remove this option from the final report. The Commission also urges the ALRC to acknowledge the significant contribution of the PJCHR to the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia in its Final Report. It should also be acknowledged that the Committee is in its early days of operations its role – should be allowed to evolve as it settles as a regular scrutiny mechanism within the parliamentary system. Freedom of Religion The National Consultation on rights and responsibilities undertaken by the Human Rights Commissioner in 2014 identified a common theme throughout the consultations; the importance of preserving religious freedom in a pluralist, multi-faith 21st Century Australia with a constitutionally secular State. The consultations identified areas of tension between: Religious communities who feel their freedom to practice their faith, sustain independent religious communities (such as schools) and participate in the Australian public policy arena is being diminished. Sections of the Australian community who believe religious freedom as a human right should be curtailed and that the capacity of people to practice their faith should not extend beyond their private beliefs and formal worship. The Commission considers that the tension between these areas arises from the relationship between the human right to religious freedom and the human right to equality before the law. The Commission also considers that balancing these human rights raises a number of issues for discussion in contemporary Australian public policy debates. To begin this discussion, the Human Rights Commissioner will be conducting the first of a series of Religious Freedom Roundtable on 5 November 2015. The series roundtables will provide an on-going forum that engages with various individuals and organisations at different times around a broad range of religious freedom issues. It is expected that the initial Religious Freedom Roundtable will establish a series of working groups to investigate how law and policy can constructively address and protect the challenges facing religious freedom in contemporary Australia. The key issues that will be the subject of discussion at the first roundtable and which will provide valuable information for the ALRC Final Report are: Government laws and regulations that limit the right to religious freedom. Preserving religious freedom when an organisation receives taxpayers’ money to provide a public service.
remove this option from the final report. The Commission also urges the ALRC to acknowledge the significant contribution of the PJCHR to the protection and promotion of human rights in Australia in its Final Report. It should also be acknowledged that the Committee is in its early days of operations – its role should be allowed to evolve as it settles as a regular scrutiny mechanism within the parliamentary system. Freedom of Religion The National Consultation on rights and responsibilities undertaken by the Human Rights Commissioner in 2014 identified a common theme throughout the consultations; the importance of preserving religious freedom in a pluralist, multi-faith 21st Century Australia with a constitutionally secular State. The consultations identified areas of tension between: Religious communities who feel their freedom to practice their faith, sustain independent religious communities (such as schools) and participate in the Australian public policy arena is being diminished. Sections of the Australian community who believe religious freedom as a human right should be curtailed and that the capacity of people to practice their faith should not extend beyond their private beliefs and formal worship. The Commission considers that the tension between these areas arises from the relationship between the human right to religious freedom and the human right to equality before the law. The Commission also considers that balancing these human rights raises a number of issues for discussion in contemporary Australian public policy debates. To begin this discussion, the Human Rights Commissioner will be conducting the first of a series of Religious Freedom Roundtable on 5 November 2015. The series roundtables will provide an on-going forum that engages with various individuals and organisations at different times around a broad range of religious freedom issues. It is expected that the initial Religious Freedom Roundtable will establish a series of working groups to investigate how law and policy can constructively address and protect the challenges facing religious freedom in contemporary Australia. The key issues that will be the subject of discussion at the first roundtable and which will provide valuable information for the ALRC Final Report are: Government laws and regulations that limit the right to religious freedom. Preserving religious freedom when an organisation receives taxpayers’ money to provide a public service.