Howard rejects PM’s vow on religious freedom

John Howard has repudiated assurances freedoms of conscience will be addressed after same-sex marriage survey.

John Howard with Tony Abbott. Picture: Gary Ramage

John Howard has repudiated Malcolm Turnbull’s assurances that freedoms of conscience will be addressed after the same-sex marriage survey and foreshadowed a parliamentary showdown before Christmas while renewing his calls for the government to spell out religious protections before the poll closes.

Formally joining a public campaign for the first time since his 2007 election defeat and specifically using his role as “former prime minister of Australia” in a series of nationwide full-page newspaper advertisements, Mr Howard said leaving the religious-freedom protections until after the ballot was “the equivalent of saying it doesn’t matter very much”.

While Mr Howard suggested there could be a parliamentary fight over religious freedoms, the Prime Minister didn’t allow for any real delay yesterday and suggested the passing of same-sex marriage legislation “should be very fast” if the Yes vote won.

Mr Howard warned that if the Yes vote succeeded, parliamentary attempts to inject religious freedoms would be met with “a chorus of put-downs” about trying to frustrate the “will of the people”.

“This does not bode well for the capacity of the current national parliament to enact any effective protections of the kind that will be required if our marriage laws change,” Mr Howard says in the newspaper advertisements paid for by the No campaign.

“Same-sex marriage will not be the end of this debate. As the Safe Schools debacle showed, there are education activists ready to introduce classroom mat­erial regarding gender issues unacceptable to the mainstream of Australian parents.

“These activists will use a change in the definition of marriage to renew their push. Parents are entitled to know what steps would be taken to ensure that this does not occur,” he said.

The Attorney-General George Brandis yesterday declined to comment on whether protections for religious freedoms should be extended if same-sex marriage were legalised to allow faith-based schools or public service providers to discriminate against gay ­married couples in line with their religious convictions.

“The question in the survey is a threshold question,” Senator Brandis told Sky News. “This is an academic argument unless we pass the threshold question. The threshold question is whether the law should be changed at all.”

Mr Howard’s assertion of his fears and public calls for protections for freedom of conscience, speech, parental rights and religion, renew his challenge to the Coalition and the Prime Minister to provide the draft legislative protections before the ballot ends in November.

Two weeks ago, Mr Turnbull responded to Mr Howard’s initial calls in The Australian for draft protections to be released by conceding more freedom protections were needed and declared he cared more about religious freedom than same-sex marriage.

Bill Shorten also conceded more protections were needed and gave an assurance as someone “raised as a person of faith” he would not allow religious freedoms to be eroded.

Mr Turnbull and the Opposition Leader have both argued there will be time to implement protections for religious freedoms in the legislation to formalise same-sex marriage in the final two-week sitting of parliament in November-December if the Yes vote succeeded as expected.

Speaking on Townsville radio yesterday, Mr Turnbull said: “Once a bill is passed through the parliament it’s simply a question of getting the Governor-General to sign off on it. Whether a same-sex marriage could occur before Christmas I couldn’t say, but it will follow very rapidly.”

Mr Turnbull confirmed that the intention was to legislate quickly for same-sex marriage “once the people have spoken”.

“Assuming that people say Yes, parliament will ensure that the will of the people is carried out rapidly,” he said.

Mr Howard said while it was “common ground” that if the Yes vote succeeded, “the people’s verdict should be respected and parliament support an amendment”, there was “less generosity of spirit if the outcome is a No vote”.

“Bill Shorten has said that his party will not accept such a result. Nor will the Greens.

“This contrast highlights just how important it is for the government to spell out, before the postal survey is completed, what steps it will take to protect parental rights, freedom of speech, and religious freedom in the event of same-sex marriage becoming law,” Mr Howard said.

“The case for these protections is compelling, given the experience of other countries, such as the UK, US and Canada, in the wake of those countries changing their marriage laws.

“This issue must be addressed before the survey is completed; leaving it as something to be taken up only in the event of a Yes vote prevailing is the equivalent of saying that it does not matter very much,” Mr Howard said, foreshadowing a parliamentary battle over the legislation.

“If a Yes vote is recorded, there will be overwhelming pressure to “move on”, legislate as quickly as possible, and then put the issue behind parliament.

“There will be scant opportunity for serious consideration of protections in the areas I have cited.

“Very likely, those raising such matters will be met with a chorus of put-downs, and accused of attempting to frustrate the verdict of the people,” he said as he pointed to a minimum of protections on offer so far.

He said if the protections were not revealed “people will not have been fully informed when they cast their votes”.

Mr Howard has redoubled his efforts for the No case since the Newspoll survey on same-sex marriage exclusively in The Australian this week revealed a narrowing of the Yes campaign lead and that only 15 per cent of people had already voted.

Yesterday, Mr Turnbull continued to support the Yes case, revealing that he and his wife, Lucy, had already voted Yes and encouraging people to vote.

Mr Turnbull said he thought the postal survey “is going well” with people engaging in it and sending their forms back.

“I know there have been a few ugly incidents. There always … I mean there are in elections, lets face it, during a parliamentary election,” Mr Turnbull said.

“But I think generally, overwhelmingly, people have engaged in this in good humour and good spirit and respectfully,” he said.