Beware religious freedom fallout: churches keen for further talks on Bill

Key groups warn Christian Porter his religious freedom reforms may trigger ‘unintended consequences’.

The National Council of Churches in Australia wants more dialogue with Attorney-General Christian Porter on the reforms. Picture: Mick Tsikas/AAP

Key ethnic religious groups repre­senting Orthodox, Methodist and Christian communities have warned that Attorney-General Christian Porter’s religious freedom reforms are “premature” and could trigger “unintended consequences”.

The National Council of Churches in Australia, which includes­ Coptic, Greek, Indian, Syrian and Romanian orthodox churches, Chinese Methodists, Churches of Christ, the Armenian Apostolic Church and Assyrian Church of the East, has told Mr Porter “more conversation is needed”.

In its submission to the Attorney­-General’s Department, the council — whose members also included the Anglican Church, the Salvation Army, the Uniting Church and the Quakers — said they wanted further roundtable discussions.

The Australian understands Mr Porter will not engage in further roundtable meetings but was open to discussing concerns with stakeholders. He has met with more than 90 organisations during­ the consultation process, including a roundtable process that began within days of him releasing an exposure religious discrimination bill in August.

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The council said “some of our leaders have come from places where their experience is of religio­us persecution”.

“National church leaders do not want unintended consequences as a result of seeking legis­lative protection of religious freedoms,” the NCCA wrote.

“They want to find the best way to integrate freedom from ­religious discrimination with legislation to protect against other forms of discrimination.’’

The diverse membership of the NCCA includes ethnic groups prominent in key electorates across the nation, including western­ Sydney, where Labor MPs have conceded they needed to better address concerns of multicultural communities on religiou­s freedoms.

Other faiths, including Islamic and Christian groups, have also expressed concerns with elements­ of Mr Porter’s draft bill.

The NCCA said a range of “facilitat­ed roundtables” with stakeholders was needed to “clarify­ misunderstandings and to reach legislative outcomes”.

Mr Porter conceded last week that his discrimination bill might not be resolved before the end of the year and that changes to the draft legislation were expected.

The Australian understands it is now likely the bill will be finalised ahead of the final joint parliamentary sitting fortnight in late November.

“Not everyone’s going to be perfectly happy. That’s the nature of this type of legislation,” the Attor­ney-General said last week.

“It’s a balancing exercise and the idea that everyone’s going to be marching in the streets with placards congratulating the governmen­t on the bill is not where we’re going to end up, but that doesn’t mean that there won’t be a passage and a pathway through parliament.”

On Sunday, Mr Porter rejected a key concern from big business, suggesting it had gone “a little bit too far” in telling employees what they could and couldn’t say outside work hours.

In addition to faith-based organisati­ons and business groups, Mr Porter has also come under pressure from the LGBTI community.

He has specifically flagged amendments to the draft bill that could ensure religious hospitals and aged-care facilities were protected­ for acting in accordance with their faith.