Jacqui Lambie has blasted proposed laws banning discrimination against religious people as ‘disgusting’ and called the Prime Minster ‘selfish’ for focussing on them.
The Tasmanian senator is furious that Scott Morrison’s Religious Discrimination Bill, which passed the lower house with support from Labor early on Thursday, will override existing state laws.
‘We have a gold-plated legislation that we have in Tasmania. It works very, very well and I remind the Liberal and Labor Party that your people down there, your state people voted to put that in,’ she told the Today show.
The independent warned the Government that passing the bill would show Tasmanians that ‘it’s all about yourselves’.
‘We are very happy to have the [law] we’ve got down there and you’re overruling it is absolutely disgusting.
‘Not to mention the division that this has caused in the last two weeks in certain parts of society out there. It’s been absolutely disgusting.’
She also accused Mr Morrison – who is an evangelical Christian – of being ‘selfish’ for prioritising the laws ahead of others.
‘It makes him look very selfish that this is his own ambition to get this done, she said.
‘There’s others we could have been talked about – ICAC, political donations, aged care.’
Jacqui Lambie called the PM selfish for focussing on the law
Even though Mr Morrison was voted in after promising a religious discrimination law ahead of the last election, Senator Lambie described it as a pet project for the PM.
‘He’s spent a whole week on doing what he believes in himself, not what the Australian people wanted and I just think that is enough,’ she said.
The bill passed the lower house just after 4am following a marathon debate in Parliament.
Labor supported the bill but wanted to make changes when it’s debated in the senate.
Mr Morrison said the bill ‘seeks to protect people of faith from discrimination on the basis of their religion in daily life, including work, education, buying goods and services, and accessing accommodation’.
But the bill also contains a controversial ‘statement of belief’ clause to prevent religious people from being sued for comments based on their faith.
Critics says this may allow a doctor to tell a patient they are disabled because they are being punished by god or let a childcare boss tell a single mother that having a child out of wedlock is wrong.
The bill expressly bans comments that threaten, intimidate, harass or vilify – but critics fear it will embolden bigots and make it more expensive for victims to take legal action because they would have to make a claim to the Supreme Court instead of at the state level.
Gay and transgender rights activists were concerned the bill would make it easier for religious schools to offend gay and trans students.
To partly tackle this, the Government moved to change a separate law – the Sex Discrimination Act – which allows religious schools to discriminate on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, marital or relationship status or pregnancy.
The Government initially only wanted to ban gay students from being expelled but five moderate Liberal MPs crossed the floor to also protect trans students.
However, the Australian Government Solicitor later warned the amendment which passed could unintentionally increase the risk of discrimination against some groups including transgender children, intersex people and breastfeeding mothers.
Both bills are now in the senate, with their futures uncertain. But it’s very unlikely they will pass before the next election in May.
Mr Morrison (pictured with wife Jenny) said the bill ‘seeks to protect people of faith from discrimination on the basis of their religion in daily life’
When he introduced the bill, Mr Morrison told Parliament: ‘A Sikh should not be discriminated against because of the turban they wear. Nor a Maronite because of cross around their neck. Nor a Muslim employee who keeps that prayer mat in the bottom drawer at their desk at work.
‘Nor a Hindu couple who are seeking to rent a property. Nor a Jewish school, seeking to employ someone of their faith, if that faith is their preference and the publicly stated policy of their school.
‘This bill ensures people can’t be persecuted for moderately expressing a reasonable belief. What could be fairer than that?’
All states except NSW and SA already have laws banning religious discrimination but there is no federal law.
States are unhappy that their laws are being overridden and there were fears they could launch a legal challenge if the law passed.
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