As the Parliament returns this week to consider the Federal Budget people of faith are still looking for long overdue protections against discrimination.
‘As Jesus said, “man shall not live by bread alone”‘, said Christian Schools Australia Director of Public Policy, Mark Spencer, ‘and this Parliament cannot simply focus on the budget process when we came so close to providing such fundamental human rights protections’.
‘We expect the Government to honour their promises,’ he said, ‘and for the Opposition to act in accordance with the commitments in the ALP National Platform.’
‘The results in the recent South Australian elections are a reminder that people of faith think carefully about their vote.’
Two Parliamentary inquiries reviewed the Religious Discrimination Bill and associated legislation and recommended that the Bills be passed.
The ill-conceived amendments passed by the House of Representatives to the Sex Discrimination Act mirrored discredited amendments rejected in 2019.
‘Students are still worried because of genuine but ill-founded fears created as part of a calculated campaign against faith-based schools,’ Mr Spencer said, ‘schools still have no certainty about the future legal framework and people of faith have become “collateral damage” in the process.’
‘We are calling on the Government and Opposition to come together, work with Christian school groups on sensible amendments, and pass the Religious Discrimination Bill before the next election.’
‘Religious teaching across many faiths points to the need to look beyond material needs, the need to look beyond budgets and finances to issues of freedom and dignity’.
‘The millions of people of faith across Australia, and the students in faith-based schools, deserve these issues being resolved’, Mr Spencer said, ‘the freedom to believe, the dignity of our students, the protection of those who have suffered religious discrimination are surely as important as another new spending announcement.’
