Australian Archbishop Anthony Fisher of Sydney says a wide-ranging “equalities” Bill in the state of New South Wales has an anti-religious undercurrent and will directly impact people of faith.

The bill would end the current rules allowing religious schools and organisations to use their beliefs in employment policies. A similar law to the one being proposed in Australia was passed in Ireland some years ago.

It would also further licence prostitution, potentially outside churches and schools, allow “self-identification of sex” on official documents, facilitate sex-change operations in children without parental consent, and enable commercial surrogacy.

Dr Fisher said that while the Church sympathises with efforts to end unjust discrimination against LGBT people, he said “there is a troubling anti-religious undercurrent in the bill”.

The Archbishop noted that New South Wales and South Australia are the only two states in Australia “where it remains perfectly legal to discriminate against a person on the basis of their religious belief or activity”.

“In proposing to remove the only religious protections, the bill would only enlarge the scope for discrimination against believers,” he added.