Freedom of Religion Under Bills of Rights - Softcover

Babie, Paul

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0987171801 ISBN 13: 9780987171801

Publisher: University of Adelaide Press, 2011

Synopsis

'The Australian Constitution contains no guarantee of freedom of religion or freedom of conscience. Indeed, it contains very few provisions dealing with rights — in essence, it is a Constitution that confines itself mainly to prescribing a framework for federal government, setting out the various powers of government and limiting them as between federal and state governments and the three branches of government without attempting to define the rights of citizens except in minor respects. […]

Whether Australia should have a national bill of rights has been a controversial issue for quite some time. This is despite the fact that Australia has acceded to the ICCPR, as well as the First Optional Protocol to the ICCPR, thereby accepting an international obligation to bring Australian law into line with the ICCPR, an obligation that Australia has not discharged. Australia is the only country in the Western world without a national bill of rights. The chapters that follow in this book debate the situation in Australia and in various other Western jurisdictions.'

About this title

Review

'At the heart of this judiciously edited collection of essays is the contentious debate in Australia about whether to adopt a national bill of rights.

(...)

Many readers will be surprised to learn that Australia lacks a national bill of rights; it is the only modern Western nation without one.

(...)

Paul Babie, Neville Rochow and their colleagues in the new Research Unit for the Study of Law, Religion and Society at the University of Adelaide have brought together a strong cast of Australian and international scholars to put the Australian issues in sharp comparative relief.'

John Witte, Jr, Emory University, Atlanta Ecclesiastical Law Journal, January 2014.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Adelaide Press
• Publication date: 2011
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0987171801
• ISBN 13: 9780987171801
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 400