Weekend Wrap for 15 September 2024
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 15 September 2024, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
Questions on both sexual orientation and gender will feature in Australia's next census, as the federal government seeks to repair the fallout from earlier efforts to abandon questions about LGBTIQ+ identity. Treasurer Jim Chalmers confirmed on the ABC's Insiders that the next census will include a new topic, which will canvass sexual orientation and gender, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics to determine the questions. The government has faced backlash from the LGBTQI+ community and the Labor caucus after it quietly confirmed it would not include the questions in the next census, despite it forming part of Labor's national platform. Mr Chalmers, who oversees the census, has confirmed a whole new topic would be added, which would allow for multiple questions to be canvassed. (8 Sep 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Labor has scrubbed criminal penalties for seriously vilifying minority groups from its upcoming hate crimes bill, watering down its proposed laws just months after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to introduce stronger measures to protect people from hate speech. Sources familiar with Labor’s promised hate speech bill said it had been significantly weakened in the final stages of drafting and was now starkly different from Albanese’s original pledge, which he made earlier this year following months of concern about inflamed antisemitism. The softened legislation will disappoint those who had demanded strong action on hate speech, such as LGBTQ advocates and Jewish representatives, but should satisfy stakeholders more concerned about freedom of religion and speech, such as Christian groups. (11 Sep 2024)
Read more at The Age
Following the release of the Royal Commission’s final report on Tuesday, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman said he was extremely disappointed that none of the 122 recommendations included a direct call for reform of Defence chaplaincy. Although more than 60 per cent of Defence Force personnel identify as not religious, Defence provides mostly religious chaplaincy as frontline wellbeing support. Only the Navy provides a handful of secular wellbeing officers, while Army and Air Force offer their staff only religious chaplains – and, increasingly, evangelical and Pentecostal chaplains. (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
The peak body for Jewish Australians says Labor’s new hate crimes bill will not protect them from antisemitic slurs or threatening behaviour as tensions flare over the war in Gaza. The government’s watered-down legislation tabled in parliament on Thursday includes criminal penalties for “directly threatening force or violence” towards minority groups. But the bill, which will now be probed by the Senate, does not outlaw vilification or hate speech as the government originally promised. (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at The Age
A move from One Nation to amend the Sex Discrimination Act and remove provisions that provide protection on the basis of gender identity has failed. Senator Pauline Hanson put forward a bill on Thursday morning but it was voted down when Labor and the Greens both voiced support for transgender and gender diverse Australians. Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May said the Greens would oppose the bill even having a first reading. Labor’s Senator Katy Gallagher said Labor would also immediately oppose the bill, saying the bill before the senate was “extremely serious” and could cause significant harm in the community. A division was called and the motion was voted down 32 -27. (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at Out in Perth
The National Secular Lobby this week co-signed a letter with the Rationalist Society of Australia, the Atheist Foundation of Australia, Humanists Victoria, and Humanists Australia to Assistant Minister for Charities Andrew Leigh. The letter said BRCs should have to comply with the same governance standards and financial reporting requirements that apply to other charities, including religious organisations that do not have BRC status. The organsiations also urged Dr Leigh to reconsider his decisions to ignore the Productivity Commission’s recommendations for the removal of Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) status for school building funds and religious activities in government schools. (13 Sep 2024)
Read more (and the letter) at the Rationalist Society of Australia
The government hopes to combat the internet's capacity to amplify lies, hatred and malicious behaviour with three bills introduced to parliament on Thursday to address misinformation, hate speech, data harvesting and doxxing. Concerns remain about the long list of exemptions to the law, which now includes religious content. Under the proposed laws, someone could face up to seven years in prison for speech that urges violence against groups on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status or disability, as well as the currently protected attributes of race, religion, nationality, ethnicity and political opinion. (13 Sep 2024)
Read more at ABC News
A statement from the Australian Bureau of Statistics and reported by the ABC appears to confirm that testing of an updated census question on religion for the 2026 census is still going ahead despite the government stepping in to block new questions: "A spokesperson said the bureau was currently considering a change to the design of the religious affiliation question for the 2026 census, which would update the wording to "Does the person have a religion?" with a box for answering "No" or "Yes". For those who indicated they had a religion, the ABS said it was testing the use of a write-in box for all responses. ... The ABS said it would consult with stakeholders before making a final decision about changes to the religious affiliation question." (13 Sep 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Around the Country
VIC: A number of Victorian Labor MPs supported the Liberal Party campaign to keep Christian prayers as part of the daily proceedings in parliament, according to a member of the state’s upper house. Speaking in parliament on 15 August, Liberal MP Evan Mulholland (pictured) – who spearheaded a petition for the Legislative Council to continue imposing prayers at the opening of each day – said many Labor members of parliament “supported” and “encouraged” his efforts. With the support of the Australian Christian Lobby, Mr Mulholland’s petition collected more than 11,000 signatures and was debated in the Legislative Council in late July. In that debate, Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes appeared to signal she was backing down from her commitment to replace prayers. (10 Sep 2024)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
QLD: A Queensland coroner has criticised the state's voluntary assisted dying laws after an elderly man took his own life using drugs prescribed for his wife. In his findings, Coroner David O'Connell said the laws had failed to find a balance between a patient's autonomy and lethal medication safety. The inquest heard ABC had previously been diagnosed with, and received medication for, depression. Mr O'Connell said the self-administered process was "not adequately thought through" and recommended a health professional be present every time a deadly substance was administered. Health Minister Shannon Fentiman said the government would consider the coroner's recommendations. (11 Sep 2024)
Read more at ABC News
VIC: Victorian Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board Chair Julian Gardner has expressed concern about the sustainability of the program because of a shortage of VAD practitioners. “We are concerned about the ongoing sustainability of the program given that the data shows there are only seven medical practitioners trained to provide voluntary assisted dying per 100,000 adults in Victoria.’ (11 Sep 2024)
Read more at Go Gentle Australia
WA: The Legislative Council has passed the Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Amendment (Sex or Gender Changes) Bill 2024. The new legislation, once it comes into effect, will remove the WA Gender Recognition Board and replace it with a new administrative process that allows people to change their gender, birth certificates and other identity documents. The bill passed its third reading in the Legislative Council on Wednesday night, it will now return to the Legislative Assembly due to the amendments that had been added. (11 Sep 2024)
Read more at Out in Perth
NSW: NSW is making a sweeping rewrite of its High School curriculum that will also mandate the study of civics and the foundations of democracy. Paul Cahill, the executive director for curriculum at the NSW Education Standards Authority, said the updated history curriculum “explicitly articulates” the knowledge students need to learn in each year of schooling. “Our syllabuses are steeped in evidence, not ideology. Students will have the tools to critique ideas and understand differing perspectives – which are important for identifying disinformation and misinformation in the contemporary world." (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald
SA: The Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill was passed through the state's Lower House and will be brought to the Upper House in a fortnight. Equality Australia CEO Anna Brown outlined the community’s concerns about the bill, including the inability for third parties to bring complaints on behalf of survivors and the requirement that these practices occur more than once before they are captured by the ban. (13 Sep 2024)
Read more at SA Rainbow Advocacy Alliance and at Equality Australia
WA: The Western Australian government says it will not introduce promised legislation to ban gay conversion therapy before next year's state election. In 2022, the then Mark McGowan-led Labor government promised to introduce laws to ban the practice, bringing it into line with most other states. Attorney-General John Quigley's office has conceded "there will not be enough time" to introduce legislation before the March poll. WA, Tasmania and South Australia are the only states where conversion therapy is not outlawed, with the latter introducing legislation to parliament this month. (13 Sep 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Commentary and Analysis
Neil Francis: How Australians view the religiosity of their political leaders
"A new Pew Research Center study assesses public opinion about the importance of their national leader’s religion and religiosity. It’s worth a look because it reveals some important insights. The public in many countries were asked about the personal importance of whether the Prime Minister or President: 1) has religious beliefs that are the same as your own; 2) has strong religious beliefs, even if they are different from your own; 3) stands up for people with your religious beliefs. For all three questions, Australians were significantly less likely than citizens of each of the other countries to rate these things as important – 18 per cent, 23 per cent and 47 per cent respectively... But, in terms of political science, the aggregated “important” measure (which Pew focuses on) tends to overstate real-world relevance. What matters is the 'very important' measure. That’s where opinion is most likely to convert into action. And for the first two questions in Australia, these are just 6 per cent and 7 per cent respectively." (11 Sep 2024)
Read more at Rationale Magazine
Luke McNamara: Does the Albanese government’s proposed ‘hate speech’ law give us what we need?
"In the meantime, perhaps the great disappointment will be felt by members of Australia’s Muslim communities. The new criminal laws on threats of violence will apply to a wide variety of identifying characteristics. They include religion, race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, intersex status, disability, nationality, national or ethnic origin or political opinion. However, the bill will not amend the more useful civil laws in the Racial Discrimination Act to extend to religious vilification. Whether Islamophobia is correctly characterised as “religious” or “racial” vilification, it is clear that, at the federal level, Australian Muslims are not protected by the section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act in its current form. In my previous research with Professor Katharine Gelber, we identified this as the biggest gap in Australia’s hate speech laws. By contrast, antisemitism is legally regarded as a form of racism, and section 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act has been effectively engaged by Jewish organisations and individuals against forms of antisemitism, including Holocaust denial." (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at The Conversation
Rick Sarre: Alex Greenwich’s defamation win against Mark Latham shows political spite is not above the law
"Independent Sydney MP Alex Greenwich has been awarded $140,000 in his defamation suit against One Nation New South Wales leader Mark Latham over a homophobic tweet. Latham posted the tweet in March 2023 after Greenwich was quoted in the media calling him a “disgusting human being”. This comment about the former federal Labor leader occurred in the aftermath of a violent confrontation involving LGBT protesters outside a church where Latham was scheduled to speak. ... Is it that free speech is now more vulnerable to censorship by those with thin skins? Or that robust political debate is now beholden to woke curtailment? No. It is neither of these things. What has been constrained is not contentious public discourse, but rather unbridled political spite. The initial vindictive riposte was found by the judge to be gratuitous and defamatory. It then unleashed an online chain reaction of highly offensive public invective aimed at an openly gay man. The law is there to protect people who find themselves in vulnerable positions." (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at The Conversation
John Turnbull: Census gender inclusion ruffles Right-wing feathers
"After a series of Olympic-level backflips from our esteemed PM, questions on gender and sexuality will be included in the 2026 Census. The reaction from across the political spectrum has been predictable, to say the least. Right-wing commentators from Sky News to The Australian have been crying 'woke' and Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has jumped on the bandwagon with his typical hyperbolic fervour. From a government perspective, Census information is vital for the planning of community and health services, particularly with ABS data showing that LGBTQIA+ Australians have significantly higher rates of distress, poorer levels of social and emotional wellbeing and poorer mental health." (12 Sep 2024)
Read more at Independent Australia
Events and Campaigns
Equality Australia has launched their #CountUsIn2026 campaign, advocating for all LGBTI+ people to be counted in the 2026 census.
Read more and sign up on Equality Australia's website
Go Gentle Australia have released The State of VAD, a report collating and analysing available VAD data from all jurisdictions for the first time.
Download the report here
The full videos of presentations and panel discussions from the 2023 Secularism Australia Conference are now freely available for viewing on the Secularism Australia website and on YouTube!
The Australia Institute are calling on federal parliament to pass truth in political advertising laws that are nationally consistent, constitutional and uphold freedom of speech. View the petition at The Australia Institute
The Human Rights Law Centre are running a website for those who want to support an Australian Charter of Human Rights & Freedoms.
Visit the Charter of Rights website here
A change.org petition has been started, calling for churches to lose their tax-free status and for "the religious influence of churches in Australian politics and society" to be limited. It's currently up to 31,000 signatures. View the petition at change.org
The Australian Education Union is running a campaign calling for “every school, every child” to receive fair education funding. It's currently up to 95,000 sign-ups. Support the campaign here.
The Human Rights for NSW alliance has launched a campaign calling for NSW to pass a Human Rights Act.
That's it for another week!
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