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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

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