The government has narrowly steered its contentious religious discrimination bill through parliament's lower house after a marathon all-night debate.
Key points:
- Labor secured support for amendments to protect LGBT students against religious discrimination
- Five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to support the amendment
- After an all-night debate, the bill passed with a vote of 65-59
But in a huge victory for the opposition, five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor in support of a crossbench amendment to extend stronger protections to include transgender students.
Liberals Trent Zimmerman, Bridget Archer, Fiona Martin, Katie Allen and David Sharma all voted to repeal a section of the Sex Discrimination Act that allowed religious schools to discriminate against students on the grounds of both sexuality and gender identity.
Dozens of MPs on all sides took to the floor during an emotional debate that started long before sundown and finished in the early hours of the morning.
Waving a rainbow flag, Trent Zimmerman's voice cracked as he told parliament he would cross the floor to back Labor's amendments.
"I can honestly say this has been one of the most difficult weeks of my time in parliament," he said.
"I want to indicate I will be making the difficult decision to part with my party on some of the amendments before the chamber tonight.
The religious discrimination legislation aims to stop someone from being discriminated against because of their religious beliefs.
To garner support for that from moderate Liberals, the government had agreed to amend existing laws to prevent schools excluding students because of their sexual orientation
"I cannot stand by and do anything that makes their situation more difficult, which sends anything other than a message from this parliament, which most receive in their schools but sadly some don't, that we want to embrace you, we want to love you, we want to support you, we want to nurture you," Mr Zimmerman said.
Before the vote, Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese did his best to persuade other Coalition MPs to support the Sex Discrimination Act amendments.
"Australian families are going to wake up in a few hours and look on with sadness and anger if this does not occur."
During the debate on the religious discrimination bill, Labor tried to pass amendments to prevent discriminatory statements in the name of religion, with former leader Bill Shorten, now the Shadow Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme, speaking passionately about the issue.
"Some documented examples of current abuse are direct statements to people of disability that their disability is punishment from God for their or their parents' sins, or their disability can be healed by prayer or by living [virtuously], or that they deserve to suffer from their disability for what they have done in a previous life," he said.
The bill passed the House of Representatives with Labor's support just after 4am on Thursday after more than 10 hours of debate.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison appeared on the floor of the House of Representatives before the vote, saying he had hoped the bill would unite the House.
"During the course of this debate, the issue of transgender children and teachers has also been raised," he said.
"And there'll be a time and place to address that as well."
Mr Morrison also sought to appease some within his party by announcing a new parliamentary committee chaired by paediatrician and Victorian Liberal MP Katie Allen to examine the reforms.
Dozens of parliamentarians reflect on personal experiences
Dozens of MPs spoke to the bill, reflecting on different personal experiences.
Egyptian-Australian Labor MP Peter Khalil reflected on his own experience.
"As someone who has experienced discrimination in my own life — both personally and professionally — I know how important the principle of equality before the law is, and I know how important the principle of freedom of religion is," Mr Khalil said.
Some Labor MPs were frustrated they were even there in the first place.
After a parliamentary week featuring an apology to Brittany Higgins, the opening of international borders, and military support for aged care, religious discrimination has sucked up almost all of parliament's oxygen.
Labor MP Mike Freelander who represents Macarthur, a culturally and religiously diverse seat in south-western Sydney, told the ABC there were much more important issues at play.
"It's incredibly frustrating to me. There are a whole lot more things we should be looking at and should be trying to do, such as the Integrity Commission. Then there's a whole range of health issues that I think need to be properly aired and discussed, particularly aged care."
The religious discrimination bill passed with a final vote of 65-59.
The bill will now proceed to the Senate, where the government will decide whether to accept the amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act.
Labor will still pursue its amendments to the religious discrimination bill in the Upper House.
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMib2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmFiYy5uZXQuYXUvbmV3cy8yMDIyLTAyLTEwL3JlbGlnaW91cy1kaXNjcmltaW5hdGlvbi1iaWxsLXBhc3Nlcy1sb3dlci1ob3VzZS1vZi1wYXJsaWFtZW50LzEwMDgxODI2MtIBAA?oc=5
2022-02-09 17:44:31Z
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