Matt Cunningham opinion: The Territory Government risks discriminating against people because of their religious beliefs

The Northern Territory Government may open the door to discriminating against people of faith if it moves ahead with controversial anti-discrimination laws, writes Matt Cunningham.

THEY say the road to hell is paved with good intentions. It might be a stretch to say the Northern Territory Government has landed in hell with its anti-discrimination legislation, but it has certainly upset people of faith.

The changes to the legislation will mean a faith-based school can no longer exclude an applicant for a position on the basis they are not of that school’s religion.

It will also remove an exemption (provided within section 37A) which allows faith-based schools to exclude an applicant on the grounds of religious belief, activity or sexuality, if it had been done in good faith to avoid offending the religious sensitivities of people of the particular religion.

The intention of the legislation is clear.

The Government believes a faith-based school should not be able to reject the employment application of someone based on their sexuality.

That’s not an unreasonable position.

The problem in this modern quest for diversity, inclusion and tolerance is that it is now excluding and discriminating against people based on their religion.

This clash of cultures has had some high-profile blow-ups.

Muslim AFLW player Haneen Zreika has missed two games in the past two seasons because she refuses to wear the Greater Western Sydney Giants pride jumper.

And seven Christian Manly Sea Eagles players sat out an NRL game after discovering in a media report that they would be wearing a pride guernsey.

Now faith-based groups in the Territory are crying foul over the Government’s proposed legislation.

Bishop Charles Gauci is worried about anti-discrimination law changes. Picture GLENN CAMPBELL

They believe the removal of the exemption will open them up to legal challenges and could force them to employ people whose views are in direct contradiction to those of their religion. Catholic Bishop Charles Gauci gave the example of a Catholic school being forced to appoint an atheist to a leadership role. Bishop Gauci says he will “seriously consider closing” Catholic schools in the NT if the legislation passes.

The Government now sits in an awful mess of its own making. This has occurred because it has applied a sledgehammer to an issue that requires nuance and understanding.

It tries to argue it is simply bringing the NT in line with other jurisdictions, but the NT will be the first jurisdiction in the country to remove the exemption provided in Section 37A. It’s a politically naïve move that will cost it crucial votes and puts the NT Government on a collision course with the Federal Labor Government, which has committed to protecting the rights of religious schools to preference people of their faith when selecting staff.

The Government says it removed the exemption in Section 37A after extensive community consultation. I attended a community consultation session when these changes were first flagged five years ago (my beef was with the outrageous attack on free speech previously documented in these pages rather than the faith-based schools issue). It was standing-room only at the Casuarina Library as people of faith begged the Government to reconsider its position.

The anti-discrimination law changes are designed to stop vilification of diverse Australians.

It did just that, but rather than winding back its proposed changes based on hundreds of objections, it decided to take them a step further. According to an un-named Government spokeswoman quoted in Monday’s NT News there has been a recent shift in public sentiment on this issue.

“The feedback on the exposure draft bill (released in October) however indicated a shift in community views towards removing section 37A and the Bill introduced reflects this,” the spokeswoman said.

It’s unsurprising she refused to put her name to that nonsense, because the flood of outrage now coming from faith-based groups would suggest they were, at best, an exaggeration of what had happened.

The Territory is a marvellous place, full of people from all walks of life.

It’s one of the few cities in the world where people are free to be whoever they want to be, including the almost 50 per cent who identify as religious. If, like me, you don’t subscribe to their beliefs, you are free to avoid their institutions. Now, in the apparent pursuit of tolerance and inclusion, the Territory Government risks discriminating against people because of their religious beliefs.

Matt Cunningham is the Sky News Northern Australia correspondent