What we do
Advocacy
We support denominations, organisations, churches and other faith communities to advocate effectively for religious freedom. This includes supporting faith leaders as they meet with politicians, resourcing “meet your candidate” forums during elections, and making it easy for people to write to, call and meet with their local MP to advocate on issues of religious freedom.
Legal Analysis
We provide world-class analysis of legislation and proposals to church leaders and other faith groups, writing submissions to Government and assisting and coordinating other responses.
Read our submissions and articles at our online public library
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Our Current Campaigns
Queensland Election
Freedom for Faith is supporting churches across Queensland in holding “candidate forums” for their electorate. These forums are an opportunity to hear from both sides of politics about issues that concern you – iincluding the recently passed “Respect at Work” bill that will have signficiant impacts of religious speech in Queensland.
NSW “Equality” bill
The independent Member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, has introduced his “Equality” bill, which would significantly undermine religious freedom in NSW. In collaboration with the heads of churches and a wide range of faith groups, Freedom for Faith has coordinated a campaign to call, write and meet with local MPs. We are also directly engaging with the Government and opposition on the future of the bill, and resourcing faith leaders in their advocacy. The legislation has been referred to a Parliamentary Committee for Inquiry.
The most effective thing we can do is to contact our local MPs to keep reminding them how dangerous this legislation is. Freedom for Faith has developed a resource to make it easy to find your MP and send them a personal message about your concerns.
Federal Religious Discrimination Bill and faith-based schools
On Friday April 12, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese met with a number of faith leaders, including members of the Freedom for Faith board, to discuss the Religious Discrimination Bill and related legislative changes, including changes to the Sex Discrimination Act for faith-based schools.
This meeting was very positive, with the PM saying that religious freedom “will not go backwards while I’m Prime Minister of Australia”. He also indicated that he believed that faith-based organisations (including schools) requiring employees to live out their faith was “not discrimination”. This meeting also effectively ruled out any deal with the Greens to pass legislation.
This is a very positive development given the media coverage of the issue over the past month.
NSW Conversion Practices Ban Act
On March 22, 2024, the NSW Parliament passed the Conversion Practices Ban Act, a week after revealing the legislation. Despite a strong push from faith leaders and communities for improvements and clarifications, the legislation passed unamended.
Assoc Professor Neil Foster – a member of the Freedom for Faith board – has written a detailed analysis of the legislation and its implications.
Show your support
Your generous financial support ensures we remain an effective, recognised voice for religious freedom in Australia.
