Human Rights Lawyers Express Frustration Over Delayed Equality Bill in NSW
Australian Lawyers for Human Rights (ALHR) has expressed frustration and concern at the NSW Government’s postponement of Alex Greenwich MP’s Equality Bill. The bill, which was scheduled for debate on Thursday 8 August 2024, has now been pushed back to October.
ALHR President Kerry Weste said: “The LGBTIQ+ community should not have to wait a day more for these critical reforms. The government says it is considering unintended consequences of the bill, yet can’t say what those consequences might be and certainly can’t explain why the LGBTIQ+ community should suffer the consequences of alienation under the current law.”
The Equality Bill aims to address several key issues, including closing loopholes that allow religious schools and organisations to discriminate against LGBTQ+ individuals, better protecting LGBTIQ+ people from violence, and recognising more rainbow families. The bill would also eliminate the cruel and unnecessary barriers that transgender and gender-diverse people in NSW face in order to access identity documents that affirm their identity – barriers long removed in others states across Australia.
ALHR LGBTIQ+ co-chair Georgia Burke said: “ NSW laws should be consistent with Australia’s international legal obligations. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) affirms that all human beings are entitled to the rights and freedoms set forth within it, without distinction of any kind, including sexual orientation. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) prohibits discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity and this protection applies to every LGBTI person in NSW – Yet in NSW teachers at religious schools who identify as members of the LGBTQ community can be sacked because of their sexuality or transgender status.”
ALHR calls on the NSW Government to reconsider its position and act swiftly to protect the LGBTIQ community by not delaying this Bill any longer, .
Contact: media@alhr.org.au
ALHR was established in 1993 and is a national association of Australian solicitors, barristers, academics, judicial officers and law students who practise and promote international human rights law in Australia. ALHR has active and engaged National, State and Territory committees and specialist thematic committees. Through advocacy, media engagement, education, networking, research and training, ALHR promotes, practices and protects universally accepted standards of human rights throughout Australia and overseas.