Labor must end discrimination in faith-based schools
Given its first-term achievements rebalancing industrial relations laws and improving salaries and conditions in low-paid, female-dominated industries, the IEU welcomes the re-election of the Albanese government.
However, significant work remains – most notably, fulfilling Labor’s abandoned pre-election commitment to limit exemptions that allow faith-based employers to discriminate against school staff.
While legislation in Tasmania, Victoria, Queensland, the ACT and Northern Territory provide varying degrees of protection, federal law currently allows religious schools to discriminate on the basis of pregnancy, relationship status, or sexual identity or orientation.
Brad Hayes, Federal Secretary of the Independent Education Union of Australia said, ‘A newly elected federal Labor Government can finally close the loophole that permits discrimination against teachers, school support staff and students.’
‘With an historic ALP majority in the lower house – and a supportive crossbench and Greens in the Senate – there is no barrier to delivering long overdue reforms to discrimination exemptions. Protecting school staff from discrimination isn’t just ALP policy; it reflects clear community expectations.
‘A majority of Australians voted for compassion and rejected the politics of division at the federal election. It’s time for the new Government to put those values into action. They know it’s the right thing to do, and there’s no excuse for any delay.’
The Albanese Government went to the 2022 election promising to legislate on this issue and directed the Australian Law Reform Commission to investigate and offer recommendations. The subsequent ALRC report advocated an end to discrimination, however Labor failed to act despite having the numbers in Parliament to pass the necessary legislation, saying it needed the support of the opposition.
Spokesperson for national LGBTQA+ advocacy group Just.Equal Australia, Brian Greig, says it was a ‘cop-out’ for Federal Labor to say it wanted bipartisan support on an issue it knew the Coalition opposed.
‘Labor’s decision means that LGBTQA+ staff and students in faith schools can be subject to unfair treatment contrary to its own promise and to its LGBTQA+ mental health strategies.’
In 2024, a national survey from Curtin University’s School of Population Health, published in the journal Culture, Health and Sexuality, found that most parents with children at Australian religious schools oppose discrimination against LGBTIQA+ staff and students.
The survey concluded that most parents, across all sectors, support teaching inclusivity around sexual orientation, gender identity, and gender diversity, and reducing homophobia and transphobia. This includes a strong majority of parents who identify as ‘very’ religious.
Campaigning against the Religious Discrimination Bill, 2022