Mr BAIRD (12:54 PM) —I join the other speakers today and the other members of the Human Rights Subcommittee in supporting this report on religious freedom. Growing up in Australia, we are blessed by many things. We are a democratic country where citizens enjoy freedoms of association, speech and religion. Freedom of religion in Australia and overseas was the subject of this report. We can celebrate in Australia our freedom to worship our God in our own way without fear or hindrance. This is not the case in many countries overseas, and we can be grateful for our freedoms here. For someone like me who is a Christian, freedom to pursue my religious beliefs is absolutely paramount. My Christian belief gives me hope, purpose and a sense of joy and fulfilment. I know that most people who follow Christ confess to the same experience. As it is so significant to me, it is equally important that we safeguard the same rights of others to follow their own religions.

Our report looked at religious freedom within Australia and overseas. It is somewhat disappointing that we did not receive the level of support we were hoping for from the mainstream churches in Australia in terms of submissions, but, nevertheless, we had much valuable input from those who did appear before the inquiry and who put in written submissions. I would particularly like to acknowledge the excellent chairmanship of Peter Nugent, Chairman of the Human Rights Subcommittee and the member for Aston, and also the very hard work put in by the secretary of the Human Rights Subcommittee, Patrick Regan. Our recommendations recognise the importance of the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in its work relating to religious freedom, and we recommend that the Australian government continue to encourage and support its work. We believe it is appropriate that the government table in parliament a response to the recommendations made in the report given by HREOC article 18—freedom of religion and belief.

The committee also saw the importance of a coordinated review of Commonwealth, state and territory law to ensure full protection in issues of religious freedom and greater uniformity of laws related to human rights law and practice in Australia. This would also look at ways of promoting and extending religious freedom within the states' and territories' areas of responsibility. The committee was keen to see that the government take every opportunity in multilateral and bilateral relationships to promote the importance of religious freedom. While focus is usually on trade and commerce issues in such forums, nevertheless the committee believes that these additional issues should be raised. As a member of the committee formed to look at Australia's relationship with the UN post-Cold War, it was interesting to note, during our visit to New York, the role the UN takes and its interest in the issues of human rights and religious freedom. The committee saw the importance of the UN's work in this area and believes that the Australian government should continue to support the UN in its work and role in protecting freedom of religion and belief.

The committee noted the role undertaken by the Centre for Democratic Institutions and the Australian Agency for International Development in human rights programs and recommended that the government support funding for these agencies in their role of promoting and protecting the freedom of religious belief. The committee reviewed questions of religious freedom in China, Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam and a number of other countries, and expressed our concern at the lack of religious tolerance in some of these areas. Obviously, continual monitoring of religious freedom in these countries will continue to be a role for the Human Rights Subcommittee and also Amnesty International.

The inquiry was a particularly interesting one which not only called for increased vigilance of religious freedom both in Australia and overseas but also highlighted the progress that Australia has made in this area. Religion will continue to be vitally important to many Australian citizens, and it is important that we remain vigilant in ensuring that we continue to enjoy all aspects of our religious freedom and celebrate it long into the future. It is a concern at this time that, in some countries, leaders of churches and priests and ministers of religion are put into prison because of their faiths and their leadership of the Christian faith and other faiths. It is for that reason that this House will continue to monitor developments in these countries and also within our own country to ensure universal tolerance of religious freedom.