Christian Porter suggests claim the bill could harm Victorian ban on conversion therapy is either inept or malicious

This article is more than 11 months old

This article is more than 11 months old

The attorney general Christian Porter has emphatically rejected the Victorian government’s claim the religious discrimination bill could harm its proposed ban on gay conversion therapy.

In comments to Guardian Australia, Porter accused the Andrews Labor government of a “clear lack of understanding” of the bill which he said preserves states’ rights to pass their own laws, suggesting the criticism was either inept or malicious.

Porter is working on amendments to the exposure draft bill before introducing it to parliament, after concerns from human rights and LGBTI groups that it will license religious statements that breach other discrimination laws and employer concerns it will prevent them setting codes of conduct around religious speech.

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On Monday Porter told ABC’s AM radio program he still intended to introduce the bill this year and suggested that amendments would address concerns about the functioning of religious aged care providers without making “massive or substantial” changes to the rest of the bill.

The Sydney Anglican church and Australian Catholic Bishops Conference have warned although religious bodies are themselves exempt from the ban on religious discrimination, the exemption will not apply to bodies engaging “solely or primarily in commercial activities”.

Porter said the government had held consultations because “it was difficult for us without the expertise to understand how religious aged care and hospitals work and what might be their requirements”.

He said that following those consultations, changes would be made that are not “at the margin nor are they massive or substantial changes”.

On Monday the Victorian government opened consultation on its proposed ban on gay conversion therapy.

In a statement the Victorian attorney general, Jill Hennessy, revealed it had also made a submission about the draft religious discrimination bill warning it “may hamper Victoria’s work to end the hurt and damage being inflicted through these practices – when offered by religiously affiliated organisations or medical practitioners, or under the guise of religious belief”.

Victoria has not released its submission but Guardian Australia understands because it is considering using civil law – not criminal law – to ban gay conversion therapy, the federal bill could override the ban. Daniel Andrews has said people might escape the ban “on the basis this was part of their religious belief”.

Porter told Guardian Australia: “What the Andrews government’s 1.5 page submission demonstrates to me is a clear lack of understanding about how the religious discrimination bill will work.

“Nothing in the bill gives religious institutions or individuals the right to defy laws passed by state and territory governments,” he said.

“As such, it would not affect in any way Victoria’s ability to introduce laws covering gay conversion therapy, or mandatory reporting, or any other criminal matter.

“To suggest otherwise is just plain wrong and either the people who wrote or signed-off on this submission cannot read or interpret fairly straightforward legislative provisions, or there are other motives for attempting to misrepresent the bill.”

The bill overrides state rules that require doctors with a conscientious objection to refer patients to another health service and exempts statements of religious belief from state anti-discrimination laws.

But the bill states that it is otherwise “not intended to exclude or limit the operation of a law of a state or territory to the extent that the law is capable of operating concurrently with this Act”.

On Monday the Labor leader in the Senate, Penny Wong, backed the Victorian government’s concern, saying that “fair-minded Australians will share his and my concerns about gay conversion therapy which we know is harmful”.

“As a matter of general principle, we do not want … laws around religious discrimination to weaken protections which already exist,” she told ABC TV.

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The fate of the religious discrimination bill is uncertain, given the independent senator Jacqui Lambie and Centre Alliance’s Rex Patrick have said they see no case for it or are yet to be convinced it addresses a real problem.

On Monday Porter shrugged off the concern, suggesting Patrick was “yet to be convinced until ultimately he gets convinced and that’s a process … with the crossbench”.

Porter cited the example of a Jewish person refused entry to a function at New South Wales Parliament House as an example of why religious discrimination should be banned.

Labor’s shadow assistant treasurer, Stephen Jones, said the Morrison government had “created a problem for themselves” by promising “all things for all people on religious freedom and anti-discrimination”.

“I fall on the side of people who say, we actually do not think the problem is as big as many have said it is.

“I think it is more important we have the existing laws as opposed to a legislative shift.”