Submission by the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group (ADLEG) to the South Australian Attorney-General's Department, Legislative Services: Equal Opportunity (Religious Bodies) Amendment Bill 2020

[Extract]
The law currently allows some religious organisations to discriminate in relation to their staffing practices and how they provide services to their clients. These organisations sometimes discriminate to avoid offending members of the religion or to strongly encourage staff and clients to conform to the teachings of the particular religion.

The State Government intends to amend the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 to clarify that organisations providing certain essential services – e.g. health care and aged care – cannot discriminate against workers and care recipients on the basis of sex or LGBTIQ identity. Pre-schools and primary and secondary schools will be among the services prevented from relying on the exception, although they have an existing separate exception specifically relating to hiring practices.