Tasmanian Senator Jacqui Lambie has raised concerns over the government’s proposed Religious Discrimination Bill.
Speaking on ABC news yesterday, Senator Lambie said she doesn’t see a case for the bill at “this point in time”.
The senator also questioned the bill’s potential override of Tasmania’s state anti-discrimination protections, saying that it would “upset Tasmanians more than the law itself.”
“I know that the religious freedoms we have in Tasmania, as they are now, they are working pretty well and I don’t have a lot of people around Tasmania talking to me about religious freedom,” Lambie told Patricia Karvelas.
Senator Lambie added that her team was looking at the bill, noting that “Tasmania seems satisfied [with current state laws], so I will have to on that they don’t really want this changed.”
Tasmania’s LGBTI community have praised Lambie for questioning the proposed bill and its override of Tasmanian Anti-Discrimination Act.
“The people who will suffer most from the proposed federal override of our state discrimination protections are Tasmanians vulnerable to hate and discrimination, including people with disability, single parents, unmarried partners, ethnic minorities and LGBTI people.”
“Tasmanians have the right to make laws to protect the most vulnerable among us, without interference from meddling Canberra politicians.”
“I applaud Senator Lambie for questioning the need for a federal law that will take away both legal protections for vulnerable Tasmanians and the right of all Tasmanians to make our own human rights laws.”
Mr Croome went on to say that Tasmania already has the nation’s strongest protections against discrimination and hate speech directed at people of faith.
OIP Staff
