07:08

The Senate debate on removing discrimination law exemptions for religious schools is underway.

The Greens leader, Richard Di Natale, said Australians were “horrified” to learn religious schools can fire teachers and expel students on grounds of sexuality and gender, and this should be fixed. The government leader in the Senate, Mathias Cormann, confirmed the government will not support the bill, because it does not agree on removing the exemption for teachers.

Labor senator Jacinta Collins also made some very interesting remarks about the need to respect the right of religious schools to be run in accordance with their beliefs, and parents to have their children educated “in accordance with their religious convictions”.

Collins said that schools expect teachers and staff to “respect the ethos, values and principles of the particular faith and not to act in ways that undermine schools’ mission”.

Collins said that while religious exemptions to discrimination law are “out of step with community expectations” legislators need to ensure that schools are “positively entitled to operate in accordance with their belief and mission”. While the Greens bill cures the former problem, it only “addresses one side of the equation” by doing nothing on the latter.

Here’s the kicker:

“We would also like to see in legislation a recognition that religious schools are entitled to require employees to act in their roles in a way that upholds the ethos and values of that faith; and this requirement can be taken into account when a person is first employed and in the course of their employment.”

This sounds like Labor is giving a red light to discrimination on the grounds of sexuality but a green light to positively selecting people that uphold a school’s ethos. I’m seeking clarification on that, and how it might be achieved.