With same-sex marriage set to be legalised, there is still no consensus on how religious freedom will be protected. Some conservative politicians (including Mathias Cormann and Peter Dutton) are pushing for religious freedoms to be protected in separate legislation and debated next year. A second group (including Matt Canavan, Scott Morrison, Eric Abetz and Andrew Hastie) are calling for amendments to be added to the current bill, which will be debated when the Senate reconvenes on Monday, 27th November.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced today that a review into Australia’s religious protections will be undertaken by an ‘expert panel,’ headed by Philip Ruddock. However, this announcement does little to address concerns about religious freedom in the short term. The Prime Minister has promised to legalise same-sex marriage before Christmas, but Mr Ruddock’s panel does not need to report back until March.

ACTION
Marriage Alliance has made an online form which you can use to automatically email your Federal Member of Parliament and your state’s Senators, asking them to maintain and protect religious freedoms for all Australians. Click here to access it and send an email.