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"I don't think it's lost on anyone that there was clearly an issue with Labor and people of faith at the last election,"says Michelle Rowland. — "I don't think it's lost on anyone that there was clearly an issue with Labor and people of faith at the last election," says Michelle Rowland.Credit:James Alcock

Ms Rowland said it was not clear why the bill putextra requirements on big companies - in terms of the evidence they have to provide for curtailing employees' religious expression - but these did not apply to businesses with a revenue of less than $50 million a year.

"Why are religious freedoms being determined by the size of the company?"

Shortly before the election,Laborintroduced a reproductive and sexual health package that included plans to use hospital funding agreements to increase abortion services in public hospitals. While the policy had strong support in the ALP caucus,some Labor insiders have since said there was not enough time to explain it to religious communities.

Labor suffered swings against it in highly religious seats,including Ms Rowland's seat of Greenway and other western Sydney seats such as Chifley,Blaxland,Fowler and McMahon. These seats voted"no"in the same-sex marriage postal survey.

"I don't think it's lost on anyone that there was clearly an issue with Labor and people of faith at the last election,"Ms Rowland said."There is a sense that we didn't get it right."

She said Labor's reproductive and sexual health policy was framed around equal access to healthcare,but she said it was"conflated with a number of broader religious issues".

"I think's it's fair to say this caused genuine anxiety for some people of faith."

Ms Rowland said she was"not blaming anyone"but"these[policies] were being proposed in a vacuum without consideration of how they would be received."

The Sydney MP says Labor's election loss caused her to"stand back"and seek feedback from religious groups. Greenway has significant Hindu,Sikh and Christian communities.

"I made a very conscious decision to engage. And I've been doing that."

Other Labor MPshave previously spoken about the damaging effects of a campaign from anti-abortion activists,who distributed flyers claiming Labor had an"extreme late-term abortion agenda". Ed Husic said there was a"wildfire"going on in his seat of Chifley,where he suffered a swing of 6.74 per cent against him.

Given its recent election loss,all Labor's policies are up for review. There is no expectation that Labor will change its stance on increasing access to abortion. But there has been internal discussion about how it could be better"sold"before the next election.

Attorney-General Christian Porter released a draft religious discrimination bill last month and plans to introduce it to Parliament in October. Labor is consulting religious and community groups and is still considering its position.

Ms Rowland said that after same-sex marriage passed Parliament in 2017,religious communities had high expectations that the religious discrimination bill would offer them strong protections.

"There is a genuine fear of a chilling effect on their religious expression that needs to be rectified."

She said religious groups appeared to have"more and more"questions about the bill as they examined the proposed new laws.

In an interview with the Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age,Labor Senator Deborah O'Neill also questioned the $50 million threshold for companies as an"arbitrary line in the sand".

She said the government was rushing the consultation process with religious groups - leaving only five weeks between its public release of the bill and the close of submissions.

Senator O'Neill said this was"disrespectful"to religious groups who had a short time to understand a complex piece of legislation.

The government started formal consultations with community and religious groups about the bill last week. Public submissions close on October 2.

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