00:00 The Morrison government tried to extend anti-discrimination provisions to include religion.
00:07 It failed because of concerns such a move could allow religious schools to discriminate
00:12 against other minorities, such as gay or trans students and teachers.
00:17 Before the last election, Anthony Albanese promised to bring religious discrimination
00:22 laws and protection for students before Parliament again.
00:26 This morning, the Prime Minister told Labor colleagues he'd had a discussion with Peter
00:30 Dutton about it, and told him that Labor would only proceed if the legislation got bipartisan
00:36 support.
00:37 That prompted an angry response, with Peter Dutton accusing Anthony Albanese of making
00:42 bipartisanship a condition so he could blame the Coalition if it failed.
00:47 He's looking for a way to crash this before the legislation has already been released.
00:53 That's what's happening here.
00:54 So he's trying to find an out on a topic that he doesn't want to go anywhere near.
00:59 There's no draft of the legislation completed yet, let alone detailed negotiation of the
01:04 fine print.
01:05 But already the issue has exploded with rancour.
01:08 The Coalition has been bruised by this issue in the past, and so far Peter Dutton isn't
01:13 willing to publicly discuss even the broad principles he'd back.
01:18 Labor is worried too that a compromise will please no one and worsen social cohesion,
01:24 already stretched thin by the war in Gaza.
01:27 [BLANK_AUDIO]
Comments