Australians do not want another culture war on religious freedoms, which means the government should pass its reforms on a united front, the prime minister has said.
A major review from the Australian Law Reform Commission has recommended scrapping laws which allow religious schools to discriminate against staff and students on the basis of their faith, setting off a firestorm of debate.
Religious schools have argued that they should be allowed to discriminate in ways that would allow them to preserve their beliefs, whereas LGBTQI group have called on the government to adopt the report’s recommendations.
Prior to the 2022 federal election, Labor promised to introduce changes that would enhance religious protections, but Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in March revealed his government would not do so without bipartisan support.
The Commonwealth has not released its response to the report yet, but Mr. Albanese urged all Australians to respect each other regardless of views.
“Australians don’t want to see the culture wars and division,” he told reporters on March 22.
“I want this to be an opportunity for unity going forward, that’s why we’ve provided the legislation to the opposition.”
Twenty-four faith leaders have addressed their concerns over the report in an open letter.
The report’s recommendations will prevent an “overwhelming majority” of faith-based schools from preferring people who share and “authentically live out their faith,” leaders said.
“It will therefore extinguish their distinct and authentic character,” they said.
The opposition criticised the government’s handling of the issue even though many leaders including Deputy Opposition Leader Sussan Ley have not yet seen the legislation.
“I’m really disappointed in the way that Anthony Albanese has handled this issue, he has failed the character test, his approach is completely lacking in transparency,” she told reporters in Canberra.
“Concerns have been raised by the Christian, Catholic and Islamic schools and those should be addressed.”
Former prime minister Scott Morrison tried to push his own religious discrimination bill in February 2022.
But five Liberal moderates crossed the floor for an amendment that stripped the right of schools to discriminate against students on the basis of gender identity, sexual orientation or their relationship status.
The laws were shelved and have not been revisited since.
