Christian lobby begins phone polling effort aimed at Bridget Archer over religion bill stance

According to ACL national director Wendy Francis the seat of Bass was one of five phone polling schemes in place around the nation.

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Ms Francis said the aim for the effort was to highlight the voting record of the five MPs who "torpedoed the Religious Discrimination Bill".

Alongside Bass, ACL is also targeting the seats of Wentworth, North Sydney and Reid in New South Wales and Mayo in South Australia.

Bass Liberal MHR Bridget Archer drew national headlines in February when she crossed the floor over concerns the bill wouldn't extend protections to transgender students.

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The bill was ultimately shelved and Ms Archer's decision has drawn both criticism and praise in the weeks following the move.

The phone poll asks voters whether they are aware of the voting record of MPs in their seat regarding religious issues. ACL have said the lobby group is "simply informing her [Ms Archer's] electorate".

The push in Bass mirrors a similar campaign run by the ACL during the 2019 election. At the time, ACL managing director Martyn Iles said Bass had been chosen based on its "demographic, marginality and candidates".

Three years later, Equality Tasmania's Rodney Croome believes ACL "clearly failed" to have an impact in 2019.

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"This time around the people of Bass have a choice between a Liberal candidate who supports LGBTIQ+ inclusion and a Labor candidate who supports LGBTIQ+ inclusion. The ACL should cut its losses and go home," Mr Croome said.

"Bridget Archer stood up for Tasmania's gold-standard Anti-Discrimination Act, for the vulnerable minorities it protects and for the inclusive Tasmania it has helped foster. It's appalling that a mainland organisation is singling her out for doing her job."

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In response to the move by ACL, Ms Archer said she stood by her decision to ensure "Tasmania's gold-standard anti-discrimination laws remain intact".

"I have had further friendly and constructive discussions with Christian schools in northern Tasmania regarding my decision and I would welcome any discussion with the Australian Christian Lobby should they wish to reach out to me."

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