Will the Religious Discrimination Bill see the light of day?

The 2022 Australian federal election must be held on or before 21 May 2022 to elect members of the 47th Parliament of Australia. The incumbent Liberal/National Coalition Government, led by Prime Minister Scott Morrison, is seeking to win a fourth consecutive term in office.

In 2018 Scott Morrison promised a religious discrimination act to protect Australians’ religious freedoms, an issue which was taken to the 2019 federal election in May.

Some three years down the track we now have a Religious Discrimination Bill (RDB) which, looking more like a dog’s breakfast, will be released next week.

So, has the government delivered on its promise to introduce an RDB? Yes. Will the Religious Discrimination Bill become legislation before the next election? Unlikely.

When Scott Morrison announced the ‘miracle’ win in 2019, steps were taken to start the ball rolling on drafting and implementing the promised RDB and the then Attorney-General (AG) began community discussions with stakeholders including some 40 faith organisations including FamilyVoice Australia.

Those ‘consultations’ resulted in division, uncertainty with some questioning the need or relevance for such a bill. To the government’s delight, perhaps a case of divine intervention, COVID emerged which allowed the government to shelve the RDB arguing that the government now needed to prioritise COVID as a national emergency – and rightly so.

This unintended consequence meant that the RDB was put at the bottom of the government’s pending bills ‘in tray’ putting serious debate and consultations on-hold until 2021.

Enter Michaelia Cash, the new Attorney-General. On 30 March 2021, Senator Cash was appointed the Attorney-General and Minister for Industrial Relations - the Coalition's first female Attorney-General.

She resurrected the RDB and, like the former Attorney-General, began genuine consultations with the wider community and especially faith groups. FamilyVoice Australia held numerous ‘private’ meetings with the AG with a view to clarifying the government’s intent on protections to churches, schools, and indeed individuals.

These consultations resulted in a two federal government Inquiries late 2021 early 2022 with the RDB now set to be introduced commencing 8 February 2022.

The timing for federal elections is determined by a combination of the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Act) and the Australian Constitution which dictates that the election day must be no later than 21 May 2022.

If the Act requires at least 33 days between the issue of the writ (the writ is an instruction to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) to hold an election) and polling day (although it can be as long as 68 days after Parliament is dissolved), then the time frame for the passing of the RDB is far too short or making it virtually impossible for the Bill to see the light of day before the election.