ABSTRACT
In 2008, the Commonwealth Government of Australia through the Australian Human Rights and Equal Opportunities Commission (HREOC) called for an enquiry into freedom of religion and belief in Australia. Another significant contextual factor shaping the management and expression of religious diversity in Australia has been a substantial increase in government funding of programs being channelled through faith-based organizations (FBOs). While many FBOs have existed since the nineteenth century and others formed early in the twentieth, their part in the provision of services declined in the 1960s. The legal and policy context of this research is set by international conventions and the Australian Constitution. This national enquiry into freedom of religion and belief in Australia was called for in the last year of the Howard Liberal government in 2008. It was partly motivated by an awareness that Australia's religious diversity had substantially increased since an earlier and similar, but more extensive, study was conducted in 1998 by HREOC.
