Religious belief or affiliation discrimination

Complaint resolved at conciliation

The complainant is a member of a religious organisation. The respondent posted a link on their Facebook page to a video which said that the complainant and their religious organisation engaged in paedophilia.

The complaint was accepted for investigation because it raised possible:

• Discrimination on the basis of religious belief or affiliation: this takes place when a person is treated less favourably because of their religious belief or affiliation, than a person who does not have this religious belief or affiliation.
• Inciting hatred on the basis of religious belief or affiliation: this takes place when a person does a public act from which an ordinary member of the audience could understand that they were being incited to hatred, in this case on the basis of the complainant’s religious belief or affiliation.
• Promoting discrimination and prohibited conduct: this takes place when a person publishes or displays a sign, notice or advertising matter that promotes, expresses or depicts discrimination or other conduct made unlawful by the Anti-Discrimination Act 1998 (Tas). The Anti-Discrimination Commissioner decided it was possible that a post on Facebook could be an electronic sign or notice.

The complaint was resolved at conciliation with the respondent agreeing to remove the posts and post an apology on Facebook. The apology said that the respondent had not watched the whole video and there was no proof of the allegations made in the video in relation to the complainant and their religious organisation.