"Ai Group welcomes the release today by the Australian Government of a second exposure draft of the Religious Discrimination Bill," Ai Group Chief Executive, Innes Willox said today.
"While more changes to the Bill will be needed to address the genuine concerns of employers, it is pleasing that the second exposure draft addresses a key concern that Ai Group raised. In the previous version of the Bill, employers could not restrict an employee's statement of belief 'other than at a time when the employee [was] performing work on behalf of the employer'. This phrase has been amended in the second exposure draft to 'other than in the course of the employee's employment'.
"The reason why this change is so important is explained in Ai Group's submission in response to the first exposure draft (see pages 8-12).
"We thank the government for engaging in a thorough consultation process and being open to receive further feedback.
"Ai Group will carefully consider the second exposure draft and make a submission by the 31 January 2020 deadline," Mr Willox said.
