(Image: Mitchell Squire/Private Media)

The future of the government’s religious discrimination bill is in Labor’s hands, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison managed to drag it through the Coalition joint partyroom yesterday.

After a marathon meeting which spilled over two sessions, the final package is a political compromise that leaves transgender children dangerously exposed, and few in Canberra truly satisfied.

But Labor, who has approached the bill with extreme caution since its introduction late last year, is still working out its position. This morning its cabinet and caucus held an urgent meeting, even as loud calls from LGBTIQ advocates and within the Labor movement push for the party to more strongly oppose the bill.

What the government offered up

Yesterday the Coalition reached some degree of consensus — but barely. The partyroom agreed to introduce the bill with minor amendments, as well as a change to s38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act which would remove the ability of religious schools to expel gay students but crucially still allow them to engage in other forms of discrimination. Transgender kids could still be expelled, despite Morrison’s earlier promise to provide protection against discrimination based on gender identity.

Still, some of the most forceful opposition so far has come from moderates within the government. Yesterday Liberal MP Bridget Archer confirmed she would vote against the bill, and raised concerns about its effect on LGBTIQ students and the override of existing discrimination laws.

“I’m not prepared to stand by and see our state laws eroded to privilege one group or another,” Archer said. “It’s not OK to be cruel, offensive or humiliating just because you can say it with conviction or point to a religious text to back it up.”

Other moderates — including Dave Sharma, Katie Allen, Andrew Bragg and Fiona Martin — raised concerns about the bill in the partyroom. North Sydney MP Trent Zimmerman said he would reserve his position, paving the way for him to potentially cross the floor.

The bill is again scheduled for debate today, but with the speaker list at 36 it is unlikely to come to a vote before the House. There are just three Senate sitting days between now and the election, meaning the government is running out of time to get it passed.

Labor MP’s powerful moment

Although the opposition’s final position is unclear, some MPs have already voiced concerns. In a deeply moving speech in the House of Representatives yesterday, Labor frontbencher Stephen Jones described the tragic death by suicide last week of his 15-year-old gay nephew, urging all sides of politics to consider the impact on queer children.

“What message do we want to this Parliament to send to these kids?” he asked. “Are they as loved and cherished and respected as every other kid? Surely we aren’t saying to them, it’s OK if you are gay … just as long as we can’t see it.”

Labor MP Matt Thistlethwaite raised concerns about the bill’s “statements of belief” clause, which allows a genuinely held religious belief to override discrimination laws.

Fissures within Labor

Like so much of Labor’s caution this term, its approach to religious discrimination is coloured by its shock loss in 2019. At the polls, many conservative religious voters lost faith in the party. Several Labor-held electorates in western Sydney, which recorded the highest “no” votes at the same-sex marriage postal survey, swung against their sitting MPs.

But within the broader Labor movement, there is considerable opposition to the bill. This morning ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr, the only openly gay government leader in the country, told Radio National he opposed the bill in its current form, and wanted to see “significant amendments”.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions raised concerns about the impact on students, as well as workers in education and aged care sectors.

“As the sun sets on this Parliament, [Morrison] is bringing forward a confusing and divisive bill that will increase discrimination and make workplaces less safe,” ACTU president Michele O’Neil said.

There’s strong opposition among the rank and file too, particularly in the party’s youth wings, according to NSW Young Labor VP Lachlan Good.

“I think the party is missing an opportunity to mobilise growing public outrage at this very cruel bill,” Good said.

“I think the party is understandably cautious in the lead-up to the election — but the reality is that people vote on the basis of what you stand for. It’s important to move beyond the inanity of the culture war and establish ourselves as moral leaders.”