Today is the day we have been waiting for.

Later today, the ‘Expert Panel’ on religious freedom will present its much-anticipated report to the Federal Government.

What the Ruddock-led panel will recommend in its report remains to be seen, as does the Government’s response.

But what we do know is that the importance of religious freedom will be at the forefront of Attorney-General Christian Porter’s mind today – because he has received our Declaration of Religious Freedom, along with the names of 14,298 signatories!

SA Liberal Senator David Fawcett kindly agreed to present the Declaration to Mr Porter on our behalf (see photo below).

Senator Fawcett sent us a short message following the presentation:

I was pleased to present this petition to the Attorney-General, and I encourage Australian Family Coalition supporters to maintain their involvement in this debate.

As Chair of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade I have had the Human Rights sub-committee consider this issue in great depth. Our report on the current status of religious freedom under Australian law was made available to Mr Ruddock when he was appointed to lead the Panel.

The preservation of religious freedom in this country is essential if we are to continue to be a free, plural democracy. Our freedoms, especially those of religion and belief, are worth fighting for.

Like many of your supporters, I await the report of Phillip Ruddock’s panel with interest, mindful that the issues raised will continue to be debated for some time.

We are grateful to Senator Fawcett for his assistance, and his words of encouragement.

As his comments demonstrate, there are many in the Government who understand the value of maintaining our hard-won freedoms.

However, we realise this is just the first step.

We will be providing you with a full analysis of the report as soon as it becomes publicly available.

Kind regards,

The Australian Family Coalition