Weekend Wrap for 18 May 2025
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 18 May 2025, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
The federal Liberal Party handed over sensitive voter information to the Exclusive Brethren as part of a mammoth phone campaign in which members of the secretive Christian religious sect made nearly a million calls on behalf of the Coalition in the run-up to the federal election. Multiple sources in the NSW Liberal Party confirmed the keys to the communication software Feedback – which logs every electorate office’s engagement with constituents, resulting in a cache of sensitive voter information including contact details – were handed to members of the Brethren. Speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential party matters, Liberal sources said one of Peter Dutton’s senior advisers was the “point person” for co-ordinating the Brethren’s involvement within the party’s campaign. (14 May 2025)
Read more at The Age
A renewed fight over religious freedoms awaits the re-elected Labor government as faith groups and LGBTQ advocates push Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to resolve the thorny issue after he abandoned it last year to avoid culture wars. Albanese has been reluctant to engage in controversial social debates, but this will be tested when he returns to parliament, as Labor’s increased majority raises expectations that the government will use its authority to progress difficult issues such as a Religious Discrimination Act. A group of 19 religious organisations have sought a meeting with Albanese and Attorney-General Michelle Rowland to escalate their concerns, while equality advocates want Labor to fulfil its promise from the last election to stop discrimination against LGBTQ students and staff in religious schools. (16 May 2025)
Read more at The Age
Sky News host Paul Murray spent seven minutes of his program on Tuesday night discussing footage of Albanese being sworn into office with an affirmation rather than the Bible. The host called the prime minister “each way Albo” because he had attended church on other occasions. Albanese said he did not make his Catholic background part of his position as prime minister. “I believe in a separation of church and state,” Albanese said in the video and podcast interview with this masthead, recorded on Tuesday afternoon. “I’ve always chosen to do an affirmation, because I think that, as the Australian prime minister, I represent people of every faith and no faith. That’s a personal decision.” (16 May 2025)
Read more at The Sydney Morning Herald
Around the Country
VIC: Premier Jacinta Allan has denied her government has withdrawn from its Gonski funding commitment to state schools. It follows reports published in Nine newspapers, which claim the state government ripped out $2.4 billion from school budgets by delaying its commitment to the Gonski education reforms by three years. The Age reports the savings were signed off by the premier and buried in last year's state budget. Ms Allan said the reports were incorrect and her government had increased its funding towards school capital works and buildings by $17 billion. (12 May 2025)
Read more at ABC News
NSW: A bill expanding access to abortion has passed both houses of the New South Wales parliament. MPs were given a conscience vote on the bill brought by Greens MP Amanda Cohn, which will allow nurse-practitioners and endorsed midwives to prescribe abortion medication for early stage pregnancies. The bill passed the lower house, 65 votes to 20 on Wednesday afternoon, with the support of the premier and opposition leader. It passed the upper house — where it was introduced — last week, with major amendments. (14 May 2025)
Read more at ABC News
NT: A major independent report into VAD last year recommended that the NT introduce legislation broadly consistent with that of other states and territories, but Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro has stalled on implementation, previously stating it was “not a priority” for her government. Independent MLA Justine Davis yesterday brought a motion calling on Parliament to adopt the recommendations of that report and to recognise the right for Territorians to end their lives “on their own terms”. Pre-empting Ms Davis’s motion, Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby asked the Legal and Constitutional Affairs Committee to undertake an inquiry into the independent report. (15 May 2025)
Read more at CathNews (originally published at NT News)
WA: The West Australian government has given the green light to a public school to directly hire a wellbeing officer under the National Student Wellbeing Program in a move that advocates hope could lead to the full removal of religious-based discrimination from the program in the state. In a speech to the state parliament late last month, Labor MP Dave Kelly (pictured) confirmed that the Cook government was now trialling giving one public school the ability to directly employ a person for the role without having to source a chaplain or wellbeing officer via third-party labour hire firms. (13 May 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
Commentary and Analysis
Kate Midena and Louise Heywood: The Anglican bishop who took on sexual abuse in the church
"When Greg Thompson became the bishop of Newcastle, he refused to turn a blind eye to the decades-long child sex abuse scandals in the diocese. For him, it was personal. He was himself a sexual abuse survivor. But speaking out came at huge personal cost — and left Greg wondering where he fits in the Anglican Church. ... In the lead-up to and during the royal commission, Greg, his family, and his staff were subject to intimidation. 'I had personal security to accompany me even when going to the toilet,' Greg recalled. 'The threat to my wife and myself, they had to check the toilets out beforehand, which is hard to believe, isn't it? In a courthouse in the royal commission.' ... The royal commission unveiled up to 30 alleged Anglican perpetrators [in Newcastle], who had been protected for decades by a network of bishops, clergy and lay people." (11 May 2025)
Read more at ABC News
George Browning: Politics courting religion: Religion courting politics
"There has been a growing trend for Conservative politics in the US and in Australia to double down on support from conservative expressions of Christian religious faith. These religious views are not consistent with the values of most Australians, they are divisive. They do not represent the views of those with faith, like me, who find them at odds with the life and teaching of Jesus. ... I have been moved to write this article following unpleasant experiences I and countless others recently endured at polling booths on the NSW South Coast. I have since discovered these unpleasant experiences extended well beyond our region. Large numbers of what I have been told were members of the Plymouth Brethren sect were bussed in to work for the Liberal party at early polling booths and on election day itself. They were intimidating, aggressive, arrogant and otherwise sought to dominate the space. I was present on three occasions in support of an independent candidate. I came home quite traumatised." (13 May 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Gary Nunn: Nothing suss about Sussan’s extra ‘s’. Many leaders go gaga for woo-woo
"This may seem obvious to hardcore sceptics like me. But what consistently struck me was how secular, smart, senior, powerful people will often desert common sense when it comes to mystic beliefs. It’s concerning when that person has the power to grant funding and transform lives. You question how far they’ll be guided by science and reason over conspiracy, pseudoscience and misinformation. ... There’s also a double standard here. PM Albanese, like many politicians, virtue signals his ethical side by saying he’s a committed Christian who still attends Mass – along with others who believe a slice of bread can turn into the flesh of a man who died 2000 years ago. They worship a virgin who allegedly birthed the son of a sky wizard who grants wishes. And, for some in politics, it’s an essential belief; try getting voted in as US president as a declared atheist. We laugh at one cohort of believers yet revere the other. Both involve belief in utterly unfeasible supernatural miracles. If we question the decision-making abilities of someone who added a mystical extra consonant to their name, or who telepathically consults dead dogs, those claiming God guides them should face similar secular scrutiny." (13 May 2025)
Read more at The Age
Alexandra Smith: How anti-abortion influencer’s MAGA-style campaign fell flat
"A nasty display of bully-boy political tactics have been laid bare in NSW parliament this week. There have been claims of threats, misinformation and, in the words of Premier Chris Minns, downright lies. But none has been instigated by Labor, the Liberals or any other party. Rather, it has been led by anti-abortion influencer Joanna Howe, who has managed to unite both sides of the political divide. Howe is a Rhodes scholar and a law academic from the University of South Australia who has been accused of trying to emulate America’s bitter debate over women’s reproductive rights. She is injecting a Trump-style of politics into NSW as she rallies against changes to existing abortion laws. ... Labor MP Julia Finn, who did not support the decriminalisation of abortion in 2019, detailed Howe’s campaign tactics in this latest debate, which Finn likened in parliament to 'bullying and spreading misinformation and disinformation – not lobbying'." (14 May 2025)
Read more at The Age
Cheyne Anderson: The fight to overturn Queensland’s trans ban
"On January 28 of this year, the same day President Donald Trump signed an executive order threatening to criminalise the provision of gender-affirming care to minors, the Queensland state government made a surprise announcement of its own. It ordered a freeze on new public patients under 18 accessing treatment for gender dysphoria. Less than a year ago, Queensland’s model of gender-affirming care was recognised as the best in the country. The new bans on puberty blockers and hormone treatments – also known as stage one and stage two hormone therapy, respectively – make it the most restrictive of the states and territories in regard to treatment for trans minors." (17 May 2025)
Read more at The Saturday Paper
Events and Campaigns
CURRENT
See photographs from The Power of Choice and hear a conversation between collection photographer Julian Kingma and television producer and presenter Andrew Denton, who contributed to the book and founded the charity Go Gentle. 4pm, Friday 23 May 2025, Eveleigh, NSW. Details and tickets.
The Victorian Legislative Assembly’s Legal and Social Issues Committee is now accepting public submissions for its inquiry into cults and organised fringe groups, examining how they recruit and control people. Submissions are due by 31 July 2025, with the committee set to report back to parliament in late September. Make a submission here.
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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