Religious Vilification Laws

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Article 18: Freedom of Religion and Belief (1998); Racial and Religious Hatred Bill 2003 [No 2] (Cth).

Anti-Discrimination Amendment Act 2001 (Qld) ss 124A, 131A.

Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas) s 19(d).

Equal Opportunity Commission of Western Australia, Racial and Religious Vilification Consultation Paper (2004).

Attorney-General's Department of South Australia, Discussion Paper: Proposal for a New Law Against Religious Discrimination and Vilification (2002); Equal Opportunity Commission of South Australia, Urgent Government Action Needed to Counter Racial and Religious Vilification in the Wake of the War in Iraq (2003). See references to South Australian discussion in Chow Raymond , Inciting Hatred or Merely Engaging in Religious Debate? The Need for Religious Vilification Laws' (2005) 30(3) Alternative Law Journal 120, 122.

Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic) ss 8(1), 8(2)(b), 9(1), 11.

Victorian Office of Multicultural Affairs, Valuing Cultural Diversity (October 2002).

See, eg, Chow , above n 5; Ellison Katie , ‘Exercising Permissible Limits on Free Speech’ (2005) 43(3) Law Society Journal 43; See also Equal Opportunity Commission of Victoria, Understanding the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act (2005) which reports that 80% of a sample of 650 people conducted before the introduction of the Act backed the law because it promoted tolerance.

See, eg, Forsyth Robert , Dangerous Protections: How Some Ways of Protecting Religious Freedom May Actually Diminish the Freedom of Religion (21 November 2001) Acton Lectures <http://www.cis.org.au/Events/acton/acton01.htm> at 8 May 2006. Further references available from the author.

Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic) ss 12(1), 10.

Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic) ss 25(1), 25(2), 25.

Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic) s 19(3).

Fletcher v Salvation Army [2005] VCAT 1523.

Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001 (Vic) s 25(2).

Szoke Helen Dr , Inciting Hatred Needs More than a Jibe', The Age (Melbourne), 8 June 2006.

Judeh v Jewish National Fund of Australia Inc [2003] VCAT 1254 (complaint of racial vilification dismissed). Islamic Council of Victoria Inc v Catch the Fire Ministries Inc [2004] VCAT 2510; Fletcher v Salvation Army [2005] VCAT 1523. A separate complaint alleging vilification of Muslims on an internet site that was not password protected was settled. See Tamblane Mark , Davie Oldfield Sued Over Terrorism Website (16 August 2003) ABC online <http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2003/s925911.htm> at 17 May 2006.

[2004] VCAT 2510.

Islamic Council of Victoria Inc v Catch the Fire Ministries Inc [2004] VCAT 2510, [392].

Ibid [383].

For extracts and discussion of key cases, see Blackshield Tony Williams George , Australian Constitutional Law and Theory: Commentary and Materials (4th ed, 2006); Lee Hoong Phun , The Implied Freedom of Political Communication' in Lee Hoong Phun Winterton George (eds), Australian Constitutional Landmarks (2003) 383. For critique of the High Court's insistence that the freedom of political communication is limited to the ‘text and structure’ of the Australian Constitution, see Stone Adrienne , ‘The Limits of Constitutional Text and Structure Revisited’ (2005) 28(3) University of New South Wales Law Journal 842.

Fletcher v Salvation Army [2005] VCAT 1523, [8].

Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld), considered in Deen v Lamb [2001] QADT 20.

Otto-Preminger Institut v Austria (1994) 19 EHRR 34; Wingrove v UK (1997) 24 EHRR 1.

Joseph Sarah Schultz Jenny Castan Melissa , The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Cases, Materials and Commentary (2000); Ovey Clare White Robin C A , Jacobs & White, The European Convention on Human Rights (4th ed, 2006).

Communication No. 550/1993, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/58/D/550/1993 (1996).

For similar reasoning by the European Court of Human Rights, see Garaudy v France (App. 65831/01), admissibility decision of 24 June 2003.

GC 10(19), adopted at Human Rights Committee 461st mtg, Doc. A/38/40, 109 (27 July 1983).

Report on the Incompatibility of ‘Descato’ Laws with the American Convention on Human Rights: Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Annual Report of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights 1994, OEA/Ser. L/V/11.99, doc.9 rev. (17 February 1995).

Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Living with Racism: The Experience and Reporting by Arab Muslim Australians of Discrimination, Abuse and Violence Since September 11 2001 (2004); Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, Isma-Listen: National Consultations on Eliminating Prejudice Against Arab and Muslim Australians (2004) ch 2.1, reporting that one-third of people had experienced hostility ‘a lot more’ and one-third ‘a bit more’.

For discussion, see Lee Hoong Phun , ‘The “Reasonably Appropriate and Adapted” Test and the Implied Freedom of Political Communication’, in Groves Matthew (ed), Law and Government in Australia (2005) 59.

JRT and the WG Party v Canada, Communication No 104/1981 (18 July 1981), UN Doc Supp No 40 (A/38/40) at 231 (1983).

Faurisson v France, Communication No 550/1993, UN Doc. CCPR/C/58/D/550/1993 (1996) Human Rights Committee, separate opinion of Evatt Mrs Kretzmer Mr , co-signed by Klein Mr .

Handyside v UK (1979–80) 1 EHRR 737, [48].

Gündüz v Turkey (2005) 41 EHRR 59, [40].

Jersild v Denmark (1994) 19 EHRR 1.

Fletcher v Salvation Army [2005] VCAT 1523, [10].

Murphy Mathew Austin Paul , ‘MP's “hate speech” exposes Labour's ethnic rifts’, The Age (Melbourne), 16 May 2006, 1.

See, eg, Steur v The Netherlands (2004) 39 EHRR 706.

Fletcher v Salvation Army [2005] VCAT 1523.

Ibid.

Ibid [12].

Frazer James Sir , The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (1911–15); Hume Lynne , Witchcraft and Paganism in Australia (1997).

Drury Nevill , Magic and Witchcraft: From Shamanism to the Technopagans (2003); Lewis James R Petersen Jesper Aagaard , Controversial New Religions (2005).

See, eg, in England and Wales the case of Druids at Stonehenge, Pendragon v UK (1998, App 31416/96) 27 EHRR CD 179.

Islamic Council of Victoria Inc v Catch the Fire Ministries Inc [2004] VCAT 2510, [388].

Butler Amir , ‘Why I've Changed My Mind on Vilification Laws’, The Age (Melbourne), 4 June 2004.

Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (UK) c 1, Schedule (inserting ss 29B and 29C into the Public Order Act 1986 (UK)) (‘UK Act’).

Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 (UK) c 1, Schedule (inserting s 29J into the Public Order Act 1986 (UK)).

Select Committee on Religious Offences in England and Wales, Religious Offences in England and Wales — First Report, House of Lords Paper No 95–1, Session 2002–03 (2003) Volume 1, Appendix 5, [4].

Matsuda Mari J , Words that Wound: Critical Race Theory, Assaultive Speech, and the First Amendment (1993); Nielsen Laura Beth , License to Harass (2004).

See, eg, Northern Ireland Act 1998 (UK), c 47, ss 75, 76, though note that these are highly dependent on political will, see Fredman Sandra , ‘Changing the Norm: Positive Duties in Equal Treatment Legislation’ (2005) 12 Maastricht Journal of European and Comparative Law 369.