ࡱ> /1.%` bjbj"x"x .@@@ @ @ @ L [ l l l l l l l l  $ hyD l l l l l l l   l .l l l  l ` u_@  + 0[    (l l l l l l l l l l [ l l l l  To - the "鱨վ" Consultation. Dear Committee Members, I make this submission in relation to the current consultation regarding federal protection from discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and/or gender identity. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - Article 2 - states that all signatories should "..... respect and insure to all individuals the rights recognised ............ without distinction of any kind such as race, colour, sex, language, religion or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status." Article 26 of the same Covenant re-iterates that any discrimination on the same basis is prohibited. The Fair Works Act 2009 (Cth.) also includes an exemption from this, under section 9g in the 'Exemptions from State and Territory laws relevant to discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity'. It states that "anti-discrimination legislation ....... is designed to ......... uphold equal opportunity." At present some exemptions do exist - "...... in religious institutions such as schools, hospitals, nursing homes and welfare institutions where the reason for discriminatory decision is related to religious beliefs and performances." I submit that, especially in relation to your Discussion Question No 9, it must be remembered that not only the rights of LGBTI people, but also those of other groups in the community must be considered. If you take into account that the recommendations of the ICCPR also state that the rights of religious and other groups are equally important, other groups should have an equal right to uphold their own religious and/or other beliefs in relation to those whom they employ. Otherwise the rights of the majority will be negated for th beneit of a a small minority of our population. Therefore these exemption clauses should still be included without change, if a new or revised act is proposed. h'h&<>VX \  R t v $ m  3 5  , . ~ gd&~ T=gd& ,1h. A!"#$% @@@ NormalCJ_HaJmH sH tH DAD Default Paragraph FontRiR  Table Normal4 l4a (k(No List <>VX \Rtv$m35,.~T=000000000000000000000000000000000000000=X0X0X0X0 ~   Z\]cij;]c RZ$(mu )~TX=E33333333333333333333333~+35'&@@UnknownGz Times New Roman5Symbol3& z Arial"qhUtF&;;!242HX ?&2 Kate SchuetzeOh+'0p   , 8 DPX`h Normal.dotKate Schuetze2Microsoft Office Word@@ndW@>?;՜.+,0 hp|  '  Title  !"#$%'()*+,-0Root Entry F_2Data 1TableWordDocument.SummaryInformation(DocumentSummaryInformation8&CompObjq  FMicrosoft Office Word Document MSWordDocWord.Document.89q