Australia’s Catholic bishops have welcomed changes to a proposed religious discrimination bill to protect religious believers and institutions from discrimination and needless legal action, but they said more work is necessary for an Australia-wide law. “The draft laws are an important way to help people of faith and the organizations they establish as communities of Read more
Posts Tagged ‘Australia’
Australian bishops: religious discrimination bill has merit, but flaws should be fixed
Monday, February 17th, 2020Religious freedom significantly strengthened in Australia
Thursday, December 12th, 2019
The position of Australian churches, faith-based schools and charities to select staff based on their beliefs has been strengthened by a raft of changes to Prime Minister, Scott Morrison’s religious freedom bill. The changes came after faith-based organisations, business leaders and LGBTTIQ+ groups were highly critical of the initial draft. A second draft, Morrison is Read more
Religious Discrimination bill under threat from religious leaders
Monday, December 2nd, 2019
Australia’s religious discrimination bill took a temporary step backwards late last week as religious leaders threatened to withdraw their support for the proposed bill. Attorney General, Christian Porter intended to introduce the bill to the Federal Parliament before Christmas. But the powerful religious groups say the bill, in its current form, will actually diminish the Read more
Australians fueling paedophile video surge
Monday, November 25th, 2019
Australian paedophiles are fuelling market demand for extreme content according to senior police officers. The Australian reports the explosion of child exploitation footage is so great the police can no longer arrest their way out of the problem. The problem is made more difficult by digital encryption services and the authorities needing help to police Read more
Australians ask NZ Bishops for help settling asylum seekers
Monday, October 14th, 2019
Last month I joined with Rural Australians for Refugees (RAR) to speak at a series of public forums around the country to discuss the future for asylum seekers who remain in limbo in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. So far I have spoken in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Hobart and Launceston, Adelaide, Perth and Benalla in Read more
Religions demonised by new laws
Thursday, September 5th, 2019
Many religions, including Christianity, are being targeted and demonised through new laws regarding issues like euthanasia, abortion and attempts to force priests to break the seal of the confessional. New South Wales Liberal MP Julian Lesser spoke out at a St Thomas More Society meeting saying, while preparing for the upcoming religious discrimination debate in Read more
New discrimination laws support religious beliefs
Thursday, August 22nd, 2019
Australia’s Christian leaders hope new religious discrimination laws will ensure church-run aged care homes do not have to support people when they access euthanasia services. They also hope the new laws will protect churches’ ability to selectively hire school staff who share their religious ethos. They have been urging the government to frame religious protections Read more
Religious exemptions targeted in anti-discrimination rally
Thursday, August 15th, 2019
A Brisbane rally to oppose anti-discrimination exemptions for religious groups will be held this weekend. The proposed legal changes could see organisations owned by religious groups, such as schools, hospitals and aged care facilities, be given the right under federal law to legally expel students and fire staff on the grounds of sexual orientation, trans Read more
Australia’s Christians need to ‘suck it up and calm down’ over religious freedom
Thursday, July 11th, 2019
Australian Christians are not suffering from religious persecution says Baptist minister, leading Australian religious figure and social justice advocate Tim Costello. He is asking fellow Christians to “calm down” about their alleged persecution. His comments come amid a brewing political storm over how the government should act to protect against religious discrimination. Costello, a senior Read more
Transgender law reform allows official gender to be changed without surgery
Thursday, June 20th, 2019Australia’s Victorian Government has reintroduced a bill to Parliament which would make it easier for people to change the gender recorded on their birth certificate to male, female or any other gender descriptor of their choice. The reform is aimed at improving existing laws, where Victorians can only change their birth certificate after they have Read more