Evidence of Absence in the Ruddock Report
Article
Article Title | Evidence of Absence in the Ruddock Report |
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ERA Journal ID | 33861 |
Article Category | Article |
Authors | |
Author | Patrick, Jeremy |
Journal Title | Australian Law Journal |
Journal Citation | 93 (9), pp. 747-751 |
Number of Pages | 5 |
Year | 2019 |
Publisher | Lawbook Co. |
Place of Publication | Australia |
ISSN | 0004-9611 |
Web Address (URL) | https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3387500 |
Abstract | The recommendations made in the Ruddock Report are rather modest when compared to previous reviews of the state of religious freedom in Australia. The Ruddock Panel rejected widespread calls for a general federal human rights act or a specific law protecting religious freedom. What explains the Panel’s reluctance? This paper argues that the cause was the Panel’s extremely narrow definition of what legitimately constitutes evidence of a problem. The Ruddock Report often supports its recommendations of inaction by stating that submissions arguing for change consistently relied on a handful of high-profile cases, involved incidents overseas, or just didn’t provide numerically-impressive evidence of complaints to existing human rights bodies. In addition, the Ruddock Report failed in viewing rights-protection as purely reactive (solving an existing problem) rather than prophylactic (safeguarding against plausible and significant future threats). By setting such a narrow standard of acceptable evidence and by neglecting the need for foresight, the Ruddock Report did not properly evaluate the important issues it was asked to investigate. |
Keywords | Ruddock, Freedom of Religion, Religious Freedom |
ANZSRC Field of Research 2020 | 480702. Constitutional law |
Public Notes | Files associated with this item cannot be displayed due to copyright restrictions. |
Byline Affiliations | School of Law and Justice |
Institution of Origin | University of Southern Queensland |
https://research.usq.edu.au/item/q574q/evidence-of-absence-in-the-ruddock-report
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