Don’t put ‘religious bodies’ above Australians: a submission to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human rights Inquiry into the Religious Discrimination Legislative Package

Executive Summary:
On How the Package Upraises Religious Bodies’ Powers Above Laws & Rights.  This section of the submission argues that extensive protections for religious freedom at the international, national, and other levels already cover individuals from discrimination on the basis of religion and go too far in allowing religious bodies the power to discriminate against Australians. It specifically points out their limitations on religious freedom: public safety; health; and other individuals’ rights like freedom from religious coercion and discrimination (including on the bases of sexual orientation, gender identity and expression and sex characteristics). It argues that the Religious Discrimination Legislative Package (alongside existing Commonwealth funding and special treatment) will establish an unconstitutional level of promotion of religious bodies counter to existing treaties and laws’ requirements.
On How the Package Promotes Discrimination in Employment, Education & Health Studies on LGBTIQ+ peoples’ experiences are outlined in this section to show the need for revoking or revising the package to prevent furthering existing discrimination on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity and gender expression, and sex characteristics. Three areas of research into discrimination experiences are emphasised, which feature most strongly in the new package: employment; education; and health. Each key area is examined to show lesbian, gay and bisexual people; transgender and gender diverse people; and people with inter-sex variations; are at particular risk of being targeted by harmful religious bodies’ activities the package should impede.
On (and on, and on, and on) … Harms of Anti-LGBTIQ+ Bill Bombardments. This section calls on the Committee to appreciate, and point out, that legislative processes related to the rights of LGBTIQ+ populations have the potential to adversely affect their mental health. It draws on a variety of large-scale studies of these populations’ negative outcomes when their rights are debated and campaigned against; particularly when beset by bills threatening to reduce these rights. It shows this is harmful not only to this group, but the country.
Conclusion: On Abandoning or Adapting the Package. The conclusion argues for abandoning the Religious Discrimination Legislative Package, or not passing it in this form. It provides a table of recommendations for each bill (if the package is not abandoned), around limiting religious ‘activity’ to ‘lawful activity’ to avoid conflict with other laws. It also promotes removing or changing other text where it does not protect individuals’ religious freedoms or religious bodies’ free internal leadership; but unconstitutionally upraises religious bodies with doctrines above Australians. It encourages directly reflecting the limits international and local laws demand; and appropriate protections for people most at risk of religious abuses (e.g., LGBTIQ+ people, the vulnerable, those engaged in procuring legal abortions, and many other Australians). The concluding section also calls for the package to be revised in line with Australia’s Constitution; and advises on modern inclusive language.