The government's religious discrimination bill would effectively "legislate bigotry" by providing a cloak for sexist, racist or homophobic statements, a legal group has warned.
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In a separate submission to a new parliamentary inquiry into the bill, a leading constitutional and human rights law expert argues the bill prioritises religious speech over other forms of speech - a "deeply problematic" change in a secular country such as Australia.
Two parliamentary committees will spend the summer break probing the government's long-promised religious discrimination bill, which Prime Minister Scott Morrison unveiled in the final sitting fortnight of the year.
Mr Morrison has argued the legislation is necessary to allow people to practice their faith, stressing it will act as a "shield not a sword" for religious Australians.
But equality groups, the Greens and some Liberal MPs are concerned a key clause will instead open the door to discrimination against marginalised groups.
The bill would override state and territory discrimination laws to protect people who make statements aligned with their faith.
Only statements made in "good faith" would be protected under the bill.
Australian Lawyers Alliance, a non-for-profit group of lawyers and academics which specialises in social justice, argued in its submission that the clause was "unacceptable".
'[It] means the religious discrimination bill is effectively legislating bigotry, by enabling religious statements of belief to be used as a cloak for sexism, racism, homophobia and other prejudices," the group's president, Graham Droppert, said.
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Mr Droppert said the bill shouldn't be passed, arguing there was no need for extra protection against religious discrimination.
The Canberra Times sought comment from the office of Attorney-General Michaelia Cash about the lawyers' alliance's assertion, but did not receive a response.
UNSW professor George Williams also argued against the passage of a bill which he described as "full of shades of grey, unclear terms and doubts as to its scope."
In his submission, Prof Williams said the changes were problematic because they prioritised religious speech over other forms of speech.
"This is deeply problematic in a secular nation," he wrote in the submission to the human rights committee inquiry.
"I support stronger protection for freedom of speech in Australia and believe that this is urgently required. However, there is no justification for conferring religious speech with special legal protection over and above that provided to other forms of speech.
"As a matter of principle, it is wrong to use the law to prioritise one form of speech over another. A robust democracy like Australia depends on all points of view having an equal chance to be put forward."
The human rights committee inquiry, set up following a referral from Senator Cash, will hold its first public hearing on December 21, before reporting on February 4.
A second senate inquiry will also report back on that date.
Labor has held off setting a formal position on the legislation until the inquiries have handed down their reports.
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