Summary

Introduced with the Religious Discrimination (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2021 and Human Rights Legislation Amendment Bill 2021, the bill: prohibits discrimination on the basis of a person’s religious belief or activity in a range of areas of public life, including in relation to employment, education, access to premises and the provision of goods, services and accommodation; establishes general and specific exceptions from the prohibition of religious discrimination; provides that certain statements of belief do not constitute discrimination for the purposes of certain specified Commonwealth, state or territory anti-discrimination laws; creates offences in relation to victimisation and discriminatory advertisements; establishes the office of the Religious Discrimination Commissioner; confers certain functions on the Australian Human Rights Commission; and provides for miscellaneous matters including delegation of powers or functions, protection from civil actions and a review of the operation of the Act.