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Mr. Christopher Brohier addressed the Freedom17 Conference in Canberra on Wed 14 June 2017.

In this address Rt Rev Dr Michael Stead explores what kind of secular country Australia has been, what it could be and should be and what implications this could have for freedom of religion.

Are human rights fundamental, or relative to culture and time? What is the role of religion in contemporary Australia’s plural secular liberal democracy and why do some people treat Article 18 of the ICCPR as an irrelevant inconvenience?

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.