Unions Criticize Religious Bill’s ‘Statement of Belief’ For Increasing Stress and Discrimination to Workforce

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

A representative of the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) has attacked the government over its timing of the Religious Discrimination Bill arguing that “if we were going to have a debate about a divisive bill, it could not have come at a worse moment.”

Liam O’Brien, Assistant Secretary of the ACTU, argued that the Australian Coalition has had three years to introduce a conventional anti-discriminatory bill to protect people of faith from religious discrimination and therefore criticised the currently proposed bill for being “confusing” and “complex”.