Morrison eyes law to protect religion as Greens call for exemption rollback
Scott Morrison has called for religion to be protected in the same way as gender and race, signalling Coalition government support for a new religious discrimination law proposed by the Ruddock review.
While the review’s primary recommendation – to entrench the power of religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexuality – appears dead on arrival due to Senate opposition, LGBTI advocates agree in theory that discrimination on the basis of religion should be outlawed. They have warned the law must be a “shield not a sword” against LGBTI people.
On Thursday the Greens sought to capitalise on anger about the Ruddock review proposals by promising to push to repeal existing exemptions that allow religious schools to discriminate against staff and students.
Morrison told ABC’s AM that the Ruddock review had recommended that people of different faiths should have the “same protections” as other attributes such as gender and race.
“In the same way that all Australians, regardless of their gender or their race in Australia, can go about their lives each day with important protections that protect them from discrimination … [religious people] should have that same level of confidence,” he said.
Several states have protections against discrimination on the grounds of religion, but federal law only prevents such discrimination in the field of employment.
Morrison’s comments appear to confirm reports the review called for changes to make it unlawful to discriminate against someone on the basis of their religious belief or lack thereof, which LGBTI advocates including the Equality Campaign accepted in their submissions.
Morrison said the Ruddock review had not yet gone to cabinet and the government had a “timetable to deal with this by the end of the year”, appearing to confirm fears of former high court judge Michael Kirby and the independent candidate Kerryn Phelps it will not be released until after the 20 October Wentworth byelection.
Anna Brown, the co-chair of the Equality Campaign and director of legal advocacy at the Human Rights Law Centre, told Guardian Australia that it is true there is a “gap in federal discrimination law when it comes to protections for religious minorities”.
“We remain deeply concerned that under a Morrison government this bill will be drafted without regard to the interests of LGBTIQ people and other minorities who currently bear the brunt of religious discrimination,” she said.
“The very genesis of this inquiry was the deeply flawed proposition that equality for LGBTIQ people somehow poses a threat to religious freedom.”
“We reject this utterly, and remain concerned that conservative religious forces within the Coalition will be extracting their ‘price’ for marriage equality. There should be no price paid for equality.”
Just Equal spokesman Rodney Croome told Guardian Australia he would support a law to prevent Australians being discriminated against based on faith which was “well overdue”.
But he warned a religious discrimination law that “went further and allowed discrimination against Australians in the name of faith” would be unacceptable.
On Thursday Morrison told 3AW that “religious schools should be able to run their schools based on their religious principles” and claimed that “nobody” is calling for existing exemptions to be repealed.
At the 2016 election the Greens promised to repeal religious exemptions to anti-discrimination law. On Thursday Greens leader Richard Di Natale announced the party will introduce a private members bill to amend the federal Sex Discrimination Act to stop discrimination against students and teachers on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identification “anywhere in Australia”.
Discrimination on the grounds of sexuality by religious schools is allowed in most states including New South Wales, Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia although the terms of exemptions vary in each jurisdiction.
“If you want the privilege of educating the next generation of young Australians, you don’t have the right to discriminate,” Di Natale said, warning that religion is “not a get out of jail free card”.
In the federal sphere, senator Derryn Hinch and Centre Alliance have also opposed discrimination by religious schools, with Hinch announcing he will bring a motion calling on the government to strip public funds from religious schools if they discriminate on sexuality.
At a doorstop in Brisbane Bill Shorten said that he was “shocked” Morrison “hasn’t ruled out extending new laws allowing discrimination against children who are gay”.
He said “nobody wants to discriminate against religion” but did not express a view on repealing the existing federal law which allows religious schools to discriminate on sexuality, describing the current system as a “starting point” beyond which further power to discriminate should not be extended.
Labor deputy leader Tanya Plibersek has previously said Labor has “no plans” to change existing religious exemptions in discrimination law.
The shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus has said Labor needs to see the full Ruddock report to consider the proposal for a Religious Discrimination Act, but has not ruled out supporting it.