Freedom of Religion in Australia's Values Statement
What the Australian Values Statement says about freedom of religion, including the freedom not to follow a particular religion, and how it connects to parliamentary law, speech and association.
The short answer
The Australian Values Statement, published by the Department of Home Affairs, lists freedom of religion among the values an applicant says they understand. The wording goes beyond the right to practise a religion. It explicitly includes the freedom not to follow a particular religion. The same bullet also names freedom of speech and freedom of association.
The statement also says that laws made by parliaments elected by the people are paramount and override any other inconsistent religious or secular laws. That point sits in a separate bullet on parliamentary democracy, and readers should read it alongside the religion item.
This article is from Australian Values, an independent editorial site. It is not a government or political-party publication, and it is not an official citizenship test bank. Where our explanation and the official source differ, we use the official wording as the reference.
Freedom not to follow a religion
The phrase that matters most here is ‘the freedom not to follow a particular religion’. It means the value covers people who follow no religion as well as people who follow one. Someone studying the statement should not read it as a value only for religious believers.
This English article is the site’s own paraphrase. Explanations the site produces in other languages are also paraphrases, not government-endorsed translations. If a paraphrase and the English statement seem to differ, go back to the official English wording.
How religious and secular laws relate to parliament
The statement says that laws determined by parliaments elected by the people are paramount. It says those laws override any other inconsistent religious or secular laws. In practical terms, the statement places elected parliaments’ laws above conflicting religious rules and above conflicting secular rules.
The rule of law bullet adds that all people are subject to the law and should obey it. A useful way to read the two bullets together is as one principle: the statement treats laws passed through elected parliaments as the authority that applies to everyone.
This is how the statement expresses the value. It is a summary of a shared principle, not a full description of how any court would decide a particular dispute, and it does not replace the law itself.
Speech and association in the same bullet
Freedom of speech and freedom of association appear in the same bullet as freedom of religion. The grouping shows that the statement presents these freedoms as related items in one list of values.
When you study them, define each freedom separately in your own notes. Being listed together does not mean the statement describes how the three freedoms interact in any particular situation.
Values explanation and legal advice
A values statement explains a shared principle. It does not tell an employer, school, landlord, group or family member what to do in a specific case. If you face a real question about your own rights or obligations, speak with a legal adviser who can look at the facts.
Here is a hypothetical example, not a real case. Suppose a community group wants to use a public hall, and one member asks whether the group’s religious beliefs must decide who speaks at its meetings. The statement helps frame the question: the answer depends on which laws apply and on the group’s own arrangements, not on a religious rule alone. Whether a particular arrangement is lawful depends on facts this article does not have.
How to study this area
Start with the official resource booklet, Our Common Bond. The Department describes it as the official resource booklet for the citizenship test, and says all test questions are based on it. The test is in English only, so work from the English wording even if your notes are in another language.
The official preparation page lists four study areas: Australia and its people; Australia’s democratic beliefs, rights and liberties; government and the law; and understanding and commitment to Australian values based on freedom, respect and equality. Freedom of religion, speech and association connect most directly to the democratic beliefs and values areas, and the rule of law connects to government and the law.
Use the official practice test to learn the format, not to predict questions. The Department describes it as a sample only, and actual questions are different. It has 20 multiple-choice questions and 45 minutes. Candidates may answer in any order, skip a question and return to it later.
Passing requires all five Australian-values questions to be correct and at least 15 of the 20 questions overall. Because of that rule, review the values section until you can explain each point in your own words.
This site publishes its own original practice questions. They are not official test-bank originals and do not reproduce or predict the official question bank. The Department does not endorse or recommend external test-preparation courses, so judge any outside course by the same standard you would use for any study aid.