Summary of religious discrimination debate

RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION DEBATE

The religious discrimination bill, which removes discrimination on the basis of faith, has passed the lower house and now goes to the Senate.

* Labor’s proposed change to the “statement of belief” in the bill was defeated on a tied vote, with Liberals Bridget Archer and Trent Zimmerman voting with Labor and the crossbench. Labor had wanted to make it clear that the “statement of belief” provision does not remove or diminish any existing protections against discrimination.

* Aged care and religious vilification amendments were defeated with Ms Archer voting with Labor and Mr Zimmerman with the government. Labor had sought to make it clear that in-home aged service providers cannot discriminate on the basis of religion in the provision of aged care services.

* The Labor-crossbench amendment to repeal a section of the Sex Discrimination Act that allowed educational institutions to discriminate against students based on sexuality was passed after five Liberal MPs crossed the floor (Archer, Zimmerman, Fiona Martin, Katie Allen and Dave Sharma).

* The Greens say while the amended bill offers “a bit better” protection for students, they will seek to block and not just amend “Scott Morrison’s hate bill” in the Senate.

* Labor will seek to secure its full range of amendments in the Senate when the bill is debated. The government does not have a majority in the Senate so there is a prospect of some amendments succeeding, which would require the bill to return to the lower house.

Summary of religious discrimination debate
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