Give us ­religious freedom laws to protect our beliefs: bishops

The Catholic Church has appealed to all parties to provide ­religious freedom laws that allow faith groups the ability to run schools, social welfare and hospitals according to their ethos.

Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart was hauled before an anti-discrimination body for sharing Church teaching on gay marriage. Picture: Matthew Newton

The Catholic Church has appealed to all political parties to provide ­religious freedom laws that allow faith groups the ability to run schools, social welfare, hospitals and aged care according to their beliefs and ethos.

The Australian Catholic Bishops Conference has declared: “It is essential for the wellbeing of our society for Australians of all ­religious faiths, or none, to have the religious freedom to practise their beliefs.”

The bishops are particularly concerned about the impact of ­euthanasia and assisted-suicide in aged care and moves to stop ­religious schools hiring staff on the basis they support the ethos of the schools.

The bishops have also called for a wage rise for aged-care workers, an extra 20,000 refugee places for people fleeing the violence of Afghanistan as well as more places for people from Ukraine, a rise in the JobSeeker payment and a recognition of Indigenous Australians in the Constitution.

In their election statement, the bishops do not advocate support for any one party and recognise that “no one party” will accord with Catholic principles, but also said people who have a religious faith should be protected from discrimination “including the ability to undertake activities and form religious bodies that can pursue their religious mission”.

“This includes commonsense provisions to allow religious schools to preference the hiring of staff who support the school’s ethos,” the bishops said.

“Protection from discrimination and the liberty to run ­religious organisations on the basis of their faith-inspired ­mission are fundamental human rights that deserve to be protected.”

Scott Morrison promised religious freedom laws to allow all faith organisations to decide on hiring and care according to their ethics before the last election but he withdrew the proposed legislation from the Senate in the dying days of the 46th parliament in the face of amendments being forced by Labor, the Greens and five Coalition senators.

The prime Minister blamed Labor and the Greens for killing off the laws by demanding unacceptable changes to protect the rights of gay and lesbian teachers, but Anthony Albanese blamed Mr Morrison for the failure of the laws because he waited too long to introduce the bill to parliament.

Neither leader has fully committed to reintroducing legislation to provide religious freedoms.

The bishops’ statement calls for “commonsense” protections for religious groups that would not impinge on the rights of ­others who already have anti-discrimination protection based on race, sex and age.

“Commonsense protections of Australians from discrimination will not privilege the rights of ­people of faith in Australia above the rights of other Australians. We call only for the same level of protections against discrimination on the basis of religion that Australia already has on the basis of race, sex or age,” the bishops said.

They said Catholic health and aged-care services are significant providers of palliative care in the health system and support the highest standards of care to ensure human dignity.

“The Commonwealth Government should play a leading role in ensuring consistently high-quality palliative care is available across Australia, to ensure that no one is pressured into choosing ­assisted suicide because palliative care is unavailable. That is no choice at all,” they said.

“We are concerned by laws that support the notion that a person’s life might reach a point at which it is no longer of value. This is particularly dangerous given it is often the most vulnerable who are at risk of receiving lower standards of health, aged and palliative care.”

Australian Catholic Bishops Conference president, Archbishop Mark Coleridge, said no one political party fully embodied Catholic social teaching.

“The bishops are, however, ­offering an election statement to encourage Catholics and people of good will to reflect on the good they can do for their community by using their vote for the good of all,” he said.

The bishops backed the aged royal commission recommendation to lift wages for workers in aged care.

“A wage increase would help provide a more just income for workers and address the staff shortages crippling the sector. Sufficient funding of the aged care sector is vital to ensure that the growing number of older Australians can receive dignified and quality care,” they said.

Mr Albanese has promised a Labor government would fund a wages rise recommended by the Fair Work Commission for aged-care workers who are seeking up to a 25 per cent rise. But he has been criticised for not explaining how the wage rise would be funded.

The Catholic education system has 777,000 students and ­employs more than 100,000 staff across 1,55 schools. Catholic social services, in addition to St Vincent de Paul, help 850,000 people a year and Catholic hospitals have 12,000 beds, 1.5 million cases a year and deliver 40,000 babies a year.

The Catholic election statement said the incoming government should raise the rate of JobSeeker to at least meet the poverty line.

“This will not only assist those seeking work to better prepare themselves for employment, but will help break the cycle of disadvantage for the 1.2 million children and young people living in poverty,” the bishops said.

They also said the situation in Afghanistan “demands a special intake of at least 20,000­ ­additional places”. “We have a moral duty towards those who supported Australian military forces as interpreters or in other capacities. Ukrainian refugees require similar mercy,” the bishops said.