ staff in aged care services, who are still not protected, as well as employees and people accessing services across other faith-based community services.”
The Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS) have welcomed the extension of time saying it would allow the Commission to develop recommendations that met the government’s terms of reference for the report.
“And as all teachers know, when the homework task is not right, extensions must be given…” the ACCS Executive Officer Vanessa Cheng said.
“The ALRC has a lot of work to do to get this right. We hope the extension of time allows it to deliver a much more balanced set of recommendations which will protect the personal rights of staff and students while also allowing the freedom of religious schools to build a ‘community of faith’.”
Lobby group Freedom for Faith responded to the announcement of the extension, saying while it was not unexpected, they held concerns that it would slow down the progress of a Religious Discrimination Bill.
“The large length of time given raises significant questions about the Government’s plans for the Religious Discrimination Bill, and what will happen in the likely case of an early election being called next year.” Executive Director Mike Southon said in an email.
Addressing the sections of the Sex Discrimination Act that allow discrimination from religious based schools has been a long and drawn-out process in Australian politics. It was first highlighted in the Ruddock Review commissioned by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull in 2017.
OIP Staff
24-04-23 Correction – this article incorrectly named the Attorney General as Richard rather than Mark Dreyfus. We realise Richard Dreyfus is the star of Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind and Mr Holland’s Opus.
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