R.I.P. Freedom of Speech, Religious Liberty and Democracy
Just 6 weeks from a state election, Premier Steven Miles and his Labor and Greens colleagues, have declared open war on the 2.5 million Christians in Queensland, Australia. Late last night they voted to pass the most repressive speech laws in any Australian jurisdiction.
The message is clear: Christian light and Gospel Truth is not welcome in Labor’s Queensland.
The Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill 2024, passed shortly after 9pm on Tuesday, 10th September, with 49 Labor and 2 Greens MPs supporting, and 34 LNP and 4 Katter MPs opposing the Bill.
Queensland Director of the Australian Christian Lobby, Rob Norman said:
Queensland Labor has pulled a death blanket over Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Expression of Religion with the late-night passage of the ‘The Respect at Work and Other Matters Amendment Bill’.
The unelected bureaucrats of the Queensland Human Rights Commission will now have powers to deem any speech that ‘offends, humiliates, or intimidates’ any of a growing list of persons with ‘protected attributes’ as ‘harassment’ or ‘hate speech.”
In an era where the term snowflake was coined to describe the emotional incontinence of progressives unable to cope with losing an election, progressives have made it illegal to upset someone in public debate. That’s an incredibly low bar, given how easily triggered they are by people who merely disagree with them, let alone people who can articulate a cogent, factual rebuttal of their fictions and delusions.
The Queensland Human Rights Commission – unelected bureaucrats who incuriously accepted baseless and frivolous complaints against me personally – will now decide what is and isn’t “respectful”, and will punish anything they deem offensive.
Because “feelings”.
That’s right – if someone is simply offended because someone like me preaches the incompatibility of false religion and true religion, when they go crying to the feelings police (QHRC), I’ll be in serious trouble.
When your preacher read the words of Jesus, “So God created man in His own Image, in the Image of God He created him; male and female He created them,” you can expect a freaking human rights violation complaint – and he’ll be “guilty”!
ACL’s Mr. Norman said:
This new legislation means that religious people who refer to holy texts or religious teachings that challenge sexual orientation or gender identity are open to costly action at the hands of the Queensland Human Rights Commission.
We have entered a new dystopian era where frivolous and expensive claims, at the hands of hostile activists now hangs over the 2.5 million Queenslanders who identify as ‘Christian’. May God help us!
The Australian Christian Lobby is calling on the Queensland Liberal National Party to commit to repealing the worst Anti-Discrimination Laws in Australia’s history if elected on 26th October.
So should everyone else.
If you’re a Queenslander, please sign and share this petition below for the attention of the next Premier, David Crisafulli, demanding he commit to repealing this Orwellian legislation within the first 100 days of office, and not leave it to the end of the next term of Parliament before washing his hands of it with the excuse that time ran out.
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Dave Pellowe is a Christian political educator & commentator, founder of The Good Sauce, convener of the annual Australian Church And State Summit and host of Good Sauce’s weekly The Church And State Show. Since 2016 Dave has undertaken the mission of arming Christians to redeem culture through events from Perth to Auckland, videos, podcasts and articles published in multiple journals across Australia and New Zealand. [more]
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