"Australia
is not a secular country — it is a free country. This is a nation
where you have the freedom to follow any belief system you choose.” [Scott Morrison,
2007]
“Secular
[adj] of or pertaining to the world or things not religious, sacred or
spiritual; temporal, worldly.” [Patrick Hanks & Simeon Potter, Encyclopedic World Dictionary, 1971]
On 22
November 2017 then Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced the
appointment of an Expert Panel to examine whether Australian law adequately
protects the human right to freedom of religion.
The Panel’s Religious
Freedom Review Report was delivered on 18 May 2018, accompanied by a statement
that the report was now in the hands of the Prime Minister any government
response was a matter for him.
The
prime minister of the day is now the Liberal MP for Cook - a nakedly ambitious man
who uses his public profession of Christian Pentecostal faith as a political tool.
Until this
week the national electorate had no idea what the report might contain. It remained a closely guarded secret.
Which leads
one to wonder if the leak which came Fairfax Media’s way is in fact Morrison
preparing voters for what at best is highly likely to be proposed legislation which
attempts to extend the exemptions religious institutions enjoy when it come to obeying human rights and
anti-discrimination law and at worst an attempt to insert church into the heart of
state.
Religious schools would
be guaranteed the right to turn away gay students and teachers under changes to
federal anti-discrimination laws recommended by the government’s long-awaited
review into religious freedom.
However the report, which
is still being debated by cabinet despite being handed to the Coalition four
months ago, dismisses the notion religious freedom in Australia is in “imminent
peril”, and warns against any radical push to let businesses refuse goods and
services such as a wedding cake for a gay couple.
The review was
commissioned in the wake of last year’s same-sex marriage victory to appease
conservative MPs who feared the change would restrict people’s ability to
practise their religion freely.
The contents of the
report - seen by Fairfax Media - are unlikely to placate conservatives and
religious leaders, and will trigger concern within the LGBTI community about
the treatment of gay students and teachers.
The report calls for the
federal Sex Discrimination Act to be amended to allow religious schools to
discriminate against students on the basis of sexual orientation, gender
identity or relationship status - something some but not all states already
allow.
“There is a wide variety
of religious schools in Australia and ... to some school communities,
cultivating an environment and ethos which conforms to their religious beliefs
is of paramount importance,” the report noted.
“To the extent that this
can be done in the context of appropriate safeguards for the rights and mental
health of the child, the panel accepts their right to select, or preference,
students who uphold the religious convictions of that school community.”
Any change to the law
should only apply to new enrolments, the report said. The school would have to
have a publicly available policy outlining its position, and should regard the
best interests of the child as the “primary consideration of its conduct”.
The panel also agreed
that faith-based schools should have some discretion to discriminate in the
hiring of teachers on the basis of religious belief, sexual orientation, gender
identity or relationship status…..
The panel did not accept
that businesses should be allowed to refuse services on religious grounds,
warning this would “unnecessarily encroach on other human rights” and “may
cause significant harm to vulnerable groups”.
The review also found
civil celebrants should not be entitled to refuse to conduct same-sex wedding
ceremonies if they became celebrants after it was was legalised.
The review does not
recommend any changes to the Marriage Act. Nor does it recommend a dedicated
Religious Freedom Act - championed by several major Christian churches - which
would have enshrined religious organisations’ exemptions from
anti-discrimination laws.
“Specifically protecting
freedom of religion would be out of step with the treatment of other rights,”
the report found.
However it did recommend
the government amend the Racial Discrimination Act or create a new Religious
Discrimination Act, which would make it illegal to discriminate on the basis of
a person’s religious belief or lack thereof.
The panel said it had
heard a broad range of concerns about people’s ability to “manifest their faith
publicly without suffering discrimination”.
This included wearing
religious symbols and dress at school or work, communicating views based on
religious understandings, obtaining goods and services and engaging in public
life without fear of discrimination.
The report also
recommends federal legislation “to make it clear” that religious schools cannot
be forced to lease their facilities for a same-sex marriage, as long as the
refusal is made in the name of religious doctrine.
Prime Minister Scott
Morrison last month told
Fairfax Media new religious freedom laws were needed to safeguard
personal liberty in a changing society.
“Just because things
haven’t been a problem in the past doesn’t mean they won’t be a problem in the
future,” he said.
While the panel accepted
the right of religious school to discriminate against students on the basis of
gender identity or sexual orientation, it could see no justification for a
school to discriminate on the basis of race, disability, pregnancy or intersex
status.
“Schools should be places of learning, not breeding grounds of
prejudice. This looks and feels like a vindictive attempt to punish LGBTI
people for achieving marriage equality." [just.equal spokesperson Rodney Croome, 2018]
As is usual for this prime minister, Morrison fronted the media with half-truths and misdirection about the Religious Freedom Review Report, implying that the contentious matters within the report were already uniformly codified in law across all the states.
This is far from the truth.
As is usual for this prime minister, Morrison fronted the media with half-truths and misdirection about the Religious Freedom Review Report, implying that the contentious matters within the report were already uniformly codified in law across all the states.
This is far from the truth.
