Weekend Wrap for 17 November 2024
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 17 November 2024, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has praised faith leaders for working to successfully “push back” against a proposal to remove tax deductibility for school building funds – a mechanism that delivers further public subsidisation of mostly religious and wealthy private schools. In a speech to the Christian Prayer Breakfast in Canberra last week, Mr Dutton said faith leaders had provided the Coalition with “guidance” in countering “weighty issues” such as religious discrimination and school building funds. “...the way in which faith leaders came together and presented a united voice, not just to us but to the public through the media presentation, is a great credit to you. And I want to say thank you very much for the work that you did in that regard.” (10 Nov 2024)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby who is the leader of the Church of England and spiritual leader to Anglicans around the world has resigned following the release of a damning report that found the Church covered up historic child abuse. The Archbishop stepped down after facing scrutiny over his failure to report prolific child abuser John Smyth to authorities. (13 Nov 2024)
Listen to this report at ABC Radio National
The unprecedented resignation of Justin Welby - the Archbishop of Canterbury - has prompted calls for more church leaders to step down over their own roles in the Church of England's coverup of a prolific child abuser. A damning report into the actions of church barrister John Smyth, found that Archbishop Welby "could and should" have reported his abuse of more than 130 boys and young men to police, back in 2013. (14 Nov 2024)
Listen to this report at ABC Radio National
The major parties have moved to avoid an election debate about abortion, with Labor confirming it would not revisit a scrapped policy that would force publicly funded hospitals to provide the procedure to receive federal funding. Neither Labor nor the Coalition have plans to change the status quo when it comes to abortion, which is legal in all Australian jurisdictions, with both parties insisting that it is an issue for the states. But the Greens want access to reproductive care on the election agenda, with a promise to provide an extra $100 million in federal funding each year to ensure public hospitals offer termination services. (13 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC News
A survivor of abuse at the hands of an Australian Anglican Priest says the church should be "on their knees begging for forgiveness" after its worldwide leader stood down in the wake of a report into his knowledge of sexual abuse. Steven Smith, a survivor of abuse at the hands of the Anglican Church in Australia in the 1970s, said he was shocked to see that the head of the church had done "exactly the same thing" as many senior church officials in Australia. Mr Smith said it was not until the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse in 2017 that the church recognised him as a victim of the abuse. (14 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Around the Country
VIC: Victoria's hate speech laws will be drastically expanded beyond race and religion to protect the LGBTQIA+ community and people with a disability — and the threshold for police to bring criminal charges will be significantly lowered. The proposed changes to the Racial and Religious Tolerance Act will have to walk a tightrope between individual rights, free speech and religious belief but have been welcomed by some religious and community groups. Even before the laws have been tabled in parliament some religious groups — including the Melbourne Catholic Archdiocese — have flagged concerns that there is not enough explicit protection in the laws for religious teachings and belief. (11 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC News
NSW: Christian providers of Special Religious Education (SRE) in New South Wales claim to be under “real and rising pressure”, as political opposition increases and school communities seek reform of the increasingly unpopular program. As part of yet another fundraising push, Youthworks is sounding the alarm that “SRE is under pressure in schools across our state”. The Sydney Anglican Church’s youth-evangelising organisation, whose missionaries deliver religious indoctrination lessons in public school classrooms across the state, claims that “significant opposition” is mounting from decision makers “with their own agendas”. (13 Nov 2024)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
VIC: A Catholic diocese in regional Victoria has been found not liable for the historical sexual abuse of a young boy by one of its priests, in a landmark decision that casts doubts over thousands of legal cases against religious orders nationwide. The High Court on Wednesday overturned on appeal a previous ruling by Victoria’s Supreme Court and the Court of Appeal that had found the Ballarat diocese was legally responsible for the misconduct of its former priest, Father Bryan Coffey. The relevant legislation did not provide a basis for imposing vicarious liability on the church because the priest could not be legally considered as an employee, the High Court found. Lawyer Michael Magazanik, a partner at Rightside Legal which has represented dozens of clients who have successfully sued religious orders, said the High Court decision was “surprising and very sad”. “It is now up to the government to legislate to resolve this problem so that churches and religious orders don’t get a free pass for their sexually abusive clerics.” (13 Nov 2024)
Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald
NSW: A public hospital in New South Wales is set to reinstate surgical abortion services the day after the ABC revealed it had formally scrapped them. An ABC investigation exposed that Queanbeyan Hospital, which had been providing surgical terminations, turned a woman away on the day of her scheduled procedure. In response to that woman's experience, health practitioners warned of an "unspoken ban" and accused the Southern NSW Local Health District (SNSWLHD) of being secretive. If this story sounds familiar, it's because last week, the ABC revealed that Orange Hospital in the state's central west had introduced new policy banning abortions for people with no identified pregnancy complications or medical reasons. That afternoon, the health minister made a spectacular intervention, announcing on social media that the ban had been reversed. (15 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC News
TAS: Tasmania’s Department of Health and LGBTIQA+ Reference Group launches long-awaited LGBTIQA+ Action Plan to be implemented over the next three years. The plan aims to improve inclusive healthcare for the community and reduce discriminatory issues faced by LGBTIQA+ Tasmanians. Launched on Wednesday, the state’s inclusion strategy stems from vast research, collected from consultations and State-commissioned project ‘Tasmanians Telling Us the Story’. Further evidence was found of higher mental health risks among Tasmanians than other LGBTIQA+ Australians. There was also proof of existing stigma and discrimination contributing to increased levels of physical illness and more trouble accessing healthcare as opposed to other Tasmanians. (15 Nov 2024)
Read more at The Star Observer
Commentary and Analysis
Patricia Karvelas: Donald Trump says Kamala Harris cared more for trans rights than struggling Americans. Can his potent message work in Australia?
"Inside the corridors of power this week in Canberra there have been many discussions on what the parallels and differences are between our politics and what we've just seen unfold in the United States. In his 2GB interview at the end of last week, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton mentioned gender pronouns for the first time since Trump was elected. 'I think when I see a government that is more interested in pronouns than they are people, it starts to become a real problem,' he said. It was just a mention, but Dutton was dipping his toe into one of the big tensions bubbling away in our community: political branding and what the parties stand for." (11 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Zouhir Gabsi: It’s not hard to see why Australian Muslims are growing suspicious of the government’s special envoy on Islamophobia
"The appointment of the 'special envoy' to combat Islamophobia in Australia has sparked a wave of controversy. The identity of the envoy, British-born Muslim Aftab Malik, was revealed almost three months after Jillan Segal’s appointment as an envoy to combat antisemitism. The delay of Malik’s appointment and the relative secrecy surrounding Labor’s announcement have stirred anger among Muslims and Muslim advocates. This contrasted sharply with the attention given to the announcement of the antisemitism envoy in the press conference with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs, Andrew Giles, and the Member for Macnamara, Josh Burns. Quite apart from the problems that exist in federal parliament, combating Islamophobia also needs to focus on endemic issues with the media. As I argued in my book Muslim Perspectives on Islamophobia, the tendency of media outlets to associate instances of violence committed by Muslims to the Islamic faith contributes to the prejudicial stereotypes concerning the whole community, its beliefs and practices." (11 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC Religion & Ethics
Clare Heath-McIvor: The white God problem in politics
"Christian nationalism exists here. But what is it? Christian nationalism is a sociopolitical ideology that merges Christian identity with national identity, advocating for the influence of Christianity in the public and political sphere. This movement often seeks to align national policies with conservative Christian values and promotes the belief that the nation’s success and moral integrity depend on its adherence to Christian principles. Adherents of Christian nationalism typically view their faith as foundational to the national identity and moral fabric of the country, and they often resist secularism and pluralism in favour of a homogenous cultural and religious landscape. This exists in Australia already. I’ve witnessed it over decades – many of them spent inside the movement. Like in America, it merges patriotism with a sort of ‘divine entitlement’ to govern the rights of others, placing LGBT+ people and women directly in the crosshairs. Like in America, it embeds the idea that Christians must take back this space, and it has special urgency at this present time in history." (12 Nov 2024)
Read more at Rationale Magazine
Neil Foster: Bishop not vicariously liable for abuse by clergy
"The High Court of Australia has handed down a significant decision on the law of 'vicarious liability', ruling that a church body is not automatically liable for sexual assault carried out by priests or ministers, where those persons are not employed by the church. In Bird v DP (a pseudonym) [2024] HCA 41 (13 November 2024) the court ruled (by 6-1 majority) that the doctrine of vicarious liability should not be extended to apply to relationships 'akin to employment'. In doing so it upheld an appeal against the decision of the Victorian Court of Appeal that the Roman Catholic Bishop of Ballarat (and the diocese) should be held to be vicariously liable for historic acts of child abuse committed by one Coffey, who at the time was an assistant priest in the diocese. It was accepted at all times that a priest is not an employee of the bishop or diocese." (14 Nov 2024)
Read more at Law and Religion Australia
Nick Bonyhady: Dutton doesn’t have an ideology, he has a personality
"Peter Dutton is not known to attend church. If the opposition leader has an outward faith, it is in his own judgment. So it was on Wednesday when he went on Radio National and declared: 'I support a woman’s right to choose.' Anthony Albanese has faced moments like this when asked to touch the third rail of politics. He often vacillates. Take the census saga that ran from August to September. Gay people weren’t to be counted, then they were. Trans people weren’t to be counted, then they were. Yet faced with perhaps the most contentious culture war issue, one that has split his party in South Australia and Queensland, Dutton acted as if the answer was obvious. 'Of course', he supported abortion, he said. The choice of forum was hardly accidental." (14 Nov 2024)
Read more at The Age
Elizabeth Byrne: High Court ruling that Catholic Church not 'vicariously liable' for priest's abuse sparks calls for law reform
"Dead in the water is how one lawyer described the future of vicarious liability claims over institutional child sex abuse, after this week's controversial High Court ruling that a priest is not an employee of the church. For many survivors and their supporters, the ruling came as a shock and it prompted calls for governments around the country to step up and change the law. ... Lawyer Judy Courtin declared it a day of mourning. 'It's such a retrograde step, and the High Court actually had the choice to extend the principles of vicarious liability,' Ms Courtin said. 'But instead, we say it has chosen to abandon victims and survivors of institutional abuse.'" (16 Nov 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Events and Campaigns
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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