A divisive draft law to enshrine religious freedom has been scaled back to prevent a backlash over a so-called “Folau clause” that sought to give people more right to offend others when making claims on the basis of their faith.
The federal government has removed a key part of a draft religious freedom bill that would have created new protections for outspoken remarks, but the revised bill retains other safeguards for “statements of belief” after years of campaigning by church groups.
Attorney-General Michaelia Cash has been working on religious discrimination legislation.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
The changes weaken but do not strike out a series of measures that were meant to protect people such as footballer Israel Folau after Rugby Australia terminated his contract in 2019 over a social media post claiming homosexuals, adulterers, atheists and other “sinners” would go to hell.
A separate section of the draft bill that gave medical professionals the right to deny services to patients on the grounds of “conscientious objection” has been removed entirely after complaints from health experts about the implications for abortion, contraception and broader healthcare.
But the draft bill retains a provision that gives religious institutions the right to pro-actively discriminate when hiring staff, a protection sought by private schools that believe personal faith should be a factor in hiring teachers.
Attorney-General Michaelia Cash made the drastic changes to the Religious Discrimination Bill after years of dispute over the scale of the protections, with church leaders arguing for stronger measures while mental health experts, LGBTI groups and medical professionals warned against the changes.
Australian Christian Lobby boss Martyn Iles boasted last month that the federal government would include a “Folau clause” in the bill, which is expected to be introduced into Parliament next week.
The government has been working on the changes for more than two years but has been unable to get an agreement between conservative Liberals and Nationals who want stronger protections and moderate Liberals who argued the changes went too far.
Coalition MPs on the backbench legal affairs committee were given a five-page briefing note at a meeting on Monday that set out significant changes to the most recent version of the bill, known as the second exposure draft.
The note revealed that a provision on employer conduct rules had been removed from the draft, scrapping a key section that would prevent employers acting against someone who spoke out in the same way as Mr Folau.
However, the note made it clear that terminating a contract might still be unlawful under other sections of the bill relating to direct and indirect discrimination on the basis of faith.
The revised bill also retains a separate provision that would make it unlawful for a qualifying body to sanction someone for making offensive remarks.
In its new form, the Religious Discrimination Bill would allow an employer to terminate the contract of someone such as Mr Folau but would prevent a qualifying body, in fields as diverse as accounting or medicine, from removing that person’s right to work for other employers.
The bill does not change protections in other laws such as those Mr Folau cited when challenging his termination under the Fair Work Act.
Two people in the meeting, Liberal backbencher Katie Allen and Liberal National Party MP George Christensen, spoke up to see the bill itself, rather than the briefing note, before they are expected to decide their position on the changes when Parliament returns next week.
“It is so typical of the ramshackle way Michaelia Cash has conducted the whole thing,” said one Liberal who was seeking more clarity about the changes.
The government’s reluctance to reveal the revised draft to its own backbenchers is unusual when the standard process is to give a backbench committee access to draft laws before the full Coalition party room meets on Tuesdays when Parliament is sitting to approve legislation.
“It would be very odd for them to go to the party room on Tuesday asking us to support a bill we haven’t seen,” said one MP.
A swift decision on the final law is unlikely because Senator Cash would normally introduce the bill to the Senate in the expectation it would go to an inquiry before a vote in the upper house that might amend the government draft before any decision by the House of Representatives.
With only two sitting weeks left before Parliament rises for its summer break, the Religious Discrimination Bill is not expected to become law this year and may not be enacted before the federal election.
Church groups such as the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference and the Seventh Day Adventist Church backed the draft bill for its provisions on statements of religious belief as well as its protections for people of faith who work in education or healthcare.
But the Australian Medical Association and other peak health groups warned against the part of the bill that introduced new federal protections for doctors and others who chose to deny treatments or healthcare to people on religious grounds.
The peak health groups argued that professional standards and state law already set rules that allowed a certain amount of conscientious objection from medical practitioners while ensuring patients were given proper care.
A key issue was the call from health groups to make sure medical practitioners told patients of their religious beliefs if this was a factor in their care and then made sure patients were referred to another practitioner who could look after them.
The Royal Australian and New Zealand College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and the Royal Australasian College of Physicians all objected to the draft bill in its earlier form.
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2021-11-16 08:03:37Z
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