In this newsletter I want to draw your attention to continuing efforts to undermine religious freedom in Australia.
The Allan Labor Government in Victoria has recently introduced a Bill into parliament to significantly lessen the supposed ‘safeguards’ around the so-called Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2017, which legalised assisted suicide and direct killing of those meeting certain medical criteria. The proposed Allan Government amendments seek to make what was fundamentally bad legislation even worse. These amendments would allow ‘registered health practitioners’ to initiate discussions about assisted suicide or direct killing with those suffering significant illness, which is currently prohibited primarily because of the undue pressure it could place on those already in a fundamentally vulnerable situation. But more significantly for religious freedom, another proposed amendment would compel registered health practitioners who have a conscientious objection to assisted suicide or direct killing, to provide a minimum amount of information. This requirement would involve a fundamental violation of conscience, by forcing Christians and others opposed to the taking of innocent human life, to cooperate with what they believe to be a morally wrong act.
In addition to this, last month in Victoria two members of the Legislative Council, Georgie Purcell of the Animal Justice Party and Rachel Payne of the Legalise Cannabis Party, issued a ‘report’ calling for Catholic hospitals which are publicly funded to provide services which are opposed to their fundamental religious beliefs, specifically abortion and contraception.[1] We have seen similar calls from Greens MLC in NSW, Amanda Cohen, earlier in the year. If such requirements were legislated, public Catholics hospitals would have to cease their service as public hospitals and instead become private hospitals, greatly reducing public health services and forcing government to spend significant capital funds, effort, time and resources to establish new public facilities.
We are increasingly seeing efforts on the part of parliamentarians to promote legislation that would force Christians and Christian organisations to act against their deeply held religious beliefs. If left unchecked this kind of position will eventually take hold in the culture and if it becomes accepted that religious freedom can be effectively ignored, what about other basic freedoms? How long will they last? If one of the most fundamental human freedoms can be ignored, surely it would not be long before other basic freedoms, such as freedom of speech and association, are also cast aside.
How should we react to all this?
Of course, we should write to our members of parliament to object in the strongest of terms to legislative developments that threaten religious freedom and call out the continuing threats being made to remove public funding provided to faith-based agencies for not providing services that conflict with their beliefs. We also need to remind people of the importance of defending basic freedoms like religious freedom, the loss of one could easily lead to the loss of all key freedoms. Ultimately, in the long term, it is clear that without the introduction of stronger constitutional or legislative protections for religious freedom in Australia, important services provided by faith-based organisations to the community, and in particular the vulnerable in our community, may have to cease.
Over the coming months the Dawson Centre will seek to work with parliamentarians and other groups to respond to these attacks on religious freedom and promote the need for strong legal protections.
Alexander Sidhu
Director of the Christopher Dawson Centre
Upcoming Events:
- Melbourne Launch of the Christopher Dawson Centre
A reminder for those in Melbourne that the Melbourne launch of the Christopher Dawson Centre will take place 7:00pm on Wednesday 12 November at St Peter’s Catholic Church, Parish Centre, Toorak. Archbishop Julian Porteus will deliver the inaugural address on the topic of ‘How can we renew Western Civilisation given the challenges we face?’ You can register for the event at https://www.eventbrite.com.au/e/1849675823179?aff=oddtdtcreator
- Tasmanian Launch of Tony Abbot’s book Australia: A History
I am pleased to announce that the Dawson Centre is partnering with the Institute of Public Affairs (IPA) to sponsor the launch of former Prime Minister Tony Abbot’s new book Australia. This will take place 6:00pm on Tuesday, December 9, at Parliament House, Hobart. Registration will be required to attend and books will be available to purchase at the event with Tony kindly agreeing to sign copies. An advertising flyer with registration details will be emailed out to Dawson members later in the week. I hope our Tasmanian members will be able to attend this important event.