Muristek
Shelving the overhaul of religious freedom laws seems like a “big dummy spit” by the Coalition government, according to Labor MP Stephen Jones. The government’s religious discrimination bill passed the House of Representatives after five Liberal MPs crossed the floor to vote with Labor in support of a crossbench amendment aimed at improving protections for transgender students. The bill was set to appear in the Senate on Thursday, where the government would have decided whether to accept the amendments. However, the Senate rejected bringing the bill in for debate, meaning it has been shelved indefinitely. Mr Jones said he thinks the move was “unfortunate,” as he believed the law and protections were “improved”. “If there really is a problem, we can fix it in the Senate … we can do it tonight, we can have it back in the House on Monday morning, and this will be the law of the land by Tuesday,” he said. “If that really is the objection, it’s easily dealt with – I just don’t think it is.”
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