Executive Summary of Archbishop Hart’s Submission to the Victorian Government’s Equal Opportunity Review

This response to the invitation for comment on the Equal Opportunity Review Discussion Paper of November 2007 is made on behalf of the Catholic Church in Victoria, and with the approval of Most Reverend Denis J Hart DD, Archbishop of the Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne and the Metropolitan of the Province of Melbourne (the State of Victoria), and on behalf of the Bishops of the Diocese of Ballarat, the Diocese of Sandhurst and the Diocese of Sale.

The gospel message of Jesus Christ and the conventions and laws of the Roman Catholic Church require that the Church and its congregations establish and be active in a wide and varied range of educative, health, welfare, social and worship activities, all of which are exposed to legislative enactments.  It is the Archbishop’s and Bishops’ obligation on behalf of the Church to represent the Church and their respective Archdiocese and Dioceses in relation to legislation which would appear inconsistent with the religious doctrines, beliefs and principles of the Church.

The Church welcomes and appreciates the opportunity to comment on the Review of legislation as important as the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 in an independent, open and transparent way, against clear terms of reference and in a manner that allows interested parties to participate.  The Church acknowledges that this is in the interests of transparent decision making and ensuring that the broadest range of views on the matter under consideration are received.

The Church submits that amendments to the Equal Opportunity Act 1995 are needed to recognize the right of institutions to operate in a manner that observes the religious beliefs and principles that govern those institutions.  This will clarify the operation of the law not only in circumstances where discrimination is lawful, but also in circumstances where a Church entity is in a position that another person may discriminate against it.  The Church further submits that these amendments be made to reflect in principle the intention behind section 38(4) of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006, which recognizes the inherent right of a religious body to act in conformity with the religious doctrines, beliefs and principles in accordance with which the religious body operates.

The Church is opposed to any proposal for extension of the Commission’s powers whereby the complaints based jurisdiction may be replaced with one where the Commission has new proactive powers to investigate and monitor.

Given the proposed second round of consultations on the review of the Act and the proposed review of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006, the Church reserves the right to comment further on specific issues raised in the current Review in the event that any proposals for amendments of the Equal Opportunities Act 1995 will impact upon the existing exemptions and exceptions available to the Church.