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Many commentators concerned with free speech and religious freedom have expressed serious concerns about the Change or Suppression (Conversion) Practices Prohibition Bill 2020 (Vic), now awaiting its second reading debate in the Victorian Legislative Council...

With the commencement of the legislation adopting same-sex marriage for Australia today, 9 December, it seems worthwhile to note some more implications, following my initial comments on the change.

It is to be hoped that in light of the loud claims by Parliamentarians of both sides that they support religious freedom, the term will be interpreted as broadly as possible.

If the same-sex postal survey returns a majority “Yes” vote, what are things that Christian churches which are committed to a Biblical view of sex and marriage need to be thinking about? This brief paper will simply outline some issues, all of which will need careful further thought.

First published on Neil Foster’s blog, Law and Religion The Northern Territory government has released a discussion paper called Modernisation of the Anti-Discrimination Act (Sept 2017). It invites comments by 3 December 2017. You can almost get the...

One of the key ways that religious freedom in Australia is protected today is through the use of ‘balancing clauses’ in legislation prohibiting unlawful discrimination. These clauses take into account the need to balance the free exercise of religion with the right to be free from discrimination. This paper analyses the different religious freedom balancing clauses that are used in Australia law at the moment, and those that have been proposed in relation to same sex marriage, and suggests areas for improvement.