Julie Owens (Parramatta, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have risen in this place three times now to raise the issue of religious freedom. The first time it was in response to some rather absurd calls from opposition members to ban the hijab, the second was in response to an attack on my local Jewish synagogue, and this time it is in response to concerns in our Islamic community that incidents of abuse and discrimination on religious grounds appear to be on the rise.

I believe that most Australians would assume that freedom of religion is a given in this country. It runs deep in our culture and is featured in our Constitution. It includes the right to have or not have a religion, to manifest religious belief individually or with others, in public or in private, and to do so without fear of reprisal, abuse or discrimination. I realised a few months ago that I had started smiling at women in the street who were wearing the hijab, which is the headscarf worn by many women of Islamic faith. The reason was quite simple and also shocking: it is that I knew at some level Muslim women and girls who wore religious garments were suffering rudeness, abuse and even various forms of touching in the street. Unlike the men, they are more easily identified as Muslims and are therefore more vulnerable to abuse. My smile was my attempt to show them support and from conversations I have had with Muslim friends, both male and female, and the stories they have told me of their experiences on the street I know that my view was accurate.

Even if just some women and girls cannot walk down the street wearing a hijab, even with their children, without being abused or fearing abuse—so if they feel afraid, or even a little uneasy—then I fear we are not the open, welcoming country of the fair go that we think we are. If we see overt demonstrations of rudeness and abuse towards women and girls, we can reasonably assume that there is also hidden discrimination in other aspects of life including getting a job and earning a promotion and our workplaces must also be rife with discrimination for both Muslim men and women. We in this place are both leaders and servants of our community. As leaders we lead by our character and we look to the horizon and support those who can see further than we can. As servants we support those who strive to find a good path through their life and aid those who are lost or have fallen behind. We who have been given the extraordinary privilege of representing our constituents have a role to play as leaders and servants in ensuring that our communities of all backgrounds and abilities grow secure and strong, confident and empowered to make the decisions needed to build good lives. A sense of belonging, of being welcomed and accepted is fundamental, and that is why Labor has a Minister for Social Inclusion. When we see a community feeling excluded, it is our job to act to counter that.

My Muslim community is a good one. I know them as children going to school, students, young adults falling in love, parents, grandparents, engineers, doctors and religious scholars, as people who have chosen a good path through life which provides a sense of community and guides them in finding answers to the difficult questions of life. I also know them as people who despair about the actions and behaviours of those people in the world who do terrible things in the name of Islam. I know they seek to protect this country of theirs, where they raise their children, work and plan to retire, from any infiltration of those distorted, violent beliefs. We should all be with them and beside them on that. I know them as people whose paths through life will be a little more difficult if they do not feel welcome and safe in a country that is their home and, more and more these days, the country of their birth.

The Islamic community has begun to ask that the human rights and antidiscrimination laws be strengthened to cover religious vilification and discrimination. On the Labor side of the House we released an exposure draft of the Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination Bill 2012, which strengthened many protections and extended antidiscrimination laws on the grounds of religion to the workplace. That is a major step forward. However, there were several submissions that echoed the views of my Islamic community and argued for stronger antivilification laws on the grounds of religion. The Attorney-General, as part of the review, has asked his department to thoroughly assess submissions made to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, including those that argued that we take a step forward in protecting the community from religious vilification and discrimination.

In contrast, on the other side of politics the coalition has indicated that it would throw us into reverse by repealing section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act 1975. That is the section that makes it unlawful to publish material which offends or insults a person or group because of the race, colour or national or ethnic origin of the person. The removal of such protections would be a major step backward. I urge the parliament to uphold protections against racial vilification that are already in place under section 18C and to look to ways to safeguard the protection of religious freedom in Australia for all religions. (Time expired)