Blasphemy law in Australia

Australia's Constitution (Section 116) prohibits Australia from having a state religion, and the Crown has rarely acted to protect religion. The Crown has not prosecuted anyone for blasphemy since 1919. In some jurisdictions, such as Tasmania, Queensland, and Victoria, someone who is offended by someone else's attitude toward religion or toward one religion can seek redress under legislation which prohibits hate speech.

The Commonwealth of Australia

The Commonwealth does not recognize blasphemy as an offence.^[1][2] In 1991, the Australian Law Reform Commission proposed the removal of all references to blasphemy in federal legislation.^[3] All that remains as a law against blasphemy is a prohibition against the registration of a ship which has a blasphemous name.^[2] This law exists on a more practical level and is to prevent strained relations between Australia and other more religious nations and to protect the vessel and its occupants from harm whilst in foreign waters.

Tasmania

Section 119 of the Tasmanian Criminal Code makes blasphemous libel ^[4] a crime, but leaves its definition to common law.

A person who is aggrieved because aspersions are cast upon his religious belief or affiliation or religious activity does not need to file a complaint under the Criminal Code. He can seek redress under the Anti-Discrimination Act (1998).

New South Wales

Criminal law in New South Wales is currently governed by the Crimes Act 1900. The Act refers to blasphemous libel but leaves the definition of blasphemy to the common law. The Defamation Act 1974 makes reference to the offence.^[5]

Section 574 of the Act states that no person shall be liable to prosecution in respect of publication of words or matter charged as blasphemous where the publication is not for the purpose of scoffing, reviling, violating public descency or in any manner tends to breach the peace.

The last successful prosecution for blasphemous libel in New South Wales took place in 1871. The case was R. v. William Lorando Jones (unreported, Parramatta Quarter Sessions, Simpson J., 18 February 1871). In that case, the elderly Mr. Jones was found guilty for saying that the Old Testament was immoral and unsuitable for a female readership. The Court sentenced Mr. Jones to a fine of £100 and two years in jail. A public outcry over the sentence resulted in the release of Mr. Jones four weeks later.^[2]

Queensland

Queensland's Criminal Code Act of 1899 abolished laws against blasphemy by repealing the Blasphemy Act of 1697. The Objectionable Literature Act of 1954 allowed the state to prevent the distribution of literature which is blasphemous, but was repealed in 1991.

A person who is aggrieved because aspersions are cast upon his religious belief or affiliation or religious activity can seek redress under the Anti-Discrimination Act (1991).

Western Australia

The Criminal Code Compilation Act of 1913 abolished blasphemy by repealing the Blasphemy Act of 1697.

Victoria

It is unknown whether blasphemy is a crime in Victoria where it might yet exist under common law.

The Crown last laid a charge of blasphemous libel in 1919. The case concerned socialist journalist Robert Samuel Ross, who had published a satirical piece in which Bolsheviks ransack heaven. The prosecutor dropped the charge but proceeded on a charge of sending blasphemous materials through the mail. The Court convicted Ross, and sentenced him to six months of hard labour.^[2]

A person who is aggrieved because someone is engaging in conduct that incites hatred against, serious contempt for, or revulsion or severe ridicule of him on the ground of his religious belief or activity can seek redress under the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act 2001.

South Australia

It is unknown whether blasphemy is a crime in South Australia where it might yet exist under common law.

In 1977, the Criminal Law and Penal Methods Reform Committee stated that “today it would seem anachronistic to charge anyone with blasphemous libel.”^[3]

The Northern Territory

It is unknown whether blasphemy is a crime in the Northern Territory where it might yet exist under common law.

The Australian Capital Territory

By its Law Reform (Abolitions & Repeals) Act 1996, the Australian Capital Territory abolished the crime of blasphemous libel.

References