In two recent media statements, the IEU called on state and federal Labor governments to introduce promised changes to anti-discrimination laws in line with modern community standards.
At the last federal election in 2022, Labor made a commitment to protect teachers from discrimination at work while maintaining the right of religious schools to preference those of their faith in staff selection. They also promised to protect students from discrimination.
The IEU has been consistently vocal in calling on the government to keep this promise. In June alone, NSW/ACT Branch Secretary Carol Matthews spoke to unions across Australia about proposed changes to anti-discrimination laws when she addressed the ACTU Congress (read article), and the IEU released two media statements on this pressing issue.
Teachers, support staff and school leaders have shared devastating stories with the union of discrimination in the workplace. On 13 June, the Sydney Morning Herald reported on ‘Charlotte’, a teacher who was dismissed from a Christian school in Sydney when a parent told the school she was in a same-sex relationship.
It is unlawful for most employers to discriminate on the basis of an employee’s sexual orientation, gender, pregnancy, marital status or use of fertility treatments. However, faith-based schools still have special exemptions that enable them to treat staff in ways that would be prohibited elsewhere.
Under the federal Sex Discrimination Act, there are exemptions for religious schools to discriminate based on sexual orientation, gender identity, sex, marital or relationship status or pregnancy if they claim they are discriminating in accordance with religious beliefs.
In March this year, the Australian Law Reform Commission released a report on the changes required to federal laws to protect teachers and students.
Under the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act, which the NSW Labor government referred to the NSW Law Reform Commission for review in 2023, private educational authorities can discriminate on the basis of sex, transgender identity, disability, sexual orientation, and marital or domestic status. The review is still in progress.
The IEU is calling for all exemptions to be scrapped. As Matthews said in her address to the ACTU Congress, the exemptions “have deeply detrimental impacts on our members’ lives”.
Employers have nothing to fear from these changes. The Northern Territory government removed religious discrimination exemptions from its Anti-Discrimination Act in late 2022, and faith-based schools continue to provide high-quality education.