The roundtables provided an opportunity: • to discuss the available research on serious harms on the basis of religion • for the religious organisations represented to share their experience of serious harms • to discuss ways in which these problems should be addressed. While this work was not prompted by any particular event, much of it has taken place in the aftermath of the killing of 51 people at the Al Noor mosque and Linwood Islamic Centre in Christchurch in March 2019. Also in recent memory was the killing of 11 people in an antisemitic attack at a synagogue in Pittsburgh, United States, on 27 October 2018. One school-aged roundtable participant lost a relative in the Christchurch attacks. Her deeply moving personal testimony reminded participants of the need to counter the rise of white supremacist extremism, which is often targeted at religious or racial minorities. Freedom of religion in Australia: a focus on serious harms • July 2020 • 7