Page 4893 - Week 13 - Tuesday, 27 November 2018
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requirements are reasonable in the circumstances. These protections would be severely limited under the amendments proposed by Mr Coe.
For example—this may be an unusual example, but I am sure it exists—a Muslim student who attends a Catholic school could presumably be required to attend mass and potentially take communion under the amendments moved by Mr Coe. We are very concerned that this amendment will not strike the appropriate balance of rights in this context and, indeed, could unduly limit a student’s right to religious freedom.
In response to these amendments the explanatory statement has been revised to ensure that it is crystal clear that this bill is not about stopping religious educational institutions from teaching the things they believe in. However, the government believes that it is appropriate that the ability of religious schools to impose conditions and requirements on students and staff that could have an indirectly discriminatory effect, including requirements to participate in religious observances and practices, should be qualified by the requirement that they are reasonable in the circumstances. That is what this bill achieves.
For this reason and because of the undue limit Mr Coe’s amendment would have on students’ rights to religious freedom, we will not be supporting it today. I commend the bill unamended to the Assembly.
MR COE (Yerrabi—Leader of the Opposition) (5.45): Chief Minister, why is the government not willing to accept my altered amendment? My altered amendment states that it has to be reasonable in the circumstances and it has to be done in accordance with a policy published by the educational institution. Why is the government not willing to support that?
They are not willing to support an amendment that says that it is not unlawful for an educational institution to require a student to participate in religious education at the institution if the education is conducted in accordance with the doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings of a particular religion or creed and requiring the student to participate in religious education at the institution where it is intended to enable or better enable the institution to be conducted in accordance with those doctrines, tenets, beliefs or teachings and it is in accordance with a policy published by the educational institution that is readily accessible by the prospective and current students of the institution and is reasonable in the circumstances.
That is exactly what I put to the government yet they do not want to include it. That is why I have extreme suspicion about the real motivation. That is why it is so important that we get an amendment up today. The fact that we have available an amendment that supposedly addresses Mr Barr’s concern and yet he is still not willing to put it in the legislation is a real worry to the opposition.
MR BARR (Kurrajong—Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Social Inclusion and Equality, Minister for Tourism and Special Events and Minister for Trade, Industry and Investment) (5.48): As the Leader of the Opposition well knows, the legislation already contains the protections he is seeking. This is simply grandstanding and looking for a reason to oppose the bill overall. My suspicion is that in order to hide
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