Over the past few weeks, you may have heard conversations around rugby player, Israel Folau, and his various homophobic social media rants. The high-profile outburst and subsequent sacking from the Australian Wallabies team has sparked a nation-wide debate on religious freedoms and protections. While the Coalition publicized prior to the election that this was on the table, the Australian Government has officially announced plans to introduce a Religious Discrimination Act. Today, we’re going to take a look into the background of Australian rights and freedoms, what this new act will look to protect, and how it might impact other Australians; specifically, those from the queer community.
Israel Folau’s case: the flame that joins the fire?
Israel Folau is an Australian rugby player, who also happens to be a devout Christain. Throughout his social media, you can find various posts and ‘sermons’ on religion, many particularly oriented towards the hellfire that awaits the queer community. Recently, Folau was sacked from the Wallabies for his homophobic, hateful posts, despite being warned many times.
In Israel Folau’s case, Rugby Australia maintains that he was not fired on religious grounds, rather, he was fired because he breached the player code of conduct; ie. treat everyone equally and with dignity. Further, section 351 of the Fair Work Act and case law states that the employee (Israel Folau) must prove that he was fired by the employer (Rugby Australia) because they discriminated against his religion.
Rugby Australia didn’t fire Israel Folau because he’s a Christian. They fired him because he’s a vicious homophobe who tells gay people they’re going to hell, and transgender people they have the devil inside of them. That’s not exactly treating everyone ‘equally and with dignity’, now is it?
Regardless, this has spurred a media outrage and the government's immediate desire to legislate a Religious Discrimination Act. It can be assumed that this act will have similar content to the other anti-discrimination acts for race, sex, disability, and age. It’s too early to know the exact specifications of the act, but the general theme is the protection of religious expression.
Background: The Australian Context
Unlike most other western nations, Australia doesn’t have a Bill of Rights. Instead, we enjoy our freedoms through various legislations and the constitution. Section 116 of the Australian Constitution allows the freedom to exercise religious observance and prevents the federal parliament from establishing any laws that might prevent these freedoms. Our discrimination acts such as the Racial Discrimination Act of 1975 already offers some degree of religious protection for the Jewish and Sikh community, as the courts established these groups to be of ethnic origin. This act, however, does not extend to the Christians or Muslims, as they do not constitute a single ethnic group. Furthermore, Workplace Discrimination under the Fair Work Act 2009 protects against adverse action towards various personal attributes, including religious beliefs. Essentially, you can’t refuse to hire someone or fire them, purely on the grounds of their religious belief. Most of the states (except for NSW and SA) already have strong laws in place that prevent religious discrimination.
The Concerns
There are some concerns, however, regarding how this might impact other communities in Australia already facing discrimination; namely, the LGBTQI+ community. Is this discrimination act looking to actually protect religious expression? Will it support Muslim women who want to wear hijabs, niqabs, and burkas? Will it allow Sikh men to wear turbans and Jewish men to wear Kippahs without fear of social persecution? Or will it just be used as an excuse to smokescreen queer discrimination? Could this new legislation allow religious individuals in the public and professional sphere discriminate against queer people because that is what their religious beliefs demonstrate? This new bill could introduce a whirlwind of more and more aggressions like the ‘gay wedding cake dilemma’ into the community. We have already seen how divisive religion can be in the political sphere. The Prime Minister said he did not want the religious freedom law to be an issue that would divide Australians because it was personal for many people. I suppose marriage equality just wasn’t a personal issue.
The question of where lines will be drawn have been brought up. Some members of the queer community have raised concerns on how this will impact their lives. Others who write on the topic call for the need for a deep and considerate negotiation process, which takes into account all sides of the conversation. However, firm legislation to protect at-risk communities from aggression or hate by the religious sector must remain. The bill must not allow the re-introduction of lawful discrimination against the queer community, on the grounds of religious speech, belief, or action.
In a recent interview, Prime Minister Scott Morrison stated,
“I think it’s important, ultimately, that employers have reasonable expectations of their employees, and that they don’t impinge on their areas of private practice and private belief or private activity.”
But he also avoided answering if views and actions like those of Israel Folau’s would be protected under the new laws.
While this has obviously been heavily pushed the Coalition, the Labor party has already confirmed it’s ready and willing to work with the government on the new legislation. Unfortunately, we don’t know much more on the new bill yet. As news and information arise on the issue, I’ll write more on my Instagram stories, where I often engage in conversations surrounding Auspol and International Affairs.
What do you think? Does Australia really need a Religious Discrimination Act, and will this have a negative impact on other discriminated communities?
