A second draft Religious Discrimination Bill 2019 was released
on 10 December 2019, with many changes from the first draft.
The draft Bill seeks to replace the traditional method of
protecting religious freedom by exemption from anti-discrimination
laws, which protect persons from discrimination based on attributes
such as age, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and marital
status. The law allows certain religious bodies to make decisions
that conform to their religious beliefs. It aims to safeguard
against the threat of discrimination claims in instances where a
religious body is acting in accordance with its beliefs.
Religious bodies are the following bodies conducted in
accordance with the beliefs of a particular religion: educational
institutions (schools and universities), public benevolent
institutions and any other body which does not engage solely or
primarily in commercial activities. In other words, schools,
universities and public benevolent
