Australian Polity, Volume 10 Number 1 & 2
March 2022 issue of Australian Polity
March 2022 issue of Australian Polity
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proper place of the divine. Intolerance towards faith and
religion is to see the life of faith as a threat to nation and
liberty and often the state.
In so many settings, faith strengthens lives, it provides that
sense of belonging. It builds and sustains and nurtures
communities. I am so grateful for the contribution of
countless Australians of faith - who have built schools,
hospitals, food kitchens, shelters, started services to meet
almost every human need you can imagine. Religious
communities have always sought to bridge the gaps of
human need in our free society, between the state and
the marketplace. We need institutions like the Salvos,
Jewish Care, Lifeline, Muslim Women Australia, Mission
Australia, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, and countless
others, offering services large and small. All of them bring
a vital human dimension to their work. They attend to the
needs of the soul and the spirit - not just the needs of
our physical selves.
To leave the fulfilment of such needs only to the
Government or the state or the market is to weaken our
society. As the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks argued,
the state can deliver much - health, welfare, education,
defence and the rule of law. But I would agree with him
when he argues that the state is not the author of the
active citizenship that creates the face-to-face care
and compassion that constitutes the good society. The
capacity of the state or the market to meet the needs of
our soul and spirit have great limitations, if any capacity
at all. They can be incredibly impersonal. In between the
state and the marketplace, you will find the community,
the family and the individual - and there also you will
find the work of faith and religion. The protection from
discrimination of faith and religion in the public sphere
is therefore central to the strength of our civil society
and the health of communities, families, and indeed our
very selves.
Our country is better because of the generosity and
charity of our religious communities and institutions.
This bill is about helping protect what we value as
Australians: difference, fairness, choice, charity, and if
we are not hurting others, the right to live our lives as
we choose to. This bill is a protection from the few who
seek to marginalise and coerce and silence people of
faith because they do not share the same view of the
world as them. The bill is based on four years of work
and is a long-standing commitment of our government.
In November of 2017, the Government appointed an
Expert Panel into Religious Freedom, chaired by the former
father of this House, the Honourable Philip Ruddock.
The Expert Panel received over 15,000 submissions.
It reported to the Government in 2018. And in 2019,
the Government took the Australian people, we took
to them a commitment to introduce new protections
against religious discrimination, consistent with other
anti-discrimination laws. And since then, the Government
has been working through the issues with so many groups.
We have consulted widely on this bill.
This bill is balanced and thoughtful. It does not take from
the rights and freedoms of others. We do not seek to
set one group of Australians against another, because
to do so would diminish us all. It strengthens important
freedoms that have been buffeted over recent years. The
bill honours the mandate we have from the Australian
people to protect Australians of faith and religion against
discrimination. This bill is about extending the umbrella of
fairness that is so fundamental to our national character,
because Australians strongly believe in fairness. This
bill seeks to protect people of faith from discrimination
on the basis of their religion in daily life, including work,
education, buying goods and services and accessing
accommodation.
While there are some provisions in the existing laws that
provide some protections for people of faith, these can
be complex and can create uncertainty. And they are
inconsistent across Australia. In particular, there is a gap
in New South Wales and South Australia, where there
is either limited or no specific protection at all against
religious discrimination.
This bill will provide, for the first time, protections for those
of faith and religion at the Commonwealth level, and in
the states of New South Wales and South Australia where
there is currently no state-based religious discrimination
laws. This bill brings clarity, and it provides confidence
that Australians of faith can have confidence they will
be protected from discrimination. A Sikh should not be
discriminated against because of the turban they wear.
Nor a Maronite because of the cross around their neck.
Australian Polity 41