Law of the State and Religious Institutions. Cause for concern or an opportunity for reform?
Presumably that calls for an objective assessment of the position. You could imagine a variety of positions – a cleaner, a careers adviser, a finance officer. There will be challenges in determining where to draw the line. Third, the discrimination must be reasonable and proportionate in the circumstances. The notion of reasonable limits can be found in the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006.95 My point is that the decision maker, the court or tribunal is given little guidance and much leeway. There is considerable scope for judicial law making. The Victorian amending legislation significantly narrows the scope of the exemption from what was available previously. Does this achieve the right balance? To my mind, it has an uncertain operation that rests in the hands of the court or tribunal. This for me is cause for concern.
Conclusion One can see in the discussion this evening a strong inter connectedness between State law and the ministry and other activities of religious institutions. This is hardly surprising when the mission of many religious institutions is to be in the community engaging with people. Their ministry and other activities impact positively and constructively in the community. In all the issues canvassed above, there must be real merit in greater mutual engagement, cooperation and collaboration as between the State and religious institutions. By that means, they may all have a better prospect of reconciling the conflicts in moral values that arise.
95
Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) s 7(2) - A human right may be subject under law only to such reasonable limits as can be demonstrably justified in a free and democratic society based on human dignity, equality and freedom, and taking into account…
24
