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Speaker 1: Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It is Wednesday,

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Speaker 1: the ninth of February. I'm Zara Seidler. Joining me today

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Speaker 1: is Billy Fitzsimon's to talk through the first Parliamentary sitting day,

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Speaker 1: which involved a lot of chat about the Religious Discrimination Act.

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Speaker 1: Before we get to that, Billy, there was an important

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Speaker 1: apology that was made yesterday.

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Speaker 2: Yesterday in Parliament, Australian political leaders, including Prime Minister Scott Morrison,

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Speaker 2: apologize to those who have faced sexual harassment, sexual assault

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Speaker 2: or bullying while working in Parliament House. Morrison said in

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Speaker 2: the apology quote, I want this building to be a

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Speaker 2: place where young Australians and young women in particular can

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Speaker 2: follow their dreams and can live out their beliefs and

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Speaker 2: not have them crushed by brutality and the misuse of power.

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Speaker 1: Yesterday United Australia Party leader and former Liberal Craig Kelly

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Speaker 1: signed a group of Freedom Convoy protesters into Parliament House.

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Speaker 1: These Freedom Convoy protesters had been in and around camera

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Speaker 1: for a couple of days, and Kelly brought the individuals

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Speaker 1: into the building and planned to give letters to the

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Speaker 1: Prime Minister, Opposition Leader and Speaker of the House asking

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Speaker 1: them to end vaccine mandates.

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Speaker 2: Russian President Vladimir Pudin and French leader Emmanuel Macron have

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Speaker 2: held talks, marking the first meeting between a Western leader

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Speaker 2: and Pudin since the rising concerns over a potential Russian

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Speaker 2: invasion into Ukraine. Macron said Pudin had a quote assured

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Speaker 2: me of his readiness to engage with proposals of concrete

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Speaker 2: security guarantees.

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Speaker 1: And some hump day good news, A paralyzed man with

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Speaker 1: a severed spinal cord is able to walk again thanks

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Speaker 1: to a team of researchers from Switzerland who successfully developed

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Speaker 1: an implant, the first time someone who has had a

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Speaker 1: complete cut to their spinal cord has been able to

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Speaker 1: walk freely.

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Speaker 2: Today, we're talking about the Religious Discrimination Bill and Zara.

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Speaker 2: Before we dive into what the Religious Discrimination Bill actually is,

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Speaker 2: can you explain where it originated from?

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Speaker 1: Well, Billy, I'm sure you remember the legalization of same

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Speaker 1: sex marriage in Australia in twenty seventeen. After that happened,

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Speaker 1: a parliamentary review, which was led by then Attorney General

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Speaker 1: Philip Ruddock, was established to examine whether or not Australian

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Speaker 1: law was adequately protecting the human right to freedom of religion.

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Speaker 1: Then if we fast forward to twenty eighteen, in December,

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Speaker 1: the report was released and it made a whole host

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Speaker 1: of recommendations. One of those recommendations was that the Commonwealth,

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Speaker 1: so the Federal Government should amend the Sex Discrimination Act

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Speaker 1: to quote provide that religious schools may discriminate in relation

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Speaker 1: to students on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity

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Speaker 1: or relationship status. Now it's important to note here that

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Speaker 1: that recommendation specifically was not adopted by the federal government,

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Speaker 1: but Scott Morrison did go to the twenty nineteen election

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Speaker 1: promising a Religious Disscrimination Act as part of the government's

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Speaker 1: response to this Ruddic report. Then in November of last year,

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Speaker 1: just as the parliamentary year was wrapping up, Morrison personally

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Speaker 1: introduced this long awaited bill to Parliament.

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Speaker 3: I'm really pleased to present the Religious Discrimination Bill twenty

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Speaker 3: twenty one and the explanatory memory. Today we fix an

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Speaker 3: important weakness in our discrimination laws, as our government promised

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Speaker 3: to do to the people of Australia at the last election.

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Speaker 3: Today we honor that commitment laws needed to protect citizens

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Speaker 3: in a tolerant, multicultural liberal democracy.

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Speaker 2: And so what are the key points of this bill.

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Speaker 1: So the bill amends existing federal anti discrimination legislation to

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Speaker 1: make it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of a

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Speaker 1: person's religious belief or activity, so just like it's illegal

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Speaker 1: to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation or disability

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Speaker 1: or anything else for that matter. It also states that

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Speaker 1: certain conduct will not be considered discrimination, and to take

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Speaker 1: an example, it states that education institutions are able to

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Speaker 1: preference people in employment who holds or engage in a

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Speaker 1: particular religious belief or activity. I won't delve too far

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Speaker 1: into the details of the bill that was introduced to

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Speaker 1: Parliament last year because we're expecting an amended version of

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Speaker 1: this bill shortly.

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Speaker 2: And so do we know what some of those amendments

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Speaker 2: will be.

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Speaker 1: Well, we're getting a good indication. Last week Prime Minister

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Speaker 1: Scott Morrison said that as part of the bill, the

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Speaker 1: Government will seek to amend the Sex Discrimination Act to

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Speaker 1: stop religious schools from discriminating against LGBTIQ plus students. And

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Speaker 1: this might sound familiar because there was a story in

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Speaker 1: the news about a school in Brisbane that had done

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Speaker 1: just that, and that's because Section thirty eight of the

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Speaker 1: Sex Discrimination Act currently allows religious schools to discriminate against

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Speaker 1: students on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity.

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Speaker 2: So you said the government wants to stop religious schools

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Speaker 2: from discriminate against LGBTIQ plus students, but what about discriminating

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Speaker 2: against gender identity.

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Speaker 1: Well, that was the big topic of discussion yesterday in

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Speaker 1: the morning. Finance Minister Simon Birmingham got up and confirmed

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Speaker 1: the bill will not protect transgender students from being discriminated against.

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Speaker 1: Here's a snippet of what he said in a conversation

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Speaker 1: with Patricia Carvellis on RM Breakfast. Can schools still under

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Speaker 1: the changes you're proposing, and we'll take to your party

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Speaker 1: room exclude transgender students?

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Speaker 4: So I understand the proposal that is put forward is

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Speaker 4: to repel the exemption as it relates to students of

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Speaker 4: being exempted from the Sex Discrimination Act on the basis

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Speaker 4: of their sexual orientation but not gender. Now it doesn't

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Speaker 4: go further than that.

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Speaker 2: And I've heard that this bill doesn't actually have universal

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Speaker 2: support from the coalition.

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Speaker 1: Is that right? It is?

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Speaker 3: So?

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Speaker 1: Tasmanian Liberal MP Bridget Archer has said she'll cross the

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Speaker 1: floor and vote against the religious discrimination Bill. Just a

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Speaker 1: quick side note that crossing the floor means a member

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Speaker 1: of Parliament refuses to vote with their own party and

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Speaker 1: instead votes with the opposing side. So on Monday, bridget

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Speaker 1: Archer said she'd cross the floor when it came to

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Speaker 1: actually voting on the bill, this religious discrimination bill, as

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Speaker 1: she believed it could overrule anti discrimination laws in Tasmania,

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Speaker 1: her home state. She said, and I quote, we should

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Speaker 1: do what we can to protect them and to continue

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Speaker 1: to not discriminate or not allow discrimination against anyone on

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Speaker 1: the basis of any attribute.

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Speaker 2: And can you talk me through what Labour's position is

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Speaker 2: in all of this.

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Speaker 1: Labour s editors said last week they agree Ossie should

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Speaker 1: not be discriminated against because of their religious beliefs. However,

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Speaker 1: they also believe that this should not come at the

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Speaker 1: expense of the rights and freedoms of others. Then yesterday morning,

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Speaker 1: Opposition leader and that is Labor leader Anthony Alberizi he

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Speaker 1: reiterated that view. He also said that the Prime Minister

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Speaker 1: had ridden to him last year asking for a meeting

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Speaker 1: and a discussion about this religious discrimination bill, which he accepted,

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Speaker 1: but then he said he hadn't heard from the PM

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Speaker 1: since then. While we're talking about different perspectives, I do

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Speaker 1: think it's important to add what Equality Australia, which is

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Speaker 1: of course a national LGBTIQ Plus organization, has said on

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Speaker 1: the matter. Last week Billy they called for the government

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Speaker 1: to scrap the religious discrimination in full, with the CEO

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Speaker 1: Anna Brown saying that the laws would take the country backwards,

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Speaker 1: winding back hard for protections for women, people with disability,

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Speaker 1: LGBTIQ people and people of faith, and the CEO added

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Speaker 1: that it would undermine safe and inclusive schools and workplaces.

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Speaker 2: And Zara, you and I are heading to Canberra today,

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Speaker 2: so it's definitely something that we will keep an eye

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Speaker 2: on as the Parliamentary sitting week continues until tomorrow.

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Speaker 1: Sure is thank you as ever for joining us on

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Speaker 1: the Daily OS. If you want to keep up to

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Speaker 1: date on this piece of legislation or anything else in

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Speaker 1: the news, follow us on Instagram at the Daily It's

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Speaker 1: where over three hundred thousand people get their news every

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Speaker 1: day and we'd love to welcome you to that community.

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Speaker 1: See then,