On 13 December 2018, the Prime Minister and the Attorney-General released the Report of the Religious Freedom Review. The review made several recommendations and concluded that there is an opportunity to further protect and better promote freedom of religion under Australian law and in the community. In its response, the Australian Government committed to a range of measures to implement the review's recommendations.
This response forms the basis of the legislative package on freedom of religion, which includes the:
- Religious Discrimination Bill
- Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill, and
- Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Freedom of Religion) Bill.
On 29 August 2019, the Attorney-General released the first exposure drafts of the bills. A public submission process on the package of legislation was open between 29 August and 2 October 2019, and received close to 6,000 submissions, including a number of campaign-based submissions. In addition, the Attorney-General held consultative discussions, during which he met with 90 interested stakeholders, including representatives from church, legal and community groups.
The consultation process demonstrated that the Australian community is generally supportive of the proposition that discrimination based on a person’s religion is not acceptable and should be prohibited. However, as with any topical issue before the Parliament, there is a wide range of views on the legislation, and this diversity of opinion was reflected in the responses to the exposure draft legislation.
The bills were amended to take account of the feedback received during consultation and released for a second exposure draft consultation period.
