State’s Move to Ban Religious Vilification Doesn’t Protect Individuals: Activist

Parishioners pray during the 'Twenty-First Sunday after Pentecost' service with Father James Collins at St Paul's Anglican Church in Sydney, Australia, on Oct. 25, 2020. (Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)

The New South Wales (NSW) government’s new commitment to prohibit religious vilification has been criticized as not providing enough protection for religious people.

The NSW Labor government announced on June 28 it would amend the NSW Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 to prohibit religious vilification, which will make it illegal to by a public act (includes any form of communication to the public, verbal and non-verbal), “incite hatred towards, serious contempt for, or severe ridicule of, a person or group of persons, because of their religious belief, affiliation or activity.”

The government said it had consulted closely on the proposed amendments with a broad range of stakeholder groups, including religious faith and religious advocacy organisations, community advocacy organisations, legal stakeholders, and NSW government agencies.

“No one should have to encounter public hate due to their religious beliefs, and it is high time the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 was changed to reflect this,” NSW Attorney General Michael Daley said in a statement.

“We committed, as an election promise, to introduce legislation making religious vilification unlawful within our first 100 days in office. We are here to make good on our promises and get things done by making this change to the Anti-Discrimination Act.”

NSW Labor MP Michael Daley, along with MP Chris Minns (left) addresses the media in Sydney, Australia, on Jan. 31, 2019. (AAP Image/Dan Himbrechts)

NSW Minister for Multiculturalism Steve Kamper said members of the Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, and Sikh faiths have all raised concerns about the growing levels of intolerance towards members of their communities.

“This much-needed legislation will provide our faith communities with similar protections provided to members of diverse and multicultural communities,” he said.

Vilification Law Doesn’t Protect People of Faith: Activist

While the amendment looks perfect on the surface, it has drawn harsh criticism from some activists.

Michael Andjelkovic, a Sydney-based independent community campaigner who has been promoting religious protection legislation for over three years, said while the vilification law sounds good, in reality, it does not provide any protection for people of faith against discrimination.

“Religious vilification doesn’t provide the same protection as discrimination because the bar is much higher,” Mr. Andjelkovic told The Epoch Times on July 3.

He gave a simple example: A Christian goes into a restaurant and decides to make the sign of the cross over his food and say a prayer. The restaurant owner comes and asks that person to leave, citing the reason that the restaurant does not serve Christians.

“That’s discrimination. It’s not vilification because [it’s] not inciting hatred… They’re not causing severe ridicule towards a person of faith,” Mr. Andjelkovic said. “That’s why I’m pushing for the religious anti-discrimination legislation to be introduced and to be enacted because that does provide protection for people.”

A large wooden cross is seen outside the closed Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Earlwood in Sydney, Australia, on April 12, 2020. (Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

New South Wales and South Australia are the only two states in Australia without these protections.

“We want equal rights,” he said.

Persistent Efforts With Little Response

Mr. Andjelkovic, who has been active in Sydney’s western suburb of Liverpool, shared his frustration over promoting this grassroots movement, which involves collecting a great number of signatures from the local community.

“We’re trying to promote and get support for the religious anti-discrimination act, which has already been reviewed. It’s already been thoroughly investigated. It’s already gone through the whole process that had 12 months,” he said.

“Some great legal minds and some great people from all the religious leaders had input. They reviewed it. They agreed on it. It’s had nine months of review by the Joint Select Committee, the joint parliamentary Select Committee, where they had 194 written submissions, the majority of which were in favour of it.

“In that, almost 20,000 responses to a survey, the majority of which were in favour of it. Four days of live testimony to the committee towards the end of 2020. The majority of those testimonies were in favour of the bill. And then, out of the 14 members voted for it and then got knocked back by the two major parties. That’s just unbelievable.”

Michael Andjelkovic, former independent of Liverpool council. (Screenshot via The Epoch Times/YouTube)

In a response to the 23,000 Signature Petition lodged in Parliament, Attorney General Michael Daley said the NSW Labor government will refer the Anti-Discrimination Act to the Law Reform Commission.

“The NSW Government is working with the Law Reform Commission to commence this review of the Act,” Mr. Daley wrote in an email seen by The Epoch Times.

The process will take years, according to Mr. Andjelkovic.

“The Labor Party is offering the Vilification Legislation in lieu of the Anti-Discrimination legislation that was recommended by the joint parliamentary select committee.

“In other words, they have kicked the can up the road and into the long grass.”

Faith Group Calls for More Protection Clauses

While supporting the state government’s move, Falun Dafa, a spiritual practice currently persecuted in China, recommends the state government add more protections similar to the state of Victoria.

“We thank the NSW government for this important amendment,” John Deller, a committee member of the Falun Dafa Association of Australia, said.

Falun Dafa practitioners commemorate lives lost and 20 years of persecution by the Chinese communist regime in Sydney, Australia, on July 19, 2019. (The Epoch Times)

“The Chinese Communist Party’s propaganda campaign to dehumanize Falun Dafa practitioners is an integral part of the persecution campaign that extends into Australia. Peaceful meditators who follow truthfulness, compassion, and forbearance should be protected from vilification and hatred, especially those given humanitarian protection after fleeing persecution.”

Mr. Deller said the faith group is looking forward to viewing the Bill and hopes their recommendations regarding harmonizing with important protections in the equivalent Victorian legislation have been included.

“In Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001, Part 2 Unlawful Conduct, sections 8 to 10, S9 says the motive is irrelevant, which means a person can’t just say ‘I didn’t mean it;’ S10 says if you made an incorrect assumption about someone and their religious beliefs, that also is not an excuse,” he said.

“We don’t yet know if NSW [bill] includes that, but most likely it doesn’t.”

The Epoch Times has reached out to the NSW government and the NSW Attorney-General’s Department for comment.