If the middle of a bushfire emergency isn’t the time to talk about global heating and climate disruption, perhaps Christmas isn’t the moment to bring up the federal government’s proposed religious discrimination laws – especially as a Melbourne newspaper reports that a Muslim Uber driver refused to give a war veteran and his wife a ride home from the local RSL because they were carrying a Christmas ham.

Should a muslim Uber driver be forced to transport a Christmas ham? Credit:iStockphoto

The couple, Marion and Peter Archibald, won the ham at a raffle at the Seaford RSL club, according to the report. About 10pm, they called for an Uber. When the driver arrived and asked them what they were about to put in the boot of his car, he allegedly told them he was a Muslim and couldn’t have the ham in his vehicle.

Prompted by the newspaper, a spokesperson for federal Attorney-General Christian Porter offered a gloss on how the proposed religious discrimination bill might deal with the situation.

Surely, the proposed law would protect the Uber driver’s right to withhold a service that would cause him to contravene his beliefs?