Weekend Wrap for 13 February 2022
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 13 February 2022, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
Note that some of the articles published earlier in the week were, to some degree, made redundant by later articles (once the Religious Discrimination Bill was shelved), but we include them for the sake of completeness.
At the National Level
Moderate Liberals are threatening to sink a religious discrimination bill that they fear goes too far in enshrining protections for religious beliefs that may infringe on existing discrimination laws. (7 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
Attorney-General Michaelia Cash says a move to immediately strip church schools of the ability to discriminate against transgender students would raise complications over bathrooms and uniform requirements, and risk eroding the ethos of single-sex religious schools. (8 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
The Morrison government will seek to protect gay students from expulsion without protecting trans students at the same time, a senior minister has revealed. (8 Feb 2022) Read more at The Guardian
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has secured party room support for a contentious religious discrimination bill package despite moderate Liberals’ concerns, forcing Labor to decide whether to back laws that protect gay students from expulsion but not transgender students. (8 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
A battle looms over the government's proposed religious discrimination laws, after Labor vowed to fight for protections for LGBT teachers and transgender students once the bill reaches the Senate. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
The government's contentious religious discrimination bill has passed through parliament's lower house after a marathon all-night debate, but its future remains unclear. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
The broad church of the Liberal Party was tested this week as five MPs crossed the floor and another threatened to do so in the Senate to strengthen protections for gay and transgender students under the federal government’s contentious suite of religious discrimination bills. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
The government suffered a major defeat on the floor of the House of Representatives overnight as MPs debated its contentious religious discrimination laws in a sitting which lasted until dawn was breaking over Canberra. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
Discrimination is unacceptable, say Liberal MP Dave Sharma and Senator Andrew Bragg. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at the Star Observer
The Australian Christian Lobby have announced they no longer support the government’s Religious Discrimination Bill as it passed the House of Representatives in the early hours of this morning. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at Out in Perth
Labor leader Anthony Albanese says the opposition will continue to fight for its amendments to Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s religious discrimination bill when it heads to the Senate, after the bill passed the House of Representatives in an all-night parliamentary session. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
The government has indefinitely shelved its bid to overhaul religious freedom laws, leaving one of the Coalition's central 2019 election commitments hanging in uncertainty. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
The federal government will push for a Senate inquiry into key parts of its religious discrimination bills in a decision that avoids a vote in the upper house after NSW Liberal senator Andrew Bragg told the government he was prepared to cross the floor to protect the rights of transgender children. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Angry Liberals are blaming Prime Minister Scott Morrison for putting them through a “shambles” in Parliament after he shelved a draft law on religious freedom to avoid a Senate defeat amid a new leak from federal cabinet. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Fourteen-year-old Paddy Quilter-Jones was thrust into the spotlight when their father, Shadow Assistant Treasurer Stephen Jones, delivered an impassioned speech during debate on the federal government's controversial religious discrimination bill. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
One of the government's most senior ministers says Prime Minister Scott Morrison was misled on how his party would vote on proposed religious discrimination laws, leading to a major government defeat in parliament. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
There were five Liberal MPs who crossed the floor to protect LGBTQ+ students against discrimination but the one who tipped the balance is now being accused of breaching a commitment not to defeat the government. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at The Guardian
The rights of transgender and gender diverse people are under the spotlight again thanks to the government’s proposed religious discrimination laws. Parents and transgender teachers react to religious discrimination bill debate. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
Moderate Liberals were not shown legal advice the attorney-general is using to justify saying amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act would increase discrimination against students. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at The New Daily
Liberal senator Eric Abetz has described the Religious Discrimination Bill a "shemozzle", saying people of faith in Australia were better off with nothing that the bill that was before the senate. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at Out in Perth
Australian religious groups say shelving of discrimination bill 'disappointing' and 'confusing'. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at The Guardian
Around the Country
VIC: Victorian Premier Dan Andrews on Tuesday said that his government would defend the state’s laws that protect gay and trans students from discrimination in faith-based schools. (8 Feb 2022) Read more at the Star Observer
NSW: The New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has questioned the need for the federal government’s religious discrimination bill, saying the proposed laws could cause more problems than they solve. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at The Guardian
NSW: Penrith Christian School has listed transgender identity and same-sex attraction alongside "abusive relationships" as behaviours "not acceptable to God" in a statement attached to its enrolment application. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at the Star Observer
VIC: Victoria has become the third jurisdiction in Australia to decriminalise sex work. The new laws passed Victorian Parliament's Upper House on Thursday night, clearing their final hurdle. They will go back to the Lower House for a final vote, where the government has a clear majority. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
NSW: Voters in Western Sydney feel 'disconnected' from the debate in Canberra over the religious freedom bill. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
QLD: Member for Leichhardt, Warren Entsch, has been asked by constituents not to turn his back on the LGBTQI community as, after his strong advocacy for same-sex marriage, he chose not to oppose the Religious Discrimination Bill. (12 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
Commentary and Analysis
Stephen McAlpine: Is Citipointe the tipping point for religious expression? (6 Feb 2022) Read more at Eternity News
Greg Bondar: Will the Religious Discrimination Bill see the light of day? (7 Feb 2022) Read more at Eternity News
Edward Santow: Religious discrimination bill contorts equality principle. (8 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Jon Eastgate: Since the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2017, some parts of the Christian church have been advocating for legislation to protect the freedom of religious organisations to set criteria for employment and participation based on their beliefs. In this article, I argue that Christians have been trapped in a zero-sum game that is neither good human rights practice, nor informed by a gospel ethic. There is a much better way. (8 Feb 2022) Read more at Eternity News
David Crowe: Why Labor is smart to try to change the religious discrimination bill. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Douglas Ezzy: A new survey, soon to be published in the Journal of Sociology, shows a majority of Australians do not think religious organisations that provide government-funded public services should be allowed to discriminate against LGBTQ+ people. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at The Conversation
Joel Hollier: As the government prepares to push through its controversial religious discrimination bill this week, serious questions have been raised about protections for gay and transgender students in faith-based schools. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at The Conversation
The Age Editorial: Every child deserves protection of the law. (9 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Neil Foster: Religious Discrimination Bill passes lower house along with SDA amendment. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at Law and Religion Australia
Michael Koziol: Religious schools and LGBTQI students are once again at the centre of the federal political debate. Fair enough if it seems like groundhog day: there has been talk about law reform in this area since the legalisation of same-sex marriage in 2017. Now there is a federal government proposal to prevent religious schools expelling students for being gay. It sounds simple, but it turns out to be anything but. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Anthony N Castle: I grew up in a Christian school – and the religious discrimination bill must be scrapped to protect our children. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Guardian
Brett Worthington: The Liberal Party likes to describe itself as a broad church. Although, when five of your own cross the floor to join with the opposition and crossbench, you start to get the sense that on this issue, these Liberals come from a different denomination. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
Michelle Pini: Scott’s religious devotion sacrifices sex abuse survivors…plus all non-god botherers. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at Independent Australia
Michael Koziol: Scuttling the religion package shows where priorities lay all along. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Katharine Murphy: It began with a pre-dawn insurrection on religious discrimination and it got worse for Scott Morrison. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Guardian
Trent Zimmerman: Gay Liberal MP tells why he crossed the floor: I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t act. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Theo Boltman: Prime Minister, your religious discrimination bill puts teen lives at risk. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Waleed Aly: There’s a solution to the discrimination bill balancing act – but it comes at a price. (10 Feb 2022) Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald
Stephen Jones MP: As a father, my duty was to Paddy. As an MP, it was to all families with LGBTQI kids (11 Feb 2022) Read more at The Age
Sydney Morning Herald Editorial: Take the time to write a proper religious discrimination bill. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald
Michelle Grattan: Scott Morrison made three foolish and arrogant assumptions this week when he tried to push his controversial religious discrimination legislation through parliament. (11 Feb 2022) Read more at ABC News
Mike Seccombe: How the religious freedom bill fell apart. (12 Feb 2022) Read more at The Saturday Paper (paywalled)
Chip Le Grand: The moment the Religious Discrimination Bill died there was no public outpouring of grief. This is not surprising. If you understood this proposed law only from the debate surrounding it rather than what was written in the legislation, you could be forgiven for thinking its main purpose was to allow religious schools to expel students because of their sexuality or gender. (12 Feb 2022) Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald
Events and Advisories
Minister for Human Rights, Tara Cheyne, is running a petition calling on the Australian government to restore the right of Territories to pass laws on VAD. She also recommends people email the Commonwealth Attorney-General with their views, at attorney@ag.gov.au.
Dying With Dignity NSW has a tool that makes it easy for people to contact their federal MPs and senators to request help in repealing the "Andrews Bill", the 1997 legislation which denies the Territories the right to pass legislation on Voluntary Assisted Dying.
That's it for another week!
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