Michaelia Cash rules out broad, ‘constitutionally barred’ religious freedoms law

Michaelia Cash is signalling new laws to fight discrimination against people of faith will not morph into a religious bill of rights.

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash: ‘What I would like … is a bill that has the support of the majority of parliament’. Picture: Martin Ollman

Attorney-General Michaelia Cash is signalling new laws to fight discrimination against people of faith will not morph into a religious bill of rights, and warns some faith leaders their demands for wider protections for religious institutions are “constitutionally barred”.

The religious discrimination act was a key promise of Scott Morrison’s at the 2019 election and is a major policy barnacle Senator Cash wants to deal with before the next federal poll.

In her first wide-ranging interview as the nation’s first law officer, Senator Cash told The Australian she also wants to set up a national integrity commission before the election and is taking advice on the need for an independent complaints body to oversee judges.

After revealing in June plans to bring the religious discrimination bill to a vote by Christmas, Senator Cash was inundated with calls from religious leaders to override state government bans on gay conversion therapy and to significantly broaden the bill’s definitions of faith-based institutions to cover a wider group of institutions than places of worship and schools.

But the Attorney-General told The Australian this week that the bill would need to stick within the confines of traditional anti-discrimination legislation. “Some people are putting forward ideas that go way beyond a religious discrimination bill and in some cases are constitutionally barred,” she said. “It is widely recognised that we do need a religious discrimination bill, it is widely recognised that we need to deliver on the Ruddock review … there will be some carve-outs due to the ­nature of religious beliefs.

“I am working day and night with stakeholders, looking at whether or not what they’re saying is within the confines of a ­religious discrimination bill.”

Moderate Liberal have been vocal in opposing any bill that might reduce the rights of LGBTI Australians or roll back the gains made on same-sex marriage. Some have privately questioned why the bill is being resurrected so close to an election.

The religious discrimination bill was effectively shelved by Senator Cash’s predecessor, Christian Porter, for the first 18 months of the pandemic after two unpopular drafts. An analysis of 7000 submissions sent to the ­Attorney-General’s Department over the draft laws found the second version of the bill was generally opposed by more than 80 per cent of stakeholders, up from 30 per cent who were against the first draft.

Religious leaders such as Catholic Archbishop of Melbourne Peter Comensoli have also appealed to the government to get Labor’s support for any bill and to ensure the final law does not become politically divisive.

But some religious leaders have said in recent months the Morrison government’s failure to pass strong protections for faith groups will lead to an electoral backlash.

When asked to respond to concerns from moderate Liberals that the bill could become a “religious bill of rights” and hurt gay rights, Senator Cash said: “This is a religious discrimination bill to protect people from discrimination on the basis of their religion.

“What I would like to bring into parliament by the end of the year is a bill that has the support of the majority of parliament, ­because that will affect positive change.”

The other barnacle left from Mr Porter’s time as attorney-general is the national integrity commission, and the government’s proposals have been scorned by Labor and independents as nowhere near as strong or transparent as state anti-corruption watchdogs.

Senator Cash said she wanted to bring on a national ICAC bill by the end of parliament’s current term, but would not say if the current proposals would be significantly rewritten. “This is a bill we have to get right … I do intend to bring something to the parliament,” she said.