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An article in search of a story.

What this is, is people voluntarily choosing to handle matters relating to their religion through their religious bodies. A ‘divorce’ arranged through a Mosque has no legal force at all - only a court can dissolve a marriage in Australia.

If you get married in a Church, that marriage only has legal force if accompanied by a marriage certificate issued according to Australian law. What this article reports is really no different from that.

The idea that governments should fund kosher or halal food outlets has already been rejected by the Attorney General. As for schools - Australia does provide limited funding to private schools, including religious schools, and Islamic schools are treated exactly the same way as those of any other faiths. About a third of Australian children attend religiously affiliated private schools - more Catholic than any other, followed by various Protestant and Christian denominations with a handful of schools of other faiths.

Thanks for the explanation. I saw no problem in using Sharia Law to clean up the religious aspect after the civil courts had made their legal decisions. As for other special request for things to be funded by the government that is fine, too, if it is already being done for other religions.

However, The Australian Federation of Islamic Councils also asked the Government to fund halal and kosher meat outlets and even Muslim schools and for state schools to have special sports uniforms for female Muslim students. is a little much. Funding food outlets? Does the state provide uniforms for Catholic girls?

There is a risk, and a strong probability, that this is the camel getting its nose under the tent.