Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher OP says a proposed New South Wales bill “will have a direct impact on people of faith, as well as vulnerable women and children”. Source: Crux.
The “Equality Bill” was introduced by Independent Alex Greenwich in August 2023, and would end the rules allowing religious schools and organisations to use their beliefs in employment policies.
Archbishop Fisher, who is in Rome for the Synod on Synodality, said while the Church sympathises with all efforts to discourage or forbid unjust discrimination against LGBT people, “there is a troubling anti-religious undercurrent in the bill”.
If the bill was passed, he said, it would “see a number of significant changes to our laws that will have a direct impact on people of faith, as well as vulnerable women and children”.
“More than 13,000 people responded to the NSW parliamentary inquiry into the bill. Of those, more than 85 per cent asked our MPs to reject it entirely. Additionally, the largest online petition to ever be presented to the Legislative Council also asked for it to be voted down,” Archbishop Fisher said.
“Unfortunately, after hearing an overwhelming ‘no’ from their constituents more than once, a full parliamentary inquiry and more than a year of being able to consider its damaging implications, the Government refuses to oppose the bill,” the bishop added.
He claimed, “under normal circumstances,” a private members’ bill in Parliament would have expired months ago “but, remarkably, it has remained on the table and now it looks like it will be debated” as early as this week.
“The reality of this bill is that, in the name of equality gains for a few, it proposes reducing the rights of the great many with faith and puts at risk some of the most vulnerable,” Archbishop Fisher said.
Archbishop Fisher’s comments were made before Mr Greenwich yesterday agreed to take out of his bill provisions that would have banned private schools from discriminating against gay or transgender students and teachers, including through expulsion or terminating their employment.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that the NSW Cabinet will today consider a scaled-back equality bill after Mr Greenwich agreed to remove key sticking points widely opposed by church groups.
Mr Greenwich agreed to leave out the discrimination provisions from his bill because the NSW Law Reform Commission is reviewing the state’s Anti-Discrimination Act, which will deal with the issue.
FULL STORY
Australian archbishop urges rejection of ‘Equality Bill’ in New South Wales (By Charles Collins, Crux)
Bill loses protections for gay teachers, students in bid to win over opponents (By Alexandra Smith, Sydney Morning Herald)
