E/CN.4/1998/6/Add.1 page 6 discriminate against another person on the basis of lawful religious beliefs and practices or the absence of lawful religious beliefs and practices.” These texts do not guarantee freedom of religion, but prohibit discrimination. 22. In the States of New South Wales, Southern Australia and Tasmania, the Anti-Discrimination Act does not cover discrimination based on religion. In New South Wales, however, the legal definition of the term “race” includes ethno-religious data, thereby providing protection from discrimination against some religious groups when they can be classified as ethno-religious. 23. It should also be noted that the anti-discrimination legislation provides for exceptions allowing discrimination based on religious beliefs and activities for the benefit of religious communities (for example, the possibility for denominational schools to practise a discriminatory employment policy based on the religious beliefs of applicants). The possibility of benefiting from these exceptions explains why the main religious communities are opposed to a specific reference to the prohibition of religious discrimination in the laws of New South Wales. 24. It should also be pointed out that “the Northern Territory Act provides specifically that religious belief and activity includes Aboriginal spiritual belief and activity”. Legal matters relating to Aboriginals are referred to below in part II, section C (paras. 76-102). 25. During his talks, the Special Rapporteur found the same two trends as those described in section A on article 116 of the Constitution, namely, persons who interpret the diversity of State and Territory laws as a fragmentation and the non-inclusion of religion in the anti-discrimination laws of some States as a gap which could be prejudicial to the protection of religious freedom and which should be legally filled, and persons who find the situation satisfactory and referred to Australian traditions, particularly its traditions of tolerance. II. TOLERANCE AND NON-DISCRIMINATION BASED ON RELIGION OR BELIEF IN AUSTRALIAN SOCIETY 1 26. The Special Rapporteur assessed the situation with regard to religion and belief in Australia, as well as the situation of religious minorities, particularly the Aboriginals. A. Situation of religions and beliefs 27. Religious diversity characterizes Australian society, as is clear from the following table, which shows the size of the various religious communities and how they have changed in time on the basis of the results of the 1981, 1986 and 1991 censuses. 1 Society in the broadest sense, i.e. civil, political, etc.