What we learned today, Wednesday 9 February
With that, we will wrap up our live news coverage of the day.
The House of Representatives is still sitting late to finalise the religious discrimination bill package – which included an impassioned speech by the Liberal MP Trent Zimmerman in which he expressed his concerns about his government’s own bill.
He said he wanted to indicate he would cross the floor to support Labor’s amendments to the bill – noting specific concerns with aspects of the legislation regarding transgender children and the scope of the statement of belief clause.
Zimmerman said:
“I could not live with myself if I didn’t seek to address those issues.
We will still have all the news on the religious discrimination bill – just not in the blog.
These were the day’s news developments:
-
Anthony Albanese has warned if the religious discrimination bill is not fixed it will “drive us apart”, signalling Labor will insist on amendments to prevent religious vilification, discriminatory statements and protect LGBTQ+ students.
- Meanwhile, the New South Wales premier, Dominic Perrottet, has questioned the need for the federal government’s religious discrimination bill, saying the proposed laws could cause more problems than they solve.
- Grace Tame has said in a speech to the National Press Club that she received a “threatening” phone call from a senior member of a government-funded organisation warning her not to criticise the prime minister, Scott Morrison, on the eve of last month’s Australian of the Year awards because there was “an election coming soon”.
- The spy agency Asio has warned more “angry and alienated Australians” could turn to violence after being exposed to “an echo chamber” of extremist messaging, misinformation and conspiracy theories during the coronavirus pandemic. Asio boss Mike Burgess also described the target of a recently disrupted foreign interference plot in the lead-up to “an election” in Australia.
- A police officer who was threatened with an axe by Kumanjayi Walker told the Warlpiri man’s family that if he did the same thing to another officer “he might get shot”, a court has heard.
- Nurses across NSW have overwhelmingly voted to walk off the job amid growing anger at staffing levels in the state’s hospitals, with more than 97% supporting a motion to hold the first statewide strike in almost a decade when NSW parliament resumes next Tuesday.
- A former soldier scheduled to give evidence against SAS veteran Ben Roberts-Smith is seeking to pull out, prompting claims in court that Roberts-Smith’s barrister spoke to a senior lawyer who then contacted the secret witness.
Thanks for following along, we’ll be back to do it all again tomorrow.
Updated
Independent MP Rebekha Sharkie:
After extensive consultation with colleagues across the political spectrum, I will support both the government and Labor’s proposed amendments to the religious discrimination package but cannot vote to pass the bill.
It is my belief that the government’s amendment to section 38 is both meagre and inadequate.
And while the opposition’s proposal represents a modest improvement, it does not do enough to protect teachers and contract workers from being subjected to discrimination on grounds of their sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy.
So, while I support these amendments as improvements on the original legislation, I still cannot support the bill’s passage.
Instead, I am preparing my own amendment which would delete section 38 in its entirety.
I implore the Government and Opposition to consider my amendment as sensible pathway forward to protect Australians from discrimination on the grounds of their religious beliefs and practices. https://t.co/rSvr8vm6lt
— Rebekha Sharkie MP (@MakeMayoMatter) February 9, 2022
Updated
