Weekend Wrap for 17 August 2025
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 17 August 2025, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
A gay uni student who said he suffered discrimination and victimisation over a placement at a Catholic school has had a complaint rejected by a tribunal. Simon Margan was studying at Macquarie University in October 2022. He claimed his university discriminated against him on the basis of his sexuality by assigning him a three-week placement at the religious school. He claimed this was despite the “notorious fact” that such an environment could be “dangerous” for a gay student, because “religious schools, especially Catholic schools, have a public and active opposition to LGBT+ rights.” However the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal dismissed Mr Margan’s complaints of homosexual discrimination and victimisation. “Contrary to Mr Margan’s submission, there is no duty of care under the Anti-Discrimination Act for the University to take ‘every reasonable precaution to prevent the reasonably foreseeable harm of being placed in a Catholic school’.” (10 Aug 2025)
Read more at Q News
The RSA is again pushing the issue of whether the presiding officers of the federal parliament will consider the human rights impact of imposing daily acts of Christian worship. In a letter to the Speaker of the House and the President of the Senate, the RSA said the practice of observing Christian prayers each day was inconsistent with Australia’s international commitments regarding the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion. (16 Aug 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
Around the Country
WA: LGBTIQA+ rights group Just.Equal says Premier Cook has responded to correspondence last month from them which urged him to restart the ‘Safe Schools’ initiative in the wake of violent attacks on gay men. They say the premier’s response was “waffle”. WA spokesperson for Just.Equal, Brian Greig, said the response was “disappointing”, as it amounted to “two pages of waffle, no specific commitments, and continuing opposition to a program that had been working well.” Greig said all of this misses the point and fails to acknowledge the ongoing harm occurring within private schools. (10 Aug 2025)
Read more at OUTinPerth
NT: As the government conducts a public consultation on euthanasia, Darwin Bishop Charles Gauci has reaffirmed the Church’s position on the sanctity of life. The bishop reiterated that the Church does not support euthanasia, as it goes against the belief in the dignity and value of every human life. Bishop Gauci called on the Government to invest in high-quality palliative care across the Northern Territory. He also raised concerns about the need for strict safeguards should Voluntary Assisted Dying legislation proceed. These include ensuring that people are not coerced by others, and that those who are underage, unconscious, or unable to give informed consent are protected. (11 Aug 2025)
Read more at CathNews
WA: Legislation aimed at modernising WA's surrogacy and IVF laws will be reintroduced to the parliament. The overhaul comes eight years after WA Labor first promised reforms. The changes would remove the requirement for people to demonstrate medical infertility to access assisted reproductive technology (ART). They would also allow same-sex male couples, single men, transgender and intersex people to access altruistic surrogacy, which is currently limited to heterosexual couples and single women. (12 Aug 2025)
Read more at ABC News
VIC: Private school enrolments grew at three times the rate of those at government and Catholic schools over the last year, according to data from Independent Schools Victoria. The independent sector grew by 3.34 per cent, while Catholic schools grew by 1.2 per cent and government schools by 0.7 per cent. The majority of students in Victoria are still enrolled in state schools, with nearly 666,000 young people attending a public school. (13 Aug 2025)
Read more at The Age
Commentary and Analysis
Indira Naidoo / Compass: The Cult of the Saints
"As 8-year-old diabetic Elizabeth Struhs lay dying, her parents and members of The Saints cult withheld life-saving insulin, believing God would heal her. Suzanne Smith investigates the manslaughter and community's reaction. Compass explores the Australian soul - our beliefs, our ethical dilemmas and the changing face of our spirituality." (10 Aug 2025)
Watch this episode online at ABC iView
Denis Hay: Why Christian Fundamentalism Australia is Rising in Influence
"Christian fundamentalism Australia is on the rise, even as national surveys show the decline of religion in Australia. This is not simply a question of faith. It is about politics, power, and the calculated way some churches are reshaping our democracy. In the 2021 Census, almost 40 per cent of Australians reported no religion, yet several fundamentalist churches have expanded membership, built mega-campuses, and gained political access. Why are these churches growing while belief is shrinking? The truth is, they offer more than sermons. They offer identity, belonging, and political clout, and they know how to use them." (12 Aug 2025)
Read more at AIMN
Ahona Guha: I escaped a cult – for years I didn’t even realise I was in one
"A couple of weeks ago, I stumbled across the livestream for the Victorian parliament’s inquiry into the recruitment methods and impacts of cults and organised fringe groups. It was launched after recent claims by former cult members, including from the Geelong Revival Centre, and as I looked at the inquiry’s terms of reference I felt an unexpected tear escape. I read about the coercive practices organised religious groups can use, their methods to recruit and retain members, and the significant psychological harm they can cause, and found myself nodding along in recognition. ... For five years, from late adolescence into my early 20s, I was in a cult. And for decades, I have carried and hidden this early part of my life, feeling great shame that I was gullible enough to be lured into such a group, and even more ashamed of the grievous mental health struggles I experienced upon leaving, as I tried to rebuild my life from scratch." (13 Aug 2025)
Read more at The Age
Neil Foster: Pathways to Justice conference
"I will be one of a number of speakers at a conference to be held next month entitled “Pathways to Justice for Survivors of Institutional Child Abuse”. The conference will be held on Sept 19-20 at the University of Technology, in Sydney- more details here. To be clear, it is not a specific “law and religion” event, and many speakers will not come from a faith-based perspective. Of course institutional child abuse did not only take place in churches and religious institutions. But the great tragedy is that some did happen in those contexts, and churches and religious bodies need to be aware of appropriate legal responses, as well as changes to practices and pastoral care for victims. ... Many of the papers will be from a fairly technical legal perspective, but for those interested this may provide an opportunity to find out how the law is responding to these issues." (15 Aug 2025)
Read more at Law and Religion Australia
Tom Greenwell and Chris Bonnor: A better and fairer school system? Just look to Canada
"For Australians, needs-based school funding can often feel a lot like a mirage. It exists, but only as an alluring vision on the horizon, engendering hope and optimism but evaporating into thin air as soon as it is approached. Likely due to sheer exhaustion, some public school stalwarts seem to have accommodated themselves to this illusion. Witness the reaction when funding deals were finalised prior to the federal election. Apparently, it was felt that it would be too impolite to mention a rather important detail out loud, namely that the Commonwealth will deliver just 2.5% of the additional funding this decade. Marvellous things may happen in the 2030s, and it may yet transpire that the other 97.5% is more than mere optical illusion." (16 Aug 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Events and Campaigns
CURRENT
Join Anglican Minister and academic Rev Dr Angus McLeay in conversation with discrimination law expert and LGBTQ+ advocate Alastair Lawrie to explore the intersection between ‘religious freedom’ and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination in Australian religious schools and organisations. 1-2pm, Tuesday 19 August 2025. More information at the Justice and Equity Centre.
ONGOING
The full videos of presentations and panel discussions from the 2023 Secularism Australia Conference are 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
The Australian Education Union is running a campaign calling for “every school, every child” to receive fair education funding. Support the campaign here.
The Human Rights for NSW alliance is running a campaign calling for NSW to pass a Human Rights Act.
That's it for another week!
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