A senior Coalition back­bench­er has called for the con­tro­ver­sial religious dis­crim­in­a­tion bill to be scrapped because it is too “flawed”, saying it should be replaced with a new, single framework for all anti-dis­crim­in­a­tion laws.

The appeal from NSW Liberal Concetta Fier­rav­anti-Wells comes as Attorney-General Christian Porter says “sensible” issues have been raised about the second draft of the bill and he will undertake yet another round of con­sulta­tions with community and religious groups before intro­du­cing it to Par­lia­ment.

Senator Fier­rav­anti-Wells, who has been a vocal critic of the Morrison gov­ern­ment’s religious dis­crim­in­a­tion plans, told The Sydney Morning Herald andThe Age a different approach was needed due to continued concerns from religious Aus­trali­ans about the proposed bill.

“I have come to the con­clu­sion that no bill is better than this flawed bill,” she said.

The NSW senator said religious leaders and stake­hold­ers “across the faith spectrum continue to raise serious concerns”.

“It is now clear that given the com­plex­it­ies of the issues, a national approach is required to ensure con­sist­ency and applic­ab­il­ity of legis­la­tion across Australia. This would see a con­sol­id­a­tion of all dis­crim­in­a­tion law, including pro­tec­tion of religious freedom.”

A second draft of the religious dis­crim­in­a­tion bill was released just before Christmasafter wide-ranging criticism from community, business and religious groups – with some saying the first bill gave Aus­trali­ans of faith too many pro­tec­tions, and others saying it gave too little.

It also followed a high-level inter­ven­tion in November from a coalition of religious leaders who threatened to withdraw their support for the bill unless greater freedoms were granted for Aus­trali­ans of faith.

While many of the major faith groups say the second bill is an improve­ment – and they have not called for a new process – they still have concerns. For example, the Aus­trali­an Catholic Bishops’ Con­fer­ence objects to the bill’s different levels of pro­tec­tion for religious employees, depending on the size of the company they work for.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison says religious freedom is something Aus­trali­ans hold dear as he announced changes to the religious dis­crim­in­a­tion act with Attorney-General Christian Porter.

The Executive Council of Aus­trali­an Jewry said there remained an “unfor­tu­nate lack of clarity” over whether Jewish hospitals and nursing homes could still pref­er­ence people of their own faith when admitting patients or choosing board members.

The Christian Schools Asso­ci­ation wants all religious activity not involving a criminal offence pun­ish­able by impris­on­ment to be protected, while the Aus­trali­an Christian Alliance says the current bill does not provide enough pro­tec­tion for indi­vidu­als or organ­isa­tions.

Meanwhile, lawyers, nurses and community organ­isa­tions are among those to raise serious concerns about what the bill will mean for vul­ner­able groups. Equality Australia chief executive Anna Brown said the bill “entrenches double standards and has the potential to harm women, LGBTIQ+ people, people with dis­ab­il­ity, as well as people of faith”.

Senator Fier­rav­anti-Wells, who is from the con­ser­vat­ive wing of the Liberal Party,has long been pushing for sweeping freedoms for religious Aus­trali­ans. She has warned against a min­im­al­ist bill that “merely sub­sti­tutes religious dis­crim­in­a­tion for sex dis­crim­in­a­tion or racial dis­crim­in­a­tion”.

On Wednesday Senator Fier­rav­anti-Wells acknow­ledged that while a national framework on anti-dis­crim­in­a­tion law would require “con­sid­er­able work” and nego­ti­ation with the states, it was a better approach.

“[It is a] more long-term solution to ensure proper equality of rights and con­form­ity to inter­na­tion­al oblig­a­tions,” she said.

Labor tried to merge and stream­line the existing sex, racial, dis­ab­il­ity and age dis­crim­in­a­tion acts when it was last in gov­ern­ment, with the support of the Law Council of Australia. But the process proved too com­plic­ated and was put on ice before the 2013 election.

In response to Senator Fier­rav­anti-Wells’ proposal, Mr Porter said: “My door is always open to my par­lia­ment­ary col­leagues to discuss any issues regarding the legis­la­tion.”

But he added: “It is worth noting, though, that con­sol­id­a­tion of Com­mon­wealth anti-dis­crim­in­a­tion legis­la­tion was a Labor policy that was adopted and abandoned because of a resound­ing lack of public support and oppos­i­tion from the Liberal Party.”

Sub­mis­sions on the second draft of the bill closed at the end of January.  Mr Porter said there had been “sensible issues raised around the effect­ive­ness of drafting”, pointing to the example of Jewish-aged care homes and hospitals.

He said he would do another brief round of con­sulta­tions before the bill was put before Par­lia­ment.

“I expect a bill could be intro­duced in the not too distant future,” he said.

Judith Ireland is a political reporter for the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, based at Par­lia­ment House.