PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Interim Report Legal Foundations of Religious Freedom in Australia Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade November 2017 CANBERRA © Commonwealth of Australia ISBN 978-1-74366-739-2 (Printed Version) ISBN 978-1-74366-740-8 (HTML Version) This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution- NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License. The details of this licence are available on the Creative Commons website: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/. Contents Chair's Foreword ..............................................................................................................................vii Membership of the Committee ........................................................................................................ix Membership of the Human Rights Sub-Committee...................................................................xiii Terms of Reference ...........................................................................................................................xv Abbreviations..................................................................................................................................xvii The Report 1 Background ...............................................................................................................1 Scope of Interim Report .........................................................................................................2 Previous work of the Committee..........................................................................................2 Structure of Interim Report ...................................................................................................3 2 International Human Rights Law .........................................................................5 Universal Declaration of Human Rights .............................................................................5 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights .......................................................5 Adoption of ICCPR into Australian law.................................................................6 Reservation to Article 20 ...........................................................................................7 Other relevant human rights instruments .........................................................................8 Religion Declaration...................................................................................................8 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination................................................................................................9 UNESCO Principles ...................................................................................................9 Siracusa Principles....................................................................................................10 iii iv UN Human Rights Committee ...........................................................................................10 General Comment 22 – freedom of religion .........................................................10 General Comment 18 – non-discrimination and equality ..................................11 General Comment 34 – freedom of expression....................................................12 Sub-Committee comment....................................................................................................13 3 Definition and Scope of the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief ..........15 Definition of Religion...........................................................................................................15 Phrasing..................................................................................................................................16 “Hold” and “manifest” ........................................................................................................18 “Individually or in community with others” ...................................................................19 The rights of parents.............................................................................................................22 Legitimate limitations on the freedom of religion or belief............................................23 Sub-Committee Comment...................................................................................................29 4 Federal Protection of Freedom of Religion or Belief ......................................31 Australian Constitution .......................................................................................................31 Section 116 .................................................................................................................31 Case law.........................................................................................................32 Krygger v Williams .........................................................................33 Jehovah’s Witnesses case................................................................33 Scientology case ...............................................................................35 Kruger v Commonwealth ..............................................................36 Cheedy on behalf of the Yindjibarndi People v State of Western Australia ...............................................................................38 Implied right to freedom of political communication ........................................39 Implied right to freedom of association................................................................41 No implied right to freedom of religion ...............................................................43 Federal Legislation ...............................................................................................................43 Anti-discrimination law ..........................................................................................43 Anti-discrimination law: exemptions and exceptions ........................................44 v Common law protections ....................................................................................................45 Principle of legality ..................................................................................................46 Parliamentary scrutiny.........................................................................................................47 Australian Human Rights Commission ............................................................................48 Sub-Committee Comment...................................................................................................49 5 State and Territory Protections............................................................................51 Tasmanian Constitution Act ...............................................................................................51 Charter of Rights/Human Rights Act ................................................................................52 Support for State and Territory Instruments........................................................54 Criticism of State and Territory Instruments .......................................................55 State and territory legislation..............................................................................................56 Anti-discrimination law ..........................................................................................56 Exceptions and exemptions........................................................................56 Religious vilification laws .......................................................................................57 Common law decisions........................................................................................................60 CYC v Cobaw............................................................................................................60 Other state case law .................................................................................................62 State human rights commissions........................................................................................64 Sub-Committee Comment...................................................................................................65 6 Implementing the ICCPR in Domestic Law .....................................................67 Implementing religious freedom into Australian law ....................................................67 Bill of Rights, Charter of Rights, or Human Rights Act ..................................................68 Support for a federal rights instrument ................................................................69 Opposition to a federal rights instrument ............................................................70 Challenges to a federal rights instrument.............................................................71 Religious Freedom Act.........................................................................................................72 Protecting religious freedom in anti-discrimination law................................................73 Sub-Committee Comment...................................................................................................74 7 Balancing the Right to Freedom of Religion or Belief and Other Rights ...75 vi Freedom of Religion or Belief and the right to non-discrimination ..............................75 Same-sex marriage and non-discrimination.........................................................78