The Australian Christian Lobby have called for a nation-wide suspension of anti-discrimination laws in the lead up to the Government’s planned plebiscite on marriage equality.
ACL managing director Lyle Shelton says that he is concerned the public campaign will be unfair, claiming that state laws have “a low threshold” of tolerance.
Mr Shelton, who recently admitted that he was concerned people would assume he was gay should marriage equality exist in Australia, is also calling for public funding to promote fairness in the debate.
Greens LGBTI spokesperson Senator Robert Simms is calling on the Turnbull government to reject these calls from the ACL.
“These laws are designed to protect Australians from acts of hatred, vilification and incitement,” Senator Simms said.
“By advocating for these laws to be suspended the ACL has let the cat [out] of the bag and exposed its intention to run an ugly and discriminatory campaign against marriage equality.”
Senator Simms says the Government should not be providing the ACL with taxpayer money to run a “hate campaign”, and should reject any push to suspend anti-discrimination laws in Australia.
“The ACL has a history of scraping the bottom of the barrel and fanning the flames of hatred and division against LGBTI people,” Senator Simms said.
AME call for mature, fair, respectful debate
Australian Marriage Equality national director Rodney Croome has echoed Senator Simms’ sentiment, saying he is concerned that the ACL’s advocacy for a plebiscite has turned into an excuse to suspend laws that protect vulnerable Australians.
“It’s impractical and unnecessary to suspend anti-discrimination laws in every state and territory,” Mr Croome said.
Mr Croome and AME are calling for both sides of the debate to show maturity and find an agreeable framework for a free and respectful debate mediated an impartial body such as the Human Rights Commission.
“Public funding for the ‘yes’ and ‘no’ cases should be equal and kept to the absolute minimum, with resources directed instead to counselling for those people whose mental health will suffer from attacks on their basic rights.”
Attorney General George Brandis told Senate Estimates last week that the government is yet to work out the details of the plebiscite, including the logistics and wording of the question.
OIP Staff
