mr president this report rests on a conceptual misunderstanding
outside this chamber equality means the right of people to be treated the same
here in this chamber we are using it to mean the right of people to be treated differently
that is a critical point
anti-discrimination legislation of this kind is not a refinement of the principle of equality under the law
it is an opposing principle
when we pass such reports as this we take power away from people that one can vote for and vote against and give it arbitrarily to jurists
if this report were applied literally it would prohibit an opera company from declining to hire men in soprano roles it would prohibit a labour politician from declining to have a conservative as their press spokesman and it would prohibit a catholic school or hospital from preferring to employ its own co-religionists
when i made these points the answer from the report's supporters was that it would not be used that way and that everyone knows what it really means
i have to say that it strikes me as very bad jurisprudence to criminalise everything in theory and then rely on the courts arbitrarily to disapply the law
