The following opinion piece was published in 'The West Australian' on 25/6/20:

Yes, Brian Greig, Australians won’t cop discrimination on the basis of sexuality. (Australians won’t cop discrimination on basis of sexuality, 16/06/2020). But they won’t cop it on the basis of beliefs either.

The Australian Christian Lobby welcomes the appointment of an NSW Parliamentary Joint Select Committee to investigate Mark Latham MLC’s excellent religious freedom bill - the Anti-Discrimination Amendment (Religious Freedoms and Equality) Bill 2020.

The upcoming 4 July by-election in the Federal seat of Eden-Monaro is of national significance for people of faith across the nation.

With Labor yet to take a position on Scott Morrison’s religious discrimination bill, a Liberal victory in the seat would provide more certainty for the passage of the legislation, which seeks to ensure religious freedom is protected for all Australians.

While most of the world has been occupied with coronavirus, I have learned, yet again, that effective activism never sleeps.

Some parts of the Religious Discrimination Bill (RDB) are fine. These are the protection for people of faith from discrimination in the provision of education, accommodation, finance, club memberships etc.

The Australian Christian Lobby has welcomed key changes to the Federal Government’s second draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 released today, whilst expressing concern that individuals of faith or ‘future Folaus’ may not be fully protected from workplace discrimination. “On the one hand the bill contains some meaningful improvements, but on the other hand, some obvious gaps still remain,” said ACL spokesperson, Dan Flynn.

Religious freedom advocacy is often criticised as playing the victim. The argument goes that it’s fundamentally a self-interested effort, and that the need is not pressing enough.

The Australian Christian Lobby has expressed deep reservations concerning the draft religious discrimination bill released today by Federal Attorney General, Christian Porter.

Israel Folau comprehensively upstaged the recent election campaign. But both leaders fled from the issue of his sacking by Rugby Australia over his social media posts, despite its obvious importance to ordinary people.

Why does religious freedom matter...because it does matter, I think, from a Christian perspective.