With the release today of the NSW Government’s response to the report from the inquiry into One Nation's disastrous Religious Freedom’s bill, Greens MP Jenny Leong has cautioned the Attorney General about his support for the proposed reform. In response to the Attorney General's comments, Jenny Leong MP said:
“There is broad recognition across the community and by experts that there is a need to protect people from being discriminated against on the basis of their religious beliefs, but that is not the same as enshrining protections for people to engage in wholescale discrimination against women and the LGBTIQ+ community, which is what One Nations bill sets out to do.
“From the very start, the hypocrisy of having a member of One Nation, a party that has a current policy of banning the burqa and the building of mosques, propose so-called religious freedoms legislation should have been enough to deter the Liberal/National Government from showing any support to this inquiry in the first place.
“We urge the NSW Attorney General to recognise the extreme bigotry, hatred, xenophobia and transphobia spouted on a regular basis by One Nation representatives and to not act in any way to legitimise these views.
“We hope that the Attorney General has listened to legitimate concerns about the proposed Commonwealth Religious Freedoms bill and will ensure that any NSW legislation does not elevate the rights of religious people over others.
“It is also long-overdue that a holistic, public review of the Anti-Discrimination Act with input from community and experts was undertaken to address the fact that it currently fails to adequately protect many of the LGBTIQ+ community from discrimination.
“The Greens support strengthening our anti-discrimination laws in a way that provides protection for all vulnerable groups in our community.”
