Christian schools have warned that Labor’s hate-speech laws could be “weaponised” against religious teachings and have a “chilling effect” on free speech, as a push to introduce a serious vilification offence was knocked back by the parliament. The Australian Association of Christian Schools (AACS) raised its concerns about the impact of the hate-crimes bill on faith-based schools, after the legislation passed the Senate recently. While the AACS stated it supported efforts to combat hate-motivated violence, the association’s executive officer, Vanessa Cheng, said including sex and gender identity as protected attributes could lead to limits on traditional religious teachings. Labor moved amendments adding minimum mandatory sentences for terror offences to the bill, which criminalises “threatening force or violence” against targeted groups. It represented a political win for the Coalition, which had proposed the introduction of six-year mandatory sentences for terror crimes last month.
“There is a real risk that the broad definitions and expanded list of attributes could criminalise religious teachings on sex or gender, which could be considered ‘hateful’ or ‘harmful’ by some people,” Ms Cheng said. Christian Schools Australia (CSA) said it was concerned about the “unintended consequences” of the bill, which could lead to the “possible criminalisation of religious speech” in educational settings. The peak body had pushed for exemptions for statements made during “genuine academic, artistic, religious, educational or scientific purpose or any other genuine purpose in the public interest”. “CSA calls on the parliament to consider the unintended consequences of this bill, specifically the possible criminalisation of religious speech (such as our Biblical teachings on sex and gender) within our schools,” the group said.
Source: Compiled by APN from media reports
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