MARK DREYFUS
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION LEGISLATION
Labor notes today's release of a second exposure draft of the Government's proposed Religious Discrimination Bill.
As with the original exposure draft, Labor was not consulted about today's second draft prior to its release.
Labor agrees with, and has long championed, the core principle that all Australians should be able to go about their lives free from discrimination.
Laws that prohibit discrimination are fundamentally laws about fairness and the Labor Party is the architect of the anti-discrimination law framework in this country. We enacted the Racial Discrimination Act 1975, the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 and the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and we supported the Age Discrimination Act 2004.
Because of this core principle we need to ensure any laws aimed at protecting Australians from discrimination based on religious belief do not create legal uncertainty or compromise existing anti-discrimination protections.
As we did with the first exposure draft, Labor will once again consult as widely as possible with the Australian community.
TUESDAY, 10 DECEMBER 2019
