In March this year, a Joint Select Committee of the Parliament handed down the results of its inquiry into a proposed Bill to amend the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW) to provide protections against discrimination on the basis of religion, see our Briefing here.
The Committee recommended that the NSW Government introduce a Government Bill protecting against discrimination on the grounds of religious belief or activity by the end of 2021.
New South Wales is one of only two states without such protections. The Expert Panel on Religious Freedom chaired by Hon Phillip Ruddock recommended back in 2018 that the NSW Government should address this issue. The Joint Select Committee earlier this year found that there was ‘strong public support’ for these protections following an extensive inquiry which received nearly 20,000 responses and heard from nearly 200 witnesses.
Last week CSA Director of Public Policy, along with representatives of a number of faith groups, met with the NSW Attorney-General, Hon Mark Speakman regarding the Committee’s report and the possible Government response. The Attorney indicated that the Government had yet to reach a position on any proposed amendments, pointing out that the Government has six months to formally respond to the Committee’s report.
We can see no reason to delay acting on the Committee’s recommendations and are asking all NSW schools to write to their local State MPs asking for the Government to progress this legislation. Discussions with a number of Government MPs indicates that they are simply not aware of the Report or the need for protections – we need to change that!
We are only asking schools to contact Government MPs at this stage. Contact details for Government MPs and a draft letter are available for download below. Even if you have a non-Government MLA, Lower House, you can write to the Government’s Upper House MLCs.
NSW Government MPs Contacts
Draft Letter to NSW Government MPs