By: Surinder Jain.
Hindu Council of Australia along with other faith leaders have met federal opposition leader with his legal team and have asked to provide protection to Hindus from Religious Coercion. The meeting was attended by Surinder Jain, National Vice President and by Prakash Mehta, Director of Hindu Council.
Prakash Mehta on extreme left
Federal government has announced its intention to make changes to laws affecting Religious Discrimination. The changes among other things deal with the ability of Faith schools to hire staff of their own faith, treatment of LGBTQ+ staff and students etc.
Hindu Council supports that Faith schools should be free to hire employees of their own faith only to preserve ethos of their faith in the school. But Hindu Council has asked that when a school chooses to hire employees of other faiths, these employees must be protected from Religious Coercion and should not be discriminated because of their faith. This demand of Hindu Council was unanimously endorsed by the Faith Affairs Council of NSW in its previous meeting in December 2023. Leaders of all faiths including Christians, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, everyone has supported this.
Hindu Council conveyed its stance to opposition leader Mr Peter Dutton and is ready to have further discussions as the bill is progressed. The legal team of Hindu Council will be involved in monitoring that the proposed wording of the bill All faith leaders present in the meeting supported Hindu Council of Australia’s stand.
