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Key posts

• 7.30am‘Respect every child for who they are,’ Albanese says
• 7.17amLiberals rebel to protect trans students as Religious Discrimination Bill passes lower house
• 6.47amThis morning’s headlines at a glance

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‘Respect every child for who they are,’ Albanese says

Staying with the government’s religious discrimination package, and Labor leader Anthony Albanese held a press conference earlier to discuss the amendments that were pushed through by his side of politics, members of the crossbench and socially progressive Liberal MPs.

Here’s what Mr Albanese had to say:

We support the removal or the extension of any discrimination legislation to cover discrimination on the basis of religion, or on the basis of faith, but we don’t believe that should be at a cost of increasing discrimination against other groups.

In particular, we were concerned about the impact against students who may be struggling with their gender identity, or who have a sexual orientation which they are coming to terms with, and which the pressure on a young person at that time should be something that is respected.

Labor believes very clearly that we need to respect every child for who they are. That is a fundamental principle we took into the Parliament and were determined to pursue along with other amendments to improve the legislation as it stood.

The amendment carried will prohibit schools discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, relationship, or marital status. That makes an enormous difference.

It is unfortunate there has been division over this process. This should have been something that united the country and took us forward as one with respect for our common humanity.

We’re a diverse nation, made up of young and old, people of different ethnicities, different religions, different sexual orientations. We need to respect every Australian for who they are.

Labor will continue to argue for additional amendments in the Senate if the legislation gets there.

Liberals rebel to protect trans students as Religious Discrimination Bill passes lower house

The federal government’s contentious Religious Discrimination Bill has passed through the House of Representatives after a marathon session of Parliament.

However, in a significant blow to the government, five Liberals crossed the floor just before 5am to vote with Labor in support of independent MP Rebekah Sharkie’s amendment to abolish the right of religious schools to discriminate against gay and transgender students.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison in Parliament yesterday.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

Bridget Archer, Trent Zimmerman, Fiona Martin, Katie Allen and Dave Sharma rebelled to repeal s38(3) of the Sex Discrimination Act that allows religious schools to discriminate against students on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy. That vote was carried by a margin of 65 to 57 votes in what a Labor source described as a “crushing win”.

The government had sought a much narrower amendment to the act that would have prohibited religious schools from expelling students because they are gay, while leaving unaddressed broader discrimination against gay students, and leaving transgender students unprotected entirely.

Read the full story here.

This morning’s headlines at a glance

Good morning and thanks for your company.

It’s Thursday, February 10. I’m Broede Carmody and I’ll be anchoring our live coverage for the first half of the day.

Here’s what you need to know before we get started.

• The federal government’s contentious religious discrimination package has passed the lower house with amendments. As Lisa Visentin and Latika Bourke report, five Liberals crossed the floor with vote with Labor in support of an independent MP’s changes. The amendments will abolish the right of religious schools to discriminate against transgender students. The original bill was contentious because it prevented religious schools from expelling students for being gay, but had no such protections for gender diverse students. The bill will now go to the Senate and all eyes will be on the crossbench. Labor says it will try to introduce an anti-vilification clause in the upper house.
• The National Australia Day Council has denied having “threatening” conversations with Grace Tame after the 2021 Australian of the Year yesterday claimed a senior member of a government-funded organisation called her and urged her not to criticise Prime Minister Scott Morrison.
• Japan and Australia will conduct more sophisticated military exercises together under a new agreement designed to strengthen ties and protect against coercion and intimidation from China, Peter Hartcher writes.
• Australia’s overall death rate has increased for the first time during the pandemic, according to new modelling. NSW reported an additional 10,312 COVID cases and 20 deaths yesterday. In Victoria, the figures were 9908 and 21 respectively. And Queensland recorded its deadliest day of the pandemic so far yesterday, with 24 lives lost and 6902 new infections.

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