• The Religious Discrimination Bill has been pulled by the government and will not go to the Senate for debate.
  • Senate will next sit in March and there is doubt that the bill will be submitted.
  • Five moderate liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor and ensure protection for gay and trans students.
  • The Bill was passed in the early hours of Thursday with the support of Labor but with amendments – only to not see the light of day.

The federal government shelved its bid to revamp religious freedom laws and dumped a key 2019 Coalition election commitment.

The about-face came after a gruelling 20-hour debate in the House of Representatives when the Religious Discrimination Bill, with the support of Labor, was passed but with key amendments.

The Government pulled the bill from debate in the Senate, where the bill was set for a second face-off today.

According to the ABC, Coalition sources say the government is ‘unlikely to bring the bill back’ for debate when the Senate sits in March.

Just after the bill was pulled from going to the Senate Neos Kosmos talked to Steve Georganas the Labor Member for Adelaide.

“I’m disappointed that the government has pulled the bill. It should have been debated in the senate today, we sat all night in the house of reps to pass the bill with Labor amendments that made it fairer.”

Mr. Georganas said that the government has “a duty to now take the bill to the senate for debate on behalf of all Australians.”

He added that before the last election the Mr Morrison had “promised to make it unlawful to discriminate against all students.”

“He must deliver on that promise and Labor will continue to fight in the Senate to improve the Religious Discrimination Bill.

“Religious organisations and people of faith have the right to act in accordance with the doctrines, beliefs or teachings of their traditions and faith. But any extension of the federal anti-discrimination framework should not come at the expense of existing laws that protect Australians from other forms of discrimination.”

The government has sought to stop debate on religious freedoms from hijacking its sell of the pre-election budget.

A marathon waste of parliamentary time

Five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor on securing protections for transgender students in what ultimately was a watered-down version of the bill the government had initially proposed.

Over a 20hour gruelling session in the lower house, Labor persuaded five members of the coalition to vote against the Prime Minister and to cross the floor just after 4:00am Thursday morning.

Moderate Liberal MPs, Bridget Archer, Trent Zimmerman, Fiona Martin, Dave Sharma, and Katie Allen crossed the floor to vote with the Labor opposition.

The amendments sought to shield gay and transgender students from discrimination in faith-based schools.

The bill passed with 65 votes in favour and 57 votes against with amendments. Worn-out MPs shuffled out of the house around 5am, and the bill was to head to the Senate for debate.

Mr. Georganas said the opposition “voted with the government except with the amendments.”

“I don’t want any child discriminated against, and on the other hand, religious institutions and people of faith have the right to adhere to their doctrine, and run their affairs, without people threatening action.

He also criticised the government for bringing on the debate on the eve of an election.

“The prime minister brought on this debate, on the eve of an election, it’s the same person, the same party, that wanted to take away protections from multicultural communities in 2017 by seeking to change the 18C Racial Discrimination Act.

“On the one hand the prime minister and his party wanted to take away multicultural communities’ rights, and on the other hand he was now using multicultural communities to push this bill through.”

Mr Georganas said that matters of faith and sexuality should be handled with “greater care and in a bipartisan way.”

Neos Kosmos sought comment from Mr Trent Zimmerman and Ms Bridget Archer, two of the five MPs that broke ranks with their party, before the government pulled the bill.

A spokesperson for Mr Zimmerman referred Neos Kosmos to the MP’s speech and refused to be drawn into a discussion of whether there was hostility towards the MPs who crossed the floor.

Mr Zimmerman in his speech said that opposing religious discrimination was “a no-brainer” and that Australia should have legislation that “prevents one person discriminating against another person because of their religious faith.”

However, he said that the Bill without amendments “extends a greater privilege to freedom of conscience based on religious views” and “puts religious faith on a pedestal above other rights”.

Mr Zimmerman reflected on his own sexuality said he “lived in fear of discovery” in the 1980s.

The fear was real even if the school he attended “was not particularly conservative.” Mr. Zimmerman said that he could never “remember it preaching against homosexuality.”

He said he was “disturbed” by the “debate around transgender children.”

“I cannot support a situation where we solve a problem for one community but in fact enhance a problem for another.”

He said that the new bill was “putting in place something punitive.”

Mr. Zimmerman said that transgender people are “the most vulnerable people in our society.”

“The statistics show what they go through: the suicide rates, the attempted suicide rates, and the mental health problems.

“I cannot do anything which makes their situation more difficult, which sends anything other than a message from this parliament—as most receive in their schools, but sadly some don’t—that we want to embrace you, we want to love you, we want to support you and we want to nurture you during what is a difficult and often challenging part of your own lives, as you realise who you are and who you should be,” said Mr Zimmerman in Parliament.

This was a moral victory for Labor, and especially Mr Albanese.

Sagging Coalition polls, and a prime minister who seems unable to get in front of any issue, will be of concern for the government as they ramp up for elections.

Is it enough to further erode Australians’ confidence Mr Morrison in the eve of an election? We’ll soon find out.