Scott Morrison’s religious shield to stop ‘cancel culture’ and persecution

Scott Morrison has warned that religious Australians should not be ‘cancelled, persecuted or vilified’ because of their beliefs and people of faith must be defended.

Scott Morrison in parliament on Thursday Picture: Gary Ramage

Scott Morrison has warned that religious Australians should not be “cancelled, persecuted or vilified” because of their beliefs and people of faith must be defended from those who seek to marginalise and silence them.

After tabling the government’s religious discrimination bill in the parliament on Thursday, the Prime Minister said faith groups and individuals should be shielded from the “prevalence of cancel culture in Australia life”.

“It’s true, it’s there, it’s real,” Mr Morrison said.

“The citizens of liberal democracies should never be fearful about what they believe, the lives they lead, or the God they follow, if indeed, they choose to follow one or acknowledge one at all.

“Australians shouldn’t have to worry about looking over their shoulder, fearful of offending an anonymous person on Twitter, cowardly sitting there abusing and harassing them for their faith, or transgressing against political or social Zeitgeists.

“We have to veer away from the artificial, phony conflicts, boycotts, controversies and cancelling created by anonymous and cowardly bots, bigots and bullies.”

Mr Morrison, a devout Christian, said protection from discrimination in liberal democracies was “like oxygen”, with the underpinning principles of free societies and notions of liberty drawing heavily “from the roots of faith”.

In a major speech outlining the need for religious freedoms, which were first raised following the 2017 same-sex marriage plebiscite, Mr Morrison said discrimination against people of faith traced back hundreds of years.

“Sadly, every age faces its share of bigotry against people of faith,” Mr Morrison said.

“The values of ‘tolerance’ and ‘diversity’ have been appropriated against Protestant Christians, Orthodox Christians, Catholics, Mormons, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, Baha’is, Sikhs, and so many more religions.

“Discrimination against people of faith is not a new thing. It is ancient.

“The sectarian divide that dominated almost the first two centuries of European settlement in Australia is testament to that – Catholics and Protestants.”

After promising to legislate religious protections at the 2019 election, Mr Morrison said it was time to codify in law religious freedoms alongside racial, sex, disability and age discrimination protections.

Opposition legal affairs spokesman Mark Dreyfus said Labor would “carefully review the bill” and speak with religious bodies, civil society and community organisations, LGBTIQ groups and legal experts.

Senior Labor sources said they would likely join the government in pushing the bill through the lower house next week and sending it to a parliamentary inquiry. The government has indicated it will ask a Senate committee to report back by February, allowing for passage of the legislation before next year’s election.

Trade unions on Thursday opposed the religious discrimination bill, with the ACTU warning the new laws would “undermine the mental health and safety of Australian workers”.

ACTU president Michele O’Neil said the proposed religious protections would hand “exemptions to religious employers to discriminate against workers on religious grounds”.