Philip Ruddock to examine if Australian law protects religious freedom

The former Liberal minister Philip Ruddock has been appointed to examine if Australian law adequately protects the human right to religious freedom.

Ruddock’s appointment by cabinet, announced on Wednesday, is designed to head off a bruising debate about religious amendments in a same-sex marriage bill, but the treasurer, Scott Morrison, said the review was “no substitute” for those amendments.

The prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, said it was important to look at the issue of religious freedom carefully, in light of the yes vote and impending legislation on marriage equality.

While senior conservatives including Peter Dutton and Mathias Cormann have publicly suggested a religious freedom bill can be considered next year, separately to a marriage bill, others including Morrison and Liberal senator, David Fawcett, have insisted it be considered at the same time. Ruddock has been asked to report by 31 March.

Turnbull said a variety of proposals for legislative changes to protect freedom of religion have been put forward in recent months but many of them go beyond the immediate issue of marriage, and parliament needed to be wary of them.

“Any reforms to protect religious freedom at large should be undertaken carefully,” he said in a statement on Wednesday.

“There is a high risk of unintended consequences when parliament attempts to legislate protections for basic rights and freedoms, such as freedom of religion. The government is particularly concerned to prevent uncertainties caused by generally worded bill of rights-style declarations.

“This will be a timely expert stocktake to inform consideration of any necessary legislative reforms.”

Turnbull said Ruddock was the right person to conduct the review because he had served as Australia’s special envoy for human rights.

Ruddock will be helped by an expert panel consisting of the recently appointed president of the Australian Human Rights Commission, Rosalind Croucher, the Hon Annabelle Bennett and Father Frank Brennan.

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Morrison said he and Turnbull had been working on this appointment since the same-sex marriage postal survey returned a yes vote last week.

“This is not a substitute for not dealing with amendments to the same-sex marriage bill in the parliament,” Morrison told the ABC’s AM program on Wednesday.

“Those amendments, as individual members of parliament, will still be pursued and as you know I’ve a view that they should be supported.

“What this does is says to 4.9 million Australians who [voted no], and I think to many more Australians who also believe religious protections to be looked after, that we will do a thorough review of this.”

He said Ruddock would listen to the anxieties and fears of people who were concerned about the consequences that same-sex marriage could have for religious freedom.

“I think this is a positive move,” he said.

The Australian Christian Lobby director, Lyle Shelton, displayed hostility to the proposed review, claiming it was not sufficient because “the freedom of speech of 5 million Australians is about to be wiped out before Christmas”.

“Sadly the new civic totalism can’t even by resisted by [the Liberal party],” he said.

In a statement, the Institute of Public Affairs research fellow, Morgan Begg, said that section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act – which prohibits speech that offends, insults or intimidates people based on their race – “must be included in any review of religious freedoms”.

“Freedom of speech is at the heart of freedom of religion,” he said. “You can’t live with a religious worldview if you don’t also have the freedom to express that worldview without threat of legal restriction.”

Ruddock told Sky News on Wednesday he did not know if he was getting paid for the role and he was not interested in the money.

He also would not reveal how he voted in the same-sex marriage survey, saying he did not think it was relevant.

“I am known to have been responsible as the attorney general for implementing certain legislation,” he said, referring to legislation he introduced to parliament in 2004 explicitly banning same-sex marriage.

Marriage celebrants have been required by law since 2004 to say that marriage is “the union of a man and a woman to the exclusion of all others”.

“I don’t think I ought to be making judgments in relation to these issues, and purporting to make statements on the basis of how I may or may not have voted in which people will suggest that my judgment ... has been in some way impaired.

“That’s a matter which I’m going to turn my mind to openly with the others that have been chosen ... will we bring our independent judgments to bear in the most appropriate way.”

Ruddock recently became the mayor of Hornsby shire council in Sydney.

He was Australia’s second-longest serving member of federal parliament, sitting in the House of Representatives for 43 years from 1973 to 2016.