February 15, 2011
Watering down the anti-discrimination regime is a giant leap backwards.
In opposition, the Coalition campaigned for a ''stronger, fairer and safer'' Victoria, but early hopes that Ted Baillieu would lead a government committed to fostering an inclusive and discrimination-free society are already beginning to fade.
At the weekend, the state government committed to reforming Victoria's Equal Opportunity Act 2010 in two ways: first, it will scrap measures designed to actively promote equality, including stripping powers from the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission.
Second, it will expand the ''permanent exceptions'' that give religious groups and entities - including those that provide public services using public money - a free licence to discriminate against de facto couples, gays, lesbians and single mums, among others.
If a school condoned the bullying of a child with a disability, we'd be appalled. If a hospital refused to hire Liberal voters, there'd be outcry. If a secular welfare agency fired its receptionist because it didn't want a Christian on the payroll, no one would question the receptionist's entitlement to lodge a complaint with the commission.
The fact is that the impact of religiously motivated discrimination extends far beyond the church walls, intruding into both the public sphere and our private lives.
Under the proposed changes, the law will allow publicly subsidised private schools to sack single mothers or expel gay or lesbian students