Religious Freedom: Background, Context and Opinion

"Over the summer, the federal government released an amended draft of its proposed Religious Discrimination Bill, designed to satisfy the bill's many critics. This effort has failed. All Australians - whether they practise a religion, are "lapsed" or belong to the swelling ranks of those declaring "no religion" - could be worse off on grounds of religious belief if this bill goes through ... "

"Wallabies star Israel Folau will have a legal defence on the grounds of alleged religious discrimination under national employment law if Rugby Australia terminates his contract. Expert views on his legal position emerged as Folau fronted Rugby Australia at its Sydney headquarters yesterday less than a day after the sport's governing body had threatened to sack him. The controversy erupted after posting a warning on social media saying that "Hell waits" drunks, homosexuals, adulterers, liars, fornicators, thieves, atheists and idolators unless they repent. Folau made a similar comment a year ago ... "

"Amending existing anti-discrimination laws is a better path to take and won't privilege one group over another. Few issues have so divided Australians in the past couple of years as the federal government's promise to enact religious freedom legislation, not least because the farther edges of its advocates and opponents distrust each other so vehemently ... "

"... Attorney-General Christian Porter has argued that his bill will not be as divisive as the abortion debate. He says the freedom of religion bill is the logical extension of existing laws protecting people from discrimination on the basis of gender and race. But the submissions on a draft that have emerged over the past few days reveal how complicated the issue is and how it could easily turn into a lawyer's picnic that goes way beyond what the wider community wants ... "

"THE LORD works in mysterious ways. For Christian leaders of a conservative bent, recent decades in Australia have seen what the Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, calls a "militant secularism" deal repeated blows to the devout. The most notable is the legalisation two years ago of same-sex marriage, after a postal survey showed Australians to be overwhelmingly in favour. The passage of a bill on October 2nd making it easier to get an abortion in New South Wales is another. A cause celebre for religious conservatives is Israel Folau, a rugby star and staunch Christian who was sacked from his club for saying that God's plan for homosexuals was "hell". Mr Folau's case against unfair dismissal is making its way through the courts. But his treatment, the archbishop says, "smacks of a new and ugly Australia" in which believers are unable to express their faith ... "

"Presently, the Australian Parliament is considering the Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 (Cth) (‘the Bill’). The intention of the Bill is to protect people from discrimination on the ground of religion and is to be based on other federal anti-discrimination laws ... However, the Bill significantly departs from the level of well-established protections available in Australia on the ground of religion and seeks to introduce far-reaching and further protections on the ground of religious belief and expression that is above and beyond the standard in other federal anti-discrimination laws ... "

"The Coalition is fine-tuning new religious discrimination laws, but will stand firm against calls from faith groups and conservative MPs to legislate “positive” rights that would give them a “licence to discriminate” ... "

"Survey shows majority of Australians don’t want employers to be able to dictate what employees say outside of work ... "

"The proposed Religious Discrimination Bill contains a range of new and unorthodox protections that prioritise freedom of religious expression over other well-recognised human rights, says the Law Council of Australia ... "

"The Law Council recognises there are opportunities to consolidate and strengthen protections to prevent discrimination against people on the ground of their religion at the federal level, given existing protections are fragmented and inconsistent ... "

" ... The Commission strongly supports the introduction of enforceable protections against religious discrimination for all people in Australia. This has been the consistent position of the Commission for more than 20 years ... However, the Commission is concerned that, in other respects, the Bill would provide protection to religious belief or activity at the expense of other rights. The Commission considers that those provisions of the Bill need to be amended or removed, because they limit other human rights in a way that is unnecessary and disproportionate, or are otherwise inconsistent with international human rights law ... "

"Members of the public overwhelmingly support extending anti-discrimination laws in New South Wales to protect religious believers and organisations, a parliamentary report has revealed ... "