Australian of the Year, Dylan Alcott has slammed religious freedom laws put to parliament this week potentially discriminatory to disabled people.
Speaking on QandA on Thursday night, Mr Alcott, who uses a wheelchair, recounted a story of being called “the spawn of Satan”.
“This bill actually discriminates against people with a disability, because in some very, very traditional parts of religion, we are a spawn of Satan because our parents did something wrong, or we did something wrong,” Mr Alcott said.
The controversial bill was passed in parliament on Thursday, but with key amendments.
Katie Allen was one of five Liberal MPs that crossed the floor to ensure the amendments were secured.
She said she was “thrilled” with the outcome.
“The contest of ideas is why I’ve gone to parliament and at the end of the day and at the end of the day, you have to have that vote,” she said.
Mr Alcott jumped on her enthusiasm, saying such laws shouldn’t have made it that far without considering their broader impact.
“You said you were thrilled with the process. Some people that weren’t thrilled were the people that got hurt by the bill,” he said.
“I think a bill that protected some people from discrimination, but indirectly or directly discriminated another group is a crap bill, that needs to go in the bin at the best of times.
Mr Alcott shared his experience of going on a date to a shopping centre when he was 16.
“A preacher was there and started screaming at me that I was a spawn of Satan and prayed for me and my date, and told my date it was a bad idea that they were with me,” Mr Alcott said.
“When I saxjmtzyww this bill I was like, ‘that actually protects some people to talk like that’.”
“Can confirm it was a successful date somehow though.”
