Federal Assistant Attorney General Amanda Stoker has described the WA government’s approach to the Australian Christian Lobby as “enormously dangerous”.

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The lobby group had been denied access to government operated venues for it’s The Truth of It national tour, until the Perth Theatre Trust reversed it’s decision and allowed the events to proceed.

“It’s enormously dangerous, because the idea that tax payer funded infrastructure paid for people with a really wide range of political beliefs should find that they can only use those facilities if they sign up one hundred per cent to the Labor policy platform and belief set – it’s pretty damn disturbing.” Senator Stoker told the Sky News program Outsiders. 

“it tells us though that freedom of speech, the freedom of conscience, and freedom of belief, that is core to whether or not that we are free individuals at all, isn’t something we can take for granted. There are real threats to it. They encroach gently, or incrementally – like a frog in a pot of water where the temperature increases gradually.

“It can seem like there are small encroachments on this right, and little by little it doesn’t matter, but when you step back this doesn’t just mean we are doing without a luxury, what it means is we are taken away over time, not just out ability to speak, our ability to think, our ability to solve problems, our ability to engage with one and other civilly, even when we disagree – and when we lose that we become a broken and divided society that can’t solve the problems that it will face into the future.

“It’s a social and economic death that comes from denying the right of people to think and speak. This is not a small deal, it’s a big deal, and it should be a wake up call to everyone who thinks they can be complacent about matters social.” Senator Stoker said.

Calls for Morrison government to push forward with religious freedom legislation

Senator Stoker is currently working alongside Attorney General Michaelia Cash to develop the third draft of the Morrison government’s new religious freedom laws.

Writing in The Spectator academic Dr. Stephen Chavura urged Senator Cash to seize the moment and bring in the new legislation.

“What we are seeing is a gang of state-backed ideological thugs determining what may and may not be said in public institutions.” Dr. Chavura said.    

“Attorney-General Michaelia Cash is bringing a major rewrite of the Religious Discrimination Bill to federal parliament by December, we need to seize the opportunity to nip this entitlement complex in the bud.” 

Dr. Chavura said there was a “disturbing trend of therapeutic cancel culture, or people’s freedoms being denied or compromised, usually in the name of LGBTQ mental health and ‘safety'”.

In his article Dr. Chavura said “fanatical naked power” was being used to punish those who did not subscribe to political correctness and LGBT ideaology.

“The sacking of Israel Folau and the cancellation of the ACL’s event in WA are just the most noteworthy recent displays of fanatical naked power being wielded to punish dissidents of political correctness, particularly LGBT ideology. 

“This is a Western trend, a therapeutic totalitarianism that is increasingly declaring traditional views on gender and sexuality not simply wrong or even offensive, but unsafe and harmful.”    

OIP Staff

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