Malcolm Turnbull has called out the business owner who sacked a worker over her Facebook post which said ‘it’s OK to vote no’.
When he was asked about the 18-year-old woman who was fired from her job at a children’s party business because she opposed same-sex marriage, the Prime Minister said ‘freedom of expression is an absolutely fundamental part of our way of life as Australians’.
‘If you want people to respect your point of view on same-sex marriage or anything else, you have got to respect theirs,’ Mr Turnbull told Hit105 on Thursday.
Madlin Sims (pictured) had taken to Facebook to announce she had sacked the contractor
‘If you want people to respect your point of view on same-sex marriage or anything else, you have got to respect theirs,’ Mr Turnbull (pictured) said on Thursday
‘Lucy and I are voting Yes, we encourage others to vote Yes, but above all we respect everybody’s views.’
Mr Turnbull said there was a possibility there would be legal consequences for the employer but did not know the facts well enough to say for sure.
‘I can’t give you an answer on the legal point, but it is a fact that workplace and anti-discrimination laws around the country prohibit employers from sacking or mistreating workers on the basis of their political or religious views,’ he said.
Mr Turnbull’s comments come after Canberra businesswoman Madlin Sims fired a contractor from her party entertainment company Capital Kids’ Parties.
‘Today I fired a staff member who made it public knowledge that they feel ‘it’s okay to vote no’,’ Ms Sims said on Monday.
Ms Sims’ post sparked a huge uproar among voters who claimed it was wrong to fire the woman based on her opinion
In the lengthy Facebook post, Ms Sims said she could not have someone representing ‘hate speech’ be part of her business
Madeline (pictured) disagreed with this view, saying she did not believe her job should be taken away over her opinion, on The Bolt Report Tuesday
‘Advertising your desire to vote no for SSM is, in my eyes, hate speech. Voting no is homophobic. Advertising your homophobia is hate speech.’
The 18-year-old woman who was fired, known as Madeline, said her dismissal was ‘unfair’.
‘I have been raised a Christian my whole life and in the bible God clearly states that a man and a man, and a woman and a woman, are not to be together,’ Madeline said.
Federal workplace investigators reached out to Madeline for an interview on Wednesday.
While the case was being investigated, the Fair Work Ombudsman might not have jurisdiction if the teenager was a contractor for the business, as her employer suggested she was.
Ms Sims messaged Madeline after being made aware of the post, writing that the profile photo ‘really bothered me’ (pictured)
The business was owned by Madlin Sims (pictured) who said she fired her employee over her ‘homophobic’ views