The Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion agrees with concerns expressed by many organisations, including the Diversity Council of Australia, the Australian Medical Association and the Australian Human Rights Commission, that protections for religious belief or actions provided by the Bill should not come at the expense of other rights.
While we concur with authorities, including the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group, that federal anti-discrimination law should provide protections on the grounds of religious belief, protections for people of faith must be balanced against the human right to non-discrimination for all.
The Centre for Social Justice and Inclusion has lodged a submission to the second draft of the bill, outlining our views.
Our stance on this issue reflects our belief that universities have an important role to play in debates about social issues.
The Bill as it currently stands will, in the words of former high court justice Michael Kirby, “sustain nastiness and hostility that we can well do without.”
We believe that the Bill must be amended to ensure that all Australians are treated equally under the law in relation to protection from discrimination.