Moderate Liberals are threatening to sink a religious discrimination bill that they fear goes too far in enshrining protections for religious beliefs that may infringe on existing discrimination laws.
The proposed laws, due to be introduced into parliament on Tuesday, are intended to prevent a person from being discriminated against on the basis of their religion and would fulfil a promise the Coalition took to the last election.
But some Liberal MPs are uncomfortable with the bill, which they argue would allow a person to make otherwise discriminatory statements, such as stating that a gay person's HIV infection is a punishment from God, if it is a genuinely held belief.
Liberal MP Bridget Archer, who holds the marginal seat of Bass in Tasmania, said the bill went much further than what was promised.
She said the legislation in its current form privileged religious attributes beyond providing protection from discrimination.
Ms Archer said she could not support the bill in its current form.
"I'm not sure that there's any way to bridge the divide between the bill as it currently looks like and my concerns," Ms Archer said.
"So as it is, I'm not sure how I can support it."
Moderates and conservatives threatening to vote against government
In a bid to get moderate backing, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has promised to ban schools from expelling students on the basis of their sexuality, as part of the push to legislate religious freedoms.
The government is already facing a rebellion from several conservative members in the Senate, who are withholding support on government votes over several issues.
Renegade senators Gerard Rennick and Alex Antic say they won't vote with the government until it acts to block states from mandating COVID-19 vaccines for certain workers.
The push from moderate Liberals threatens to disrupt the government's agenda in the House of Representatives, too.
Ms Archer has already voted against the government once, to bring forward debate on an Integrity Commission bill, which has been delayed indefinitely since being promised by the government at the last election.
Fellow moderate Liberal Katie Allen said the religious discrimination bill had been worked on closely over the past two years, but there was still work that needed to be negotiated.
She said she was prepared to cross the floor if protections for students and teachers were not guaranteed.
"I'm never confident until it's been delivered to me. I haven't seen the final amendments," Ms Allen said.
"And I'm absolutely clear that my support for the religious discrimination bill is conditional on [those protections]."
Editor’s note February 7, 2022: An earlier version of this article stated that Country Liberal Party senator Sam McMahon, who quit the party last week having lost her pre-selection, threatened to cross the floor on government votes until it allowed debate on a bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying. While Senator McMahon does want that bill debated, on Monday her office told the ABC she wasn’t withholding her support on all government bills. The ABC has amended the story to reflect this.
