What is freedom of religion in Australia?

Freedom of religion in Australia is the right of individuals to hold and practise any religion, or no religion, without interference from government or unjustified discrimination. It is protected by section 116 of the Australian Constitution, which forbids the Commonwealth from establishing a state religion, imposing religious observance, or imposing a religious test for public office.

Section 116 reads: 'The Commonwealth shall not make any law for establishing any religion, or for imposing any religious observance, or for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion, and no religious test shall be required as a qualification for any office or public trust under the Commonwealth'. The section was modelled on the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and applies only to the Commonwealth Parliament, not to the states. State constitutions and laws also protect religious freedom in practice but with less rigid wording.

Federal anti-discrimination laws protect religious belief and practice from discriminatory treatment in employment, education, and the provision of services. The Sex Discrimination Act 1984, the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, and the Age Discrimination Act 2004 provide concurrent protections, while the proposed Religious Discrimination Bill (which lapsed in early 2022) would have added direct federal protection. State laws including the Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW), the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), and equivalents in other states all prohibit discrimination based on religious belief or activity.

Australia has long been a religiously diverse society and is increasingly so. According to the 2021 census, about 44 per cent of Australians identified as Christian (down from 88 per cent in 1966), 39 per cent reported no religion (up from less than 1 per cent in 1966), 3.2 per cent as Muslim, 2.7 per cent as Hindu, 2.4 per cent as Buddhist, 0.4 per cent as Jewish, and the remainder as Sikh, Baha'i, and other faiths. The freedom protected by section 116 covers all of these traditions equally, and includes the right to hold no religion. Public schools include religious instruction through opt-in programmes in most states, with secular ethics classes as an alternative.