Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley says proposed changes to the NT’s anti-discrimination laws are very concerning and would limit freedom of speech

Transcript

Member for Araluen Robyn Lambley says proposed changes to the NT’s anti-discrimination laws are very concerning and would limit freedom of speech · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Obviously, we have just heard from the Chief Finis to
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Natasha Files. It sounds as though they are going to
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: be pushing through with this legislation when Parliament resumes tomorrow.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: It is the government's proposed amendments to the anti discrimination legislation. Now,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: the Member for our lu And, Robin Lamley, says she
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: won't be supporting the bill, laboring it, labeling it, I
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: should say, undemocratic and discriminatory. She joins me on the
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: line right now.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: Good morning to you, Robin, Good morning Katie.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Robin. What are your concerns about the proposed changes.
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: Well, I just listened to your interview with the Chief
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: Minister then, and if you believe what she said, there's
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: nothing to be concerned about, there's nothing to see here,
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: which is just not the case. This is very very concerning, Katie.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: This is legislation that will literally restrict or limit our
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: freedom of speech in the Northern Territory. And every religious
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: or faith based school in the Northern Territory is in
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: uproar about this for good reasons. Contrary to what the
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Minister said, the law that they will intend to pass
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: tomorrow in Parliament will restrict their freedom to be able
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  Speaker 2: to employ the people they want to employ. Hear her
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: dumbing it all down to nothing and there's nothing, no
• 1:15
  Speaker 2: problems and nothing to see here is absolutely rubbish. If
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: you read the legislation as it is written, there is
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: a lot to be concerned about.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, well I feel concerned, Robin, Like as a commentator,
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: I feel worried that I'm going to wind up in
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: trouble unintentionally. You know, we all enter our day with
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: no intent whatsoever to offend or insult anybody. But based
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: on the legislation, I'm worried, and.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: So you should be. All Territorians should be extremely worried.
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  Speaker 2: This is not in the spirit of the Northern Territory
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: what they are doing. You're talking about a very radical
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: left wing labor regime here that are trying to stifle debate,
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  Speaker 2: conversation within our community. They're trying to instill what they
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: call labor values and I can't wait to talk about
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: that in Parliament tomorrow. What the heck are labor values? Obviously,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: it's about shutting down religions, trying to stop them from
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: practicing their faith, their beliefs, their values, and it just
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: is mean spirited and quite frankly, it is discriminatory, Robin.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: What will the flow on effects be if this passes.
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: Well? I think the churches are considering that very seriously.
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: You've heard different commentary. I know that you interviewed the
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: Catholic Bishop, Bishop Gaucy last week. I mean, they have
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: grave views for what this might mean. And it may
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  Speaker 2: mean that some schools feel that they can't achieve their purpose,
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: and that is to teach the beliefs and values of
• 2:56
  Speaker 2: their doctrines, their faith. And what the point? What is
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: the point? I mean? I just heard Lauren Moss, the
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: Northern Territory Minister, Lauren Moss, she was just on ABC
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  Speaker 2: Radio Darwin, which I never listened to. I just jumped
• 3:11
  Speaker 2: in the car and happened to listen to what she said.
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: And she was asked, why have you bought this in?
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  Speaker 2: What is this all about? And she said pretty much
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: that they'd consulted with people and was the lgbt QIA
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: community that had a problem with allowing religious schools to
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: select staff based on their values and beliefs, and so
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: that's why they brought this change in. So to me,
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  Speaker 2: that said labor are picking aside, they've gone with one
• 3:44
  Speaker 2: group over another, and that is not good. That's not healthy,
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  Speaker 2: it's radical, it's dangerous, it's not in the spirit of
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  Speaker 2: democracy and being territory and.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: Robin, I think that we all agree that nobody wants
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  Speaker 1: to see people discriminated against based on this sexuality, their gender,
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: their race, and the large part religion. Care Well, that's yeah,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and you know, the large part of the bill is
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: pretty fair and reasonable. But there's some real holes in
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: this and I just wonder, you know why the government
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: is pushing this through when federally you're seeing a review
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: happen before changes like these are actually made.
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: No other jurisdiction, from my understanding, has gone this far.
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  Speaker 2: So you're talking about the Attorney General, who is I
• 4:32
  Speaker 2: think radical and dangerous, Chancy Paike, and also the new
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: Chief Minister. They're both from the left of the left
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: wing of the Labor Party, and they're bringing in these
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  Speaker 2: radical pieces of legislation aimed at homogenizing our thoughts and
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  Speaker 2: behavior and in doing so, discriminating against people and groups
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  Speaker 2: that don't agree with their what they call labor values.
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  Speaker 2: I don't agree with these values that are being shoved
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  Speaker 2: down Mith right. I value freedom to speak and even
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  Speaker 2: though I'm not a practicing Christian or or I don't
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  Speaker 2: practice any faith. I have enormous respect for the role
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: of religion and faith in our community, and I just
• 5:19
  Speaker 2: feel so angry and outrage by what they're trying to
• 5:25
  Speaker 2: do here, as do many many other people in the community.
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: Well, and the thing that I really wanted to get
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  Speaker 1: to the bottom of is had there been situations in
• 5:33
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory where somebody has been discriminated against at
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: a Catholic institution in terms of getting a job or
• 5:40
  Speaker 1: being able to attend the school based on their sexuality,
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  Speaker 1: and you know, the Chief Minister, the example that she'd
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: given was that in a remote community there is only
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: faith based schools in some of those remote communities. What
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  Speaker 1: did you make of that part of the explanation.
• 5:57
  Speaker 2: Robin, Well, she didn't have the fact on hand, and
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: quite convenient conveniently, the Chief Minister and other ministers never
• 6:04
  Speaker 2: seem to have those facts on hand. They'll always go
• 6:07
  Speaker 2: off and find them for you, but you never hear
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  Speaker 2: the end results. Look, faith based schools in the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory provide education to an enormous number of territory kids.
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  Speaker 2: Without faith based schools, the education system of the Northern
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  Speaker 2: Territory would crumble. I was Education Minister for a short
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  Speaker 2: period years ago, and I was bowled over by the
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: dependence we have on these schools. They provide our children
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  Speaker 2: with a special form of private education, if you like,
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: for parents that want to instill those values. Now, I
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: see this as an erosion of what is a very
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  Speaker 2: special part of our education system. And I think anyone
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  Speaker 2: who sends their kids to a faith based school should
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: be really following this carefully, because despite what the Chief
• 6:59
  Speaker 2: Minister said, the legislation that she intends to put through
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: tomorrow will limit the religious freedom of the schools to
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: operate in the way they want to. I agree that
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: there should be no discrimination on the basis of sex
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: or gender, that there should also not be discrimination on
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  Speaker 2: the basis of religion, which is what we're seeing the
• 7:21
  Speaker 2: files lay the government do in Parliament tomorrow, and we'll
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: be stuck with it for a long long time.
• 7:27
  Speaker 1: Robin, Before I let you go, we know over the
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: weekend there was another car stolen which was used to
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: ram a police vehicle in Alice Springs. A white use,
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  Speaker 1: as I understand it, stolen from Elder Straight was allegedly
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: driven erratically through the CBD on the wrong side of
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: the road with youths in the cabin and tray, before
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: ramming an unmarked police car twice before mowing down a
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: person on Bath Straight For thirty minutes. The car was
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: driven dangerous dangerously through the CBD before the driver lost
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: control and crashed into a roundabout. I think a lot
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: of people are right now, where is the duty of
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: care for everyday citizens?
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  Speaker 2: Well, it's hard to see what the answer to that
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: question is. I know the police work hard. We always
• 8:11
  Speaker 2: say that that the Northern Territory government have literally done
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: nothing since the last crisis, which was not last week,
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: the week before. The Chief Minister just talks about what
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: she's going to do. But interestingly, Marrying Scremer was on
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  Speaker 2: ABC Alice Springs radio earlier this morning and she says
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: things like, we have to have an honest debate about it,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: we have to consider a curt we need to look
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: at everything. Everything needs to be on the table. But
• 8:42
  Speaker 2: you never need that from this File Labor government because
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: they couldn't be bothered with Alice Springs. They're too busy
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  Speaker 2: trying to come up with ridiculous legislation like we're having
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  Speaker 2: to debate tomorrow in Parliament, trying to shape the way
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  Speaker 2: we all think and feel and do behave like good
• 9:00
  Speaker 2: labor citizens. Well, that's not the way the real world is.
• 9:03
  Speaker 2: And if they don't pull their finger out and do
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: something in Alice Springston, there will be more deaths on
• 9:07
  Speaker 2: their hands. I can guarantee you.
• 9:09
  Speaker 1: Robin, what would you like to see happen in Alice
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  Speaker 1: Springs immediately?
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: Well, I think that they need to shut down the
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: town almost. I mean, you know, these kids are carrying
• 9:20
  Speaker 2: on almost every night. I mean that that happened, but
• 9:23
  Speaker 2: that incident you talked about, but the night before there
• 9:26
  Speaker 2: was another horrific incident. This car ended up on a rock,
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: a massive rock, outside the Puma service station in the
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: middle of town. Like it's just every night you have
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: to draw a line in the sand. Listening to Marion Scrimdor,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: the Labor Senator for Lingiari or the Labor Memapor Lingiari
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: talk about, you know the fact that we have to
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: think about doing something different and radical to stop this.
• 9:51
  Speaker 2: She's right on the money. I think Marion any day
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: over stupid Natasha Files, who's got no idea and no
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: commitment to really changing anything.
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: Well, look, we might see if we're able to get
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Marian Scrimdaw on the show as well, to see what
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: we can find out. Robin always appreciate your time. We'll
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: try and talk to you again, probably through the week
• 10:08
  Speaker 1: as parliament sits.
• 10:10
  Speaker 2: Okay, thanks Coatie, thank you,