Australian Polity, Volume 10 Number 1 & 2

Our anti-discrimination laws play an essential role
in protecting the liberty of our citizens, each as
individual human beings. In this Bill, we fix an
important weakness in our discrimination laws, as our
government promised to do, to the people of Australia, at
the last election. We honour that commitment with laws
needed to protect citizens in a tolerant, multicultural, liberal
democracy. The Commonwealth has a Sex Discrimination
Act, a Racial Discrimination Act, a Disability Discrimination
Act and an Age Discrimination Act. However, there is no
standalone legislation to protect people of religion, or
faith, against discrimination. Or indeed for those who
choose not to have a faith or religion. The introduction
of the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 will fix this.
from discrimination for their religious beliefs is to tear at
the very fabric of multiculturalism in this country.
We are the most successful multicultural country on
the planet, united in our love of our country and the
freedoms that so many, so many, have come here to enjoy,
particularly to escape discrimination and persecution
for their religious beliefs. They came here seeking
that freedom. That freedom should be protected for
them. These freedoms, most importantly, should be
protected from discrimination. Our nation is an exemplar
of acceptance and tolerance. The Australia we love is
one where the people of all faiths and beliefs live side
by side and we’re an example to the world.
In this age of identity politics where we hear much about
how we are identified by our gender, our age, our sexuality,
our race, our ethnicity or our level of physical or intellectual
ability. These are known as protected attributes, and they
should be. We are rightly protected against discrimination
in relation to any of these attributes. But human beings
are more than our physical selves. As human beings, we
are also soul and spirit. We are also, importantly, what
we believe. For many, this can inform who they are more
than anything else.
The protection of what we choose to believe in a free
society is essential to our freedom. In a liberal democracy,
it is like oxygen. And so, it is only right we should expect
that what we sincerely believe should be afforded the
same protection from discrimination in a free liberal
democracy, as any other protected attributes of our
humanity. This includes not being discriminated against
for non-belief. Such protections respect the true integrity
and dignity of the individual. It’s what makes them who
they are, who we are, how we choose to live their life in
accordance with the laws of this land.
This bill is the product of a tolerant and mature society
that understands the importance of faith and belief to a
free society, while not seeking to impose those beliefs,
or ever seek to injure others in the expression of those
beliefs. It balances freedom with responsibilities. This
bill also builds on Australia’s proud record as the most
successful multicultural, multi-faith nation on the planet.
To so many Australians, religion is inseparable to their
culture. They are one and the same. To deny protection
A free society is a tolerant society. In a free society, we
don’t go around imposing our views on each other or
seeking to injure one another with those views. People
should not be cancelled or persecuted or vilified because
their beliefs are different from someone else’s in a free
liberal democratic society like Australia.
The whole point of faith is choice - it is the action of free
will. It is for this reason that free societies typically have
had a strong tradition of faith. Faith and freedom have
been so inseparable in liberal democracies all around the
world. It is therefore no wonder that people of faith and
religion have played such a prominent role in the creation
and establishment of free societies. The underpinning
principles of our free societies, indeed, the notion of
liberty itself, draws heavily from the roots of faith.
Religion and faith is also about humility and vulnerability. It
is about love. It is about compassion. It is about speaking
the truth in love, as the scriptures say. It recognises the
sanctity and dignity of every single human being. Faith
is about the heart; it is about the soul and the spirit. It’s
not about the state or the marketplace.
In our democracy we rightly divide church from state,
that is an important liberty. But we do not separate faith
from community. History has shown that dictators and
autocrats have never felt at ease with people of faith
amongst their ranks in their societies. They have never
felt at ease with faith or religion. They have never felt
comfortable with human choice, human dignity and
the refusal of individuals to give to the state what is the
40 Australian Polity