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Hon Maryka Groenewald asked the Cook Government to commit to protecting Christians’ right to express their faith freely. The Attorney General’s office dodged the question, instead pledging “balance” for WA’s “diverse” population.

A Western Australian MP has placed a major Christian freedom audit on the state’s official parliamentary record, forcing the Cook Labor Government to respond to findings that nine in ten Australian Christians believe it has become riskier in the last five years to publicly affirm their faith.

Hon Maryka Groenewald put a question without notice to the Legislative Council on 9 June, citing the Australian Christian Freedom Index — a 108-page audit of laws, documented cases and survey data covering every Australian state and territory.

“I refer to the release of the Australian Christian Freedom Index report,” she told the chamber, “which found that 92 per cent of Christians in Australia feel it has become riskier to be a Christian, with many feeling pressured to stay silent about their faith.”

Groenewald asked two questions: whether the Minister was aware of the report and its findings, and whether the Government would commit to protecting Christians’ right to express their faith freely under any changes to the Equal Opportunity Act.

Parliamentary Secretary Hon Dan Caddy MLC, representing Attorney General Hon Dr Tony Buti, confirmed the Government’s awareness of the Index.

On the second question, Caddy’s answer was less direct. Reading from prepared notes, he said: “The various Christian communities make valuable contributions to the lives of many Western Australians and play an integral part in enriching the culture and diversity of our community.”

The response contained no specific pledge regarding Christian freedom of expression, committing instead to Equal Opportunity legislation that is “fair and effective” and “achieves a balance between the rights and interests of the diverse community living in our State”.

WA Ranked ‘Least Restrictive’

The ACFI, released in May, ranked Western Australia as the least restrictive jurisdiction in the country, while Victoria was judged the most hostile for Christians.

“Western Australia is the least restrictive state or territory in Australia,” the report stated. “While the state compels participation in abortion and assisted suicide, Western Australians have successfully resisted many restrictions imposed elsewhere, having no conversion practices ban, no vilification laws targeting religious speech, and no impositions on Christian hiring.”

The report documented multiple WA cases among dozens of named incidents.

Wedding photographer Jason Tey was reported to the Equal Opportunity Commission by a same-sex couple — “not for refusing them services, but for disclosing his Christian convictions in case they wanted a different photographer who shared their values,” the report states. He faced seven months of proceedings and thousands of dollars in legal costs before the complaint was withdrawn.

Byron and Keira Hordyk applied to become respite foster carers in Western Australia in 2017. The report documents how, after being assessed positively, they were rejected following disclosure about their Christian beliefs on sexuality during formal interviews — with the agency marking their application as “failing to meet competencies”. The finding remained on their record until the State Administrative Tribunal ordered its removal five years later and awarded $6,000 in damages.

Margaret Court’s food relief charity — distributing tonnes of food weekly to thousands of Western Australians — was unanimously rejected by Lotterywest for a vehicle grant in 2020. When representatives met with the CEO, the report states they were told that “no organisation associated with Court would receive funding,” as her public statements on sexuality and marriage were “incompatible with Lotterywest’s sponsorship of the WA Pride festival”.

The Australian Christian Lobby was blocked from booking Perth Theatre Trust venues in early 2021 under a policy barring groups whose views, in the words of the trust, “do not represent the views of the West Australian Government or the vast majority of Western Australians”. The report states the booking was eventually accepted “after sustained public pressure”.

In its legislative survey of Western Australia, the Index noted that the re-elected Cook Labor Government has committed to limiting when Christian schools can hire or enrol based on their beliefs about sexuality and marriage.

Recommendations for WA Parliament

The ACFI’s primary recommendation directed at the WA Parliament calls for the repeal of state anti-discrimination and vilification legislation, with existing criminal law amended to ensure genuine incitement to violence remains an offence. Should full repeal prove unachievable, the report calls on WA and six other jurisdictions to strengthen exemptions for expressions of belief or conscience within such laws.

On abortion, the report calls on WA — among other states — to remove mandatory referral obligations from conscientiously objecting practitioners, freeing them to disclose their objection without being required to refer or facilitate access to abortions. A paired recommendation calls for institutional conscience protections, ensuring no hospital, health facility or aged care provider is compelled to permit abortion on its premises.

The report urges WA to amend its assisted suicide legislation on two counts: removing mandatory referral obligations from objecting practitioners, and providing institutional conscience protections so hospitals, health facilities and aged care providers are no longer compelled to permit assisted suicide on their premises.

All jurisdictions, including WA, are called on to amend relevant laws to ensure an applicant’s religious belief that marriage is the union of a man and a woman cannot be treated as evidence of unsuitability to foster or adopt, and to ensure no family is refused home education registration solely because their curriculum reflects such beliefs.

The ACFI survey included 1,275 respondents from Western Australia — 11.8 per cent of the 10,808 total. “Even in the least restrictive jurisdictions,” the report stated, “the freedoms that remain are not what they were in past generations and face further erosion with each legislative session”.

The Australian Christian Freedom Index is available here.

Images © Parliament of Western Australia. The author of this article is a co-author of the Australian Christian Freedom Index.