Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli has welcomed the Victorian Government’s clarification of intent that Victorians sharing their faith will continue to be protected under proposed anti-vilification laws but will watch the legislation’s progress closely. Source: Melbourne Catholic.
The Justice Legislation Amendment (Anti-vilification and Social Cohesion) Bill 2024, introduced to the state Parliament last week, seeks to strengthen Victoria’s anti-vilification laws.
Changes include the repeal of the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001, lowering the thresholds for vilification offences, creation of new vilification offences, extension of legal protections to a range of personal attributes beyond race and religion, and a change to the protection for things said and done for a religious purpose.
The bill follows several years of public consultation in response to recommendations from the 2021 Victorian Parliamentary Inquiry into Anti-vilification Protections.
It also occurs in the context of an alarming increase in religiously motivated attacks on members of the Jewish and Islamic communities.
Archbishop Comensoli said the “The Catholic Church abhors vilification of any kind” but, in responding to the Government’s proposals, cautioned that laws attempting to address genuine vilification should avoid ambiguity and “language that creates confusion or that ends up causing more division in the community”.
Efforts to lower the threshold for vilification offences, the archbishop said, “must not stifle genuine discussion and acts done in good faith, particularly the sharing of religious beliefs by people of faith”.
In response to concerns raised by Archbishop Comensoli and other religious groups that the proposed changes could reduce religious freedom, the Government has set out in Parliament its intentions around the change to the definition of “religious purpose”.
It defines a religious purpose as including, but not limited to, worship, observance, practice and teaching.
This amendment is not intended to limit the right to freedom of religion and belief and the exception will continue to capture proselytising as it relates to the observance or practice of a religion.
This contrasts with views expressed by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission in its submission to the 2021 inquiry that recommend this change as a “narrowing” of the religious purposes protection.
With the Victorian Parliament finished for the year, the bill is likely to be debated and scrutinised in Parliament in the new year.
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Archbishop welcomes clarification on religious protections under proposed Victorian anti-vilification laws (Melbourne Catholic)
