The Federal Government’s religious discrimination laws have passed their first legislative hurdle, after Labor agreed to support them in the Lower House while pushing for changes.
The bill passed early on Thursday morning by 90 votes to 6 after a marathon 11-hour debate in the House of Representatives, which included objections from Liberal moderates and independent MPs.
Labor and some crossbenchers fought for more protections for students identifying as transgender – but none of those amendments passed.
Opposition leader Anthony Albanese has told the Lower House, his party will continue to fight in the Upper House.
The passage of draft laws to protect religious freedoms is being self-described as a “win” for the Coalition Government.
Liberal Senator Jane Hume says, its a good outcome.
“The Prime Minister was the one who initiated the religious discrimination changes, to make sure that people of faith, and people without faith, were protected,” said Senator Hume, “so this has been a significant win – it was in fact an election promise, and it’s a promise that’s now been delivered.”
The Australian Christian Lobby has called for the Bill to be withdrawn, after a number of MP’s voted to remove section 38(3) from the Sex Discrimination Act.
This section of the Act contains important protections for religious schools to teach according to their faith values.
ACL’s National Director of Politics, Wendy Francis, says “taking away protections for Christian schools is a price too high to pay for the passage of the Religious Discrimination Bill.”
“The bills were intended to help faith-based schools, but they now do more harm than good,” said Mrs Francis.
The ACL has subsequently withdrawn its support for the Bill.
The legislation now heads to the Senate, where the Opposition will make more attempts to amend it.
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