Australia‘s new prime minister, Scott Morrison, campaigned against marriage equality and has spoken out about the need to protect religious liberty.

His appointment may come as a concern to LGBT+ people in Australia. Speaking after his appointment, he said he wanted to bring his party back together after it had been “bruised and battered” during a contentious leadership race.

Morrison’s appointment marks Australia’s sixth change of prime minister in just over a decade.

The new socially conservative leader of the country’s Liberal party said last November, after 61% of Australians voted in favour of introducing marriage equality, that as many – if not more Australians – wanted to see laws introduced that would protect religious freedom. Morrison, who is a member of a Sydney Pentecostal evangelical church, has also called for parents to be able to withdraw their children from classes where their values are not being protected, and wants organisations that believe marriage is between a man and a woman to be protected.

He also believes that people of strong religious views “have been subject to quite dreadful hate speech and bigotry,” and that discrimination against religious people “always starts innocently and it’s always said it is just a joke.”

“I’m gonna call that out,” he added. “With what I’ve seen happen in the last year, I’ve just taken the decision more recently, I’m just not going to put up with that any more, I don’t think my colleagues are either.” Read more via PinkNews