13th Feb 2018, 4:19 PM – Senate Motions - Religious Freedom Review - Transparency

The majority voted in favour of this motion, which means it succeeded. Motions like these don't have legal force but can be politically influential as they represent the will of the Senate.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

(i) on 14 December 2017, Prime Minister Turnbull announced the terms of reference for the Religious Freedom Review, chaired by the Honourable Philip Ruddock,

(ii) despite the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet originally confirming that submissions to the inquiry would not be published, it later stated that decisions on releasing submissions would depend on whether or not submitters have given consent,

(iii) hearings which were not disclosed publicly have commenced with evidence taken in private, and

(iv) members of the LGBTIQ community in Australia have publicly raised concerns about the lack of transparency of these private hearings; and

(b) agrees that public confidence in the Religious Freedom Review is being compromised by secrecy and lack of transparency, and calls on Prime Minister Turnbull and Mr Ruddock to conduct a transparent review, and publicise dates and locations of hearings and open them to the public.