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Many are concerned that the agenda of Australia’s new government will adversely affect people of faith. The legal experts at the Human Rights Law Alliance (HRLA) examined Labor’s policy platform and record to find out what we should expect over the next three years.

The ALP victory will almost certainly catalyse radical policy change on a number of issues: refugee policy, indigenous reconciliation and climate change, to name a few.

Some Christians will be heartened by this; however, according to a recent HRLA report,

“Christians who are concerned about increasing hostility towards Christians in Australian society will be more ambivalent.”

Labor’s Record and Agenda on Religious Freedom

The HRLA, a not-for-profit law firm dedicated to protecting Christians from discrimination on the basis of their faith, notes how Labor had reformed its socially progressive political stances since the 2019 election failure, presenting a “much smaller target” during the May Election.

In addition, during the campaign, the party promised to protect religious freedom in their national platform, something that the Australian Christian Lobby claims at least some credit for.

Nevertheless, Christians shouldn’t get too excited. According to the HRLA, the ALP is likely to draft its own version of Morrison’s Religious Discrimination Bill. Moreover,

“The Labor track record on religious freedom suggests that any protection will be weaker than that advanced in the Morrison Religious Discrimination Bill.”

There are several reasons for this pessimistic outlook:

1. State Labor governments have “consistently given religious freedom watered-down protection”. The HRLA argues that a federal Labor bill isn’t likely to be any different.
2. Federal Labor supported the “hijack” of Morrison’s Religious Discrimination Bill (RDB) that sought to significantly water down the protections in it.
3. Penny Wong – Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister for Foreign Affairs – led an attempt to undermine legal protections for Christian schools. According to the HRLA, this move was “based on unfounded scare tactics of LGBT activists”.

Labor’s Position in Parliament: Beholden to the Greens

While the ALP has won a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, meaning they don’t need to rely on any other party to pass legislation, the situation is not so positive in the Senate.

At the time of writing, the Greens seem likely to hold a balance of power in the Senate (alongside the socially-progressive Jacqui Lambie Network), with 12 seats in total (to a probable 26 ALP seats).

Regardless of the final outcome, the ALP will be dependent on the Greens to pass its legislative agenda.

The Australian Greens are known for their socially anti-Christian policies on a range of issues, so it seems unlikely that an Albanese government could put forward substantially positive religious freedom legislation in cooperation with them.

What to Expect

So, what is Labor likely to do over the next three years?

The HRLA highlights a number of key issues for Christians to watch carefully over the next few years.

Firstly, an Albanese government is “likely to strip away legal protections that allow religious schools to operate according to their beliefs”.

Secondly, the HRLA anticipates that Labor will:

“… introduce legislation to target religious schools and organisations and strip away their ability to keep harmful ideology out of schools, to provide a safe place for kids to experience Christian formation and to educate children in accordance with the teachings of the Church and the wishes of parents.”

Finally, so-called conversion therapy laws, similar to Victoria’s Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Act 2021, will be a likely development during the next term of parliament.

“Much of the hostility towards people of faith arises from cultural forces and the balkanisation of the public square into diverse and combative interest groups. Increasingly, Christians who prioritise their faith over the prevailing ideological fashions of the day face hostility — exclusion at work, discipline in universities, compulsion against conscience, disciplinary procedures and court action to silence their voices.

This is quite a separate issue from who currently resides in the Lodge in Canberra, but an incoming Labor government is unlikely to pursue policies which push back against this overreach into the personal faith lives of religious believers by corporations, employers, education providers and professional bodies.” (HRLA report)

While the HRLA report is careful to point out that none of the risks anticipated is a “foregone conclusion”, it concludes that people of faith will likely “see further weakening of religious protections under a Labor government”.

Please continue to pray for the new government — particularly that religious freedom will be protected.

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Photo: Wikimedia Commons.