The defendant sought leave to appeal against his conviction for conspiring to do acts in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act. He and his co-conspirators had been seeking a fatwa from a Muslim cleric authorising a jihad attack on Holsworthy Barracks near Sydney. The defendant relied upon section 116 of the Australian Constitution, which forbids the making of any law ‘for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion’ and argued that that protected his right to seek the fatwa. He further argued that section 101(6) of the Criminal Code, which provides that a person commits an offence if the person does any act in preparation for, or planning, a terrorist act, contravened that constitutional provision. The court rejected those submissions out of hand, pointing out that section 116 did not limit the right of Parliament to enact laws reasonably necessary for the protection of the community and the interests of social order. Section 116 does not confer an unlimited licence to inflict violence upon others and the proscription of the advancement of religious causes by violent means restricts the freedom of an individual to advance a religious cause by violent means, not their free exercise of religion. Leave to appeal was refused. [RA]