Breezy Explainer: What is Australia’s controversial Religious Discrimination Bill?

Australia has passed a new Religious Discrimination Bill. According to the act, discriminating against someone based on their religious beliefs or activity in several areas is illegal. Read to find out why this is controversial.

Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister of Australia on Thursday introduced the Religious Discrimination Bill, an argumentative piece of the anti-discrimination bill. The bill is for eliminating discrimination based on religious activities and beliefs. However, with the federal elections just months away, the move may be an attempt at swaying religious voters.

What is the Religious Discrimination Bill?

The Religious Discrimination Bill makes discriminating against a person based on religious belief or activity in several areas a criminal offense. It includes work, access to premises, education, provisions of services, goods, and accommodation. “Discrimination is unlawful if it occurs. For example, because of a religious belief or activity that the person holds or engages in. It is also unlawful if it occurs because of the person’s association with someone else who holds or engages in a religious belief or activity. Regardless of whether or not they hold or engage in a religious belief or activity,” states the bill.

However, it also supports faith-based organizations to enroll people to hire from particular faiths. It states that “in good faith, to persons who hold or engage in a particular religious belief or activity”. Additionally, it also states that “a religious body does not discriminate against a person under this Act by engaging, in good faith, in conduct that a person of the same religion as the religious body could reasonably consider being in accordance with the doctrines, 26 tenets, beliefs or teachings of that religion”. Religious schools and organizations have welcomed the new bill. The bill will let them “proactively hire a staff of their own faith. And create consistency by overriding patchy state laws”.

Problems and criticisms

Critics of the bill believe that the law is legalizing hate. Several are asking for proof of people being discriminated against in Australia on religious beliefs. Mehreen Faruqi, an Australian senator also took to Twitter for criticizing the bill.

Additionally, the demand for protecting gay students from discrimination is also on the rise. “Gay students should not be expelled from religious schools. And nor should gay teachers who have been employed at those schools, be dismissed if they are gay,” said Morrison on Thursday.

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