The federal government has flagged draft legislation on religious freedom but Anthony Albanese this week personally told Peter Dutton he won’t proceed with it without opposition approval.
The PM raised the matter with Dutton when they were both aboard a VIP flight on Monday going to the funeral of former Labor minister Joel Fitzgibbon’s son Jack.
One piece of legislation would amend the Sex Discrimination Act that allows religious schools to discriminate on the basis of their values.
The government would remove the right of schools to discriminate against children on any ground but would retain the schools’ right to preference in hiring staff of their faith or who support their values.
The other piece of legislation is a religious discrimination bill that would add faith to the attributes (such as sex and sexuality) on which people are protected from discrimination.
Albanese told caucus on Tuesday: “If there is bipartisan agreement we will proceed. If there is not agreement, now is not the time to have a divisive debate, especially with the rise in antisemitism and Islamophobia”.
He indicated support from the Catholic church, Sydney Anglicans and imams for the government’s approach.
Labor promised before the election it would bring in legislation on religious discrimination.
The attempt by the Coalition government to legislate in this area ended in political disaster for then prime minister Scott Morrison when a number of Liberals crossed the floor over the issue of transgender children. Morrison then pulled the bill.
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus asked the Australian Law Reform Commission to advise the government on how to protect students and teachers against discrimination on the basis of sexuality and gender identification, while also enabling a school to maintain its religious ethos.
The report will be tabled Thursday – the deadline for doing so.
Dutton, at a news conference later on Tuesday, accused Albanese of a “set up”. He claimed the PM was trying to find a way out of his pre-election promise by saying he couldn’t proceed without bipartisan support. This “talks to the character of the Prime Minister”, who couldn’t be taken at his word.
Dutton said Albanese, who had not given him any document, had made it clear he would not support any parliamentary committee inquiry into the legislation. The Opposition Leader said he had treated the conversation as confidential.
Defending its position that it would not have a parliamentary inquiry into the legislation, the government says that since 2016, there have been at least 10 inquiries, more than 260 hearings and consultations and more than 70,000 submissions into religious discrimination and removing discrimination exemptions from the Sex Discrimination Act.
In an article in the West Australian on Tuesday Shadow Attorney-General Michaelia Cash posed several issues about the as-yet-unseen legislation.
“First, will the government’s reforms drive school fees up? If the government winds back existing protections, it will increase their exposure to litigation,” she asked.
“Second, how will religious schools be able to maintain their values?
"Third, could religious schools now be sued for teaching religious doctrines?
"Fourth, can you now be sued for comments about religion under the proposed legislation?”