Inspired by Folau, Latham to put bill on religious freedom

Inspired by Israel Folau, One Nation’s Mark Latham says bosses don’t own workers’ beliefs.

One Nation’s NSW leader Mark Latham says his bill will put ‘personal/worker freedom ahead of corporate finance’. Picture: Sam Ruttyn

One Nation’s leader in NSW, Mark Latham, will throw down the gauntlet to Premier Gladys Berejiklian, putting forward a private member’s bill on religious freedom that would prevent future cases such as the banning of Israel Folau from rugby union over his anti-gay social media posts.

Mr Latham’s proposed amendments to the Anti-Discrimination Act will be flagged on Wednesday in the same way that Alex Greenwich moved a private member’s bill to decriminalise abortion, on which Ms Berejiklian allowed debate and a conscience vote.

That debate was heading towards a conclusion in the upper house on Tuesday night, with enough amendments expected to be passed to placate MP Tanya Davies, who had threatened to quit the Liberal Party over it.

Mr Latham is releasing a draft on Wednesday for consultation and hopes to introduce his bill next year.

In relation to situations such as Folau’s, the bill provides for a penalty of up to 400 units, or a $44,000 fine, for sacking a worker for their religious beliefs.

Mr Latham explains in his background notes that his bill acts on the recommendations of the Ruddock Religious Freedom Review, specifically, that “NSW and SA should amend their anti-discrimination laws to render it unlawful to discriminate on the basis of a person’s religious belief or activity, including on the basis that a person does not hold a religious belief’’.

“In doing so, consideration should be given to providing for the appropriate exceptions and exemptions, including for religious bodies, religious schools and charities.

“A recent concern is the growth of employment contracts (linked to vague concepts of employee obligations to corporate image diversity etc) used by employers to limit the religious freedom of staff in their private lives away from the workplace. The principle is clear: bosses do not own the private lives of employees, their beliefs, faith and expression of such civil society. We are not a feudal society operating with the indentures of serfdom.”

Mr Latham said while some employers “might say they felt compelled to punish a religious advocate away from the workplace due to financial pressure from third-party sponsors (as per the Israel Folau case) … The draft bill unashamedly puts the interests of personal/worker freedom ahead of corporate finance.”

Mr Latham said he had seen other examples of discrimination, including when wedding magazine White was penalised by sponsors for deciding not to include same-sex marriage. He said on Tuesday he hoped the major parties would allow a conscience vote.