On 10 April 2009 all the judges in Fiji were removed from office by the military led by Commodore Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama. The Constitution was treated as if it were a mere piece of paper. This major event was a consequence of the December 2006 military coup, one of four since 1987 to shock governments, diplomats, law societies, defenders of human rights and civil liberties, and non-government organisations. The military coup, described as a 'revolution' by University of Sydney constitutional law professor, Anne Twomey,1 has not allowed anyone to get in the way of its perceived need for reform, including - of all people - Rupert Murdoch. He was obliged to sell one of his newspapers to an Indian-Fijian businessman in 2010.

In trying to find an accurate way to describe the relationship between government and religion, I devised the term 'soft theocracy' and defined it as a 'state where church and government purposes coincide to garnishee taxpayers' money and resources, structurally through tax exemptions and functionally through grants and privileges'.

On 20 June 2012 the High Court of Australia handed down their decision in Willliams v The Commonwealth. The case concerned the question of whether it was unconstitutional for the federal government to fund religious chaplains in public schools. The argument against the funding was on technical, financial grounds. The government had avoided making a law in the parliament to fund the chaplains. That way, they were able to avoid a legal complaint that the funding breached Australia's s.116, the section in the constitution that mimics America's First Amendment. The funding therefore would avoid a major dispute over separation of church and state.

Max Wallace investigates the separation of church and state in our past and potential constitutional arrangements.

The phenomenon of child abuse by priests and other religious persons became a public issue on a grand scale in the early 1990s. It is the tip of the iceberg of child sexual abuse which is widespread in society, much of it occurring in families, often committed by parents against their own and other children.

Discusses attempts to file a case concerning the expenditure of federal money for religious purposes in Australia. Though the case was dismissed, it brought out the issue of whether it is constitutional for government to fund religion.