Do you know that in New South Wales, it is completely legal for you to be refused service because you are Catholic?
Say you went to buy a coffee, and the barista noticed a crucifix around your neck, they would be well within their rights to turn you away because they didn’t want to serve people who “believed in sky fairies.”
They would not be able to turn you away based on your sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, disability status or other attributes, but—unlike Queensland, Western Australia, Tasmania and even socialist Victoria—religion is fair game in this state.
The only protections that exist for religious freedom in NSW are framed as “exemptions” to anti-discrimination law, rather than as just and necessary and protections for religious expression.
Take, for example, the ability of the Catholic Church to have a male-only priesthood. Instead of expressing this as the right of religious groups to choose its own ministers according to its beliefs, it is listed as an “exception” to laws that would otherwise prevent discrimination on the basis of a person’s sex.
While the end result might be the same, framing religious freedoms as “exceptions” to protections against discrimination sends a message that religious groups somehow receive special treatment and are—in some respects—above the laws that apply to everyone else.
Similarly, the requirement that nuns take a vow of chastity is expressed not as a right of religious institutions to order themselves as they see fit, but as an “exception” to discrimination laws that otherwise protect people on the basis of their marital status.
Or take the existing provision that allows religious organisations such as schools and chanceries to employ people who share both the faith of the organisation and a commitment to its teachings. This should be seen as an uncontroversial manifestation of the freedoms of religion and association. Rather, it is expressed as a broad exception to the legislation’s prohibition against discrimination.
The end result is the same for each of these, but the narrative behind it is different.
Understanding how the different ways of expressing religious freedoms affect how we think about their appropriateness is going to be very important in the coming months.
After just catching our breath after the battle over the expansion of abortion availability in this state and an attempted attack on individual and institutional conscience, Catholics in NSW are going to need to step back into the ring, as people of faith will once again be under the spotlight.
Back in June 2023, the newly-elected Minns Labor government commissioned the NSW Law Reform Commission (NSWLRC) to conduct an inquiry into the state’s anti-discrimination laws. Now—almost two years since the request was made and 20 months since preliminary submissions were due—the NSWLRC has taken its first major step in the process by issuing a 267-page consultation paper and inviting further submissions on the laws.
While the issues paper rightly identifies the gap in protection for religious belief or activity and invites institutions and individuals to make submissions on how to remedy this oversight, it unfortunately—and disproportionately—tempers this by a much lengthier discussion about whether existing protections for religion should be limited or abolished altogether.
At the beginning of its discussion on existing religious protections, the issues paper reads: “One of the most controversial issues in discrimination law is whether and, if so when, religious bodies should be granted exceptions that allow them to discriminate.”
By framing the exercise of legitimate religious freedoms as “one of the most controversial issues in discrimination law,” the issues paper puts people of faith on the back foot and carries an implicit assumption that these protections are inappropriate and offer an indication that the NSWLRC will ultimately recommend they are short-lived.
We will all have the opportunity to let the NSWLRC how important our religious freedoms are and in the coming weeks, the Catholic Weekly will let you know just how to do that. Stay tuned.