The Religious Discrimination Bill

This Inquiry released an Interim Report in November 2017. The Report extensively cited and relied on my written and oral submissions in relation to interpretation of the free exercise clause in s 116 of the Constitution, and the tension between religious freedom and anti-discrimination law. For example, the Inquiry adopted my positive characterisation of the High Court’s definition of religion and accepted that definition (p 16), agreed with my submission that the constitutional protection of free exercise extends to individuals (p 20), and relied on my submission as the leading view on how the free exercise clause has been interpreted narrowly (p 32). The Report further relied on my submission as the leading authority on the tension between religious freedom and anti-discrimination (p 76). The Report specifically relied on my submissions to clarify the nature and limits of any religious freedom protections, including draft proposals for legislation (pp 79, 86). Based on a written submission I was also invited to appear before the Ruddock Religious Freedom Review Panel (2018) to give expert oral evidence, one of only 21 academics around Australia to appear...