Freedom of Religion Campaign

This focused initially on the Philip Ruddock Review, set up by Malcolm Turnbull to pacify his conservative party room who tried -- with more than a dozen "amendments" -- to block the Marriage Act (passed in December 2017), allowing same-sex couples to marry.  Ruddock's "Religious Freedom Review" called for public submissions, and by 31 March 2018 Ruddock will make final recommendations to parliament.

NSL lodged a 10-page submission.  Ambassador Chris Schacht and Brian Morris were invited to meet with (part of) the Ruddock Panel on 27 February 2018, and to present evidence in support of the NSL submission.  The panel confirmed that 16,500 submissions had been received, and we suggested 99% of these came from religious congregations and various Christian lobbies.  They made no comment, and indeed the whole processes has been shrouded in complete secrecy -- see relevant radio interviews by Chris Schacht.  It seems reasonable to assume the Ruddock Review will make recommendations to increase religious privileges.

The Parliamentary Campaign

Watch this space . . .  The real campaign will begin when recommendation for extended religious privileges -- under the guise of "Freedom of Religion" -- will hit the floor of federal parliament.  NSL will gear up to oppose any such measures that add to the excessive levels of religious entitlement already enjoyed by religions of all faiths.