Martine Delaney has asked the commissioner's office to investigate Hobart Archbishop Julian Porteous and the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference.

At issue is the booklet "Don't Mess with Marriage", produced by the bishops earlier this year.

The booklet makes it clear that the Church opposes the legalisation of same-sex marriage and explains why it defends legal marriage as being between a man and a woman.

The publication was distributed in June to about 12,000 Tasmanian families whose children attend Catholic schools.

Campaigner Martine Delaney, who is the Greens' candidate for the federal seat of Franklin, said the booklet could cause "immeasurable harm".

She told media that the booklet gives "the idea that same-sex attracted people can never have a relationship that is equal to a heterosexual marriage, that they can never be whole as people, that their children can never be complete as people".

In her complaint, Ms Delaney asked for a public apology from the Archbishop Porteous and the Australian Catholic Bishops.

She also wants the Catholic Church in Tasmania to implement a Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender and Intersex awareness program for all staff and students within the Catholic education system.

Australia's government has suggested that a plebiscite will be held on legalising same-sex marriage during the next federal parliament.

Archbishop Porteous said it is important that there be an open and free debate.

"The [booklet] affirms the dignity of all human beings regardless of their physical characteristics, gender or the orientation of their sexual attraction," he said.

"[It]condemns in the strongest terms any form of unjust discrimination."

He said some people want Christians prevented from publicly expressing their views on important social issues.

"Increasingly they are trying to manipulate anti-discrimination legislation to achieve this end.

"This represents the rise of a new intolerance against Christianity in Australian society and more generally a threat to freedom of speech."

Once the Commissioner has investigated a complaint it could be referred onto an Anti-Discrimination Tribunal, which has the power to make orders.

Sources

• Guardian Australia
• ABC
• Hobart Legal
• Image: ABC

A pastoral letter from the bishops titled "Don't mess with marriage" was sent home with students of Catholic high schools in several archdioceses, including Hobart.

It stressed both respect for all and respect for the unique nature of marriage as a union of man and a woman.

Rodney Croome, national director of Australian Marriage Equality, stated the booklet is illegal under Tasmanian law.

His group cited laws that bar offensive conduct, inciting hatred, and publishing notices that promote or express discrimination.

"The booklet likely breaches the Anti-Discrimination Act and I urge everyone who finds it offensive and inappropriate, including teachers, parents and students, to complain to the Anti-Discrimination Commissioner," Mr Croome said.

But Archbishop Julian Porteous of Hobart said: "A document defending the current law in our nation could hardly be called discrimination."

"The Catholic Church in Tasmania is exercising its right to freedom of opinion, just as opponents to the Church's views on marriage are also exercising their rights," the archbishop said.

Mr Croome said the distribution of the pastoral letter to Catholic school students was "completely inappropriate", and that the Catholic Church had enlisted young people "as the couriers of its prejudice".

He said that the booklet harms homosexual students, and that he had received several complaints from Catholic school teachers about the booklet distribution.

Archbishop Porteous said many parishioners and Catholic parents have spoken positively about the pastoral letter.

He added that the pastoral letter respects diversity and "does not advocate hatred or vilification of people with a same sex attraction".

Sources

• Catholic News Agency
• Image: Guilford Young College