Josh Wilson (Fremantle, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for the Environment) Share this | Hansard source

[by video link] I'm glad to make a contribution to the debate on the Religious Discrimination Bill 2021 and related bills, which in their present form I am strongly opposed to. There's no question that the protection of fundamental freedoms and the fight against harmful discrimination are important causes. They deserve to be approached seriously, carefully and in the right spirit. That's not the case with these bills. We cannot have a rushed, badly-shaped, last-minute set of laws that puts Australia's core ethos—egalitarianism, social inclusion and social cohesion—at risk. We cannot have a set of changes that in reality enables discrimination and, more than that, a set of changes that will cause real immediate harm and anguish to LGBTQIA+ Australians and, more than that, a set of changes that will cause harm and anguish to vulnerable children. That's not acceptable, so these bills as they are are not acceptable.

Like most contributors to this debate, I've been contacted by hundreds of people in my community on this issue—by my constituents, relative strangers to me and my family and friends. Overwhelmingly those people contacted me to say: 'Don't do this. Don't allow a bad piece of law to amplify intolerance. Don't let this government turn the wheel back in the direction of prejudice. Don't enable discrimination. It might hurt my kids. It might hurt her, him or them.' These bills without considerable change will hurt young people. These bills will enable conduct that doesn't genuinely improve freedom of religious belief in any meaningful way and will absolutely impact on the wellbeing of people who already experience cruel and hurtful discrimination and who are already at risk. This side of the chamber are not going to stand for that. The Leader of the Opposition, in his deeply thoughtful and principled contribution to the debate earlier, said that we on this side will insist on considerable changes being made to these bills. Considerable changes must be made. We will insist on them.

As I've said, making laws in this area should be done with clarity and great care. It should be done consultatively, with an emphasis on collaboration and consensus because of course, above all, we want to maintain and encourage in the Australian community tolerance, unity and social cohesion. We want to build by example, even in this place, respect, empathy and love for one another. There are churches, mosques, temples, faith groups and faith based schools in my electorate that practise respect, empathy and love all the time. Those are not the qualities that animate these bills.

These bills have been sprung on the parliament at the very end of this parliamentary term. The committee process had to be rushed and conducted over the holiday period. The government itself had not settled on the final form of these bills before this week. The government itself still doesn't have a unified position on these bills.

Sadly, on this issue, as on almost every issue, the Morrison government's approach has been largely chaotic, self-serving and dysfunctional. It has made promises that it simply hasn't kept. The Leader of the Opposition detailed how the Prime Minister gave a commitment on the question of protecting children from discrimination on the basis of their sexuality or gender, yet these bills before us a break that commitment. We won't stand for that. Labor's leader, the member for Grayndler, had previously offered to work with the Prime Minister on a careful and sensible means of improving the protections for people of religious faith, especially for Sikhs, Muslims, members of the Baha'i Faith and others who commonly face discrimination. That work is important. But the government spurned that offer because it always prefers silly political games to proper policy reform and responsible government.

In this area we have to start by acknowledging that freedom for one person can involve discrimination against another—that one person's freedom can directly infringe on another person's freedom. People of faith know that. People of faith know that because it's people of faith who have been discriminated against for their religion mostly by people of other religions. That's the history of the world. That's the history of some of the worst inhumanity that mankind has ever managed to inflict on itself. So the question of protecting religious freedom is a delicate one. It is complicated. Of course it's worthwhile, but it has to be done carefully, and some of the deep flaws in these bills need to be fixed precisely, because they could and more than likely will enable discrimination and vilification in the Australian community. It's not hard to understand that, if we make changes in this area badly, it's not just possible but likely that intolerance will grow, that division will grow, that discrimination and vilification will increase, that freedom will actually be constrained and that vulnerable people will get hurt.

In relation to the freedom of religious belief and expression, I want to make the point that this has always included the right to hold no religious belief whatsoever. We should remember that some of the most harmful prejudice in history has been from people of religion towards people accused of having no religion—of being essentially regarded as godless, one way or another. That includes Indigenous peoples the world over, and it certainly has included the Indigenous peoples of Australia. I am not religious. I respect the right of people to follow and express their faith. At the same time, those who are not religious deserve the same respect in return.

Finally, there can't be any real debate about the fact that these bills are a terrible mess. They do not carefully and meaningfully improve the protection of religious freedom in Australia, and they may well increase religious intolerance and conflict. They will certainly enable discrimination, and they will cause harm in their present form. That is why it is only by making considerable changes that these bills can be made acceptable, and, through the parliamentary process in its entirety, we will insist on those changes. We will fight to change these unacceptable bills, and then we'll fight to give Australians the competent and caring government that they deserve.

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