Weekend Wrap for 2 March 2025
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 2 March 2025, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
As this is our first Wrap of the year, we're including a few articles from earlier in February as well.
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At the National Level
Christian lobbyists will urge Australian governments to set up “faith offices” based on the one being established by the Trump Administration in the White House. Speaking on Christian radio program 20Twenty in mid-February, Greg Bondar, of Christian Voice Australia, praised President Donald Trump’s announcement of a White House Faith Office and welcomed the idea of the body having a say over government legislation. Mr Bondar, who has often talked on the radio program about the access he has to government decision-makers, said he would write to all state governments to urge them to follow Trump’s example. (15 Feb 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
The Census – Not Religious? campaign group (of which the NSL is a member) has issued a statement concerning the decision by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) not to update the wording on the question on religion for the 2026 census. "Today, the ABS has announced that it will continue to use the same question on religious affiliation – 'What is the person’s religion?' – assuming the respondent has a religion. Despite receiving overwhelming support for removing bias in the question as part of its public consultation process, the 2026 Census will again deliver data that inflates the importance of religion to Australians." (17 Feb 2025)
Read more at censusnoreligion.org.au
Gerald Ridsdale, one of Australia's most notorious paedophile priests, died in prison in February at the age of 90. Ridsdale, who abused at least 72 children over three decades while serving as a Catholic priest, became a central figure in the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse, exposing the Catholic Church's systemic cover-ups of his crimes. Despite being shuffled between parishes to avoid detection, Ridsdale was eventually convicted in 1993 and faced multiple charges over the years. Ridsdale's legacy remains a dark chapter in Australia's history, highlighting the devastating impact of institutional abuse and the failures of the church to protect vulnerable children. (18 Feb 2025)
Read more at ABC News
The private school lobby group, Independent Schools Australia, has launched a pre-election campaign targeting 17 federal seats to secure billions in funding and a $50 million innovation fund. The "School Choice Counts" campaign aims to pressure major parties to protect private school funding, ensuring affordability for families amid cost-of-living pressures. The targeted seats include Education Minister Jason Clare’s Blaxland and Julie Bishop’s former seat of Curtin, as well as several held by independents and the Greens. The lobby group criticizes the Greens for what it calls "divisive class-war rhetoric" against private schools, arguing that families should not be penalized for choosing independent education. The campaign seeks to influence policy and protect against funding cuts, emphasizing the importance of school choice for over 700,000 private school students nationwide. The Greens have criticised the level of federal funding private schools receive, undertaking to push for full funding of public schools by 2026 and any overfunding of private schools to be removed by 2029. (27 Feb 2025)
Read more at The Age
A controversial High Court ruling in November 2024 has created significant legal hurdles for survivors of historical sexual abuse, including Greg Barclay, who was abused by a Marist brother in 1970. The court found that the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat was not vicariously liable for the actions of a former priest, Bryan Coffey, as he was not considered an employee of the church. This decision has disrupted over 1,800 civil claims in Victoria, forcing many survivors to accept reduced settlements or face complex legal battles. Barclay and other victims accuse the church of exploiting the ruling to minimize financial liability, despite admitting to the abuse. Lawyers warn that the judgment disproportionately protects religious orders, leaving survivors feeling betrayed and disadvantaged, reminiscent of past legal tactics like the "Ellis defence." The ruling has reignited calls for fairer compensation and accountability for institutional abuse. (1 Mar 2025)
Read more at The Age
Around the Country
VIC: The Victorian Government plans to update its voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws by removing a "gag clause" that currently prevents doctors from initiating discussions about euthanasia with patients. This follows a five-year review of the VAD scheme, which found the system to be operating safely and compassionately but identified certain safeguards that hinder access to care. Proposed reforms, subject to consultation, include extending the life expectancy eligibility rule from six to 12 months, removing the requirement for a third medical opinion for patients with neurodegenerative conditions, and mandating that doctors who object to euthanasia provide basic information to patients who inquire about it. The reforms, expected to be introduced to Parliament later in 2025, will allow MPs a conscience vote. Since its introduction in 2019, 1,282 Victorians have accessed VAD services. (21 Feb 2025)
Read more at CathNews (originally published at The Australian)
VIC: Catholic Health Australia (CHA) has expressed deep concern over proposed expansions to Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws, following a five-year review of the state’s euthanasia scheme. CHA, which contributed to the review, emphasised its commitment to palliative care and raised concerns about potential risks, such as inadequate protection for vulnerable patients experiencing duress or elder abuse, particularly if VAD assessments are conducted via phone or video calls. While CHA opposes the expansion, it remains committed to collaborating on legislative changes and advocating for improved access to high-quality palliative care, especially in regional and rural areas. (26 Feb 2025)
Read more at CathNews
NSW: Defiant councillors at Wingecarribee Shire Council have successfully blocked an attempt to impose prayers at the start of council meetings, sparking a debate over the separation of religion and government. Two councillors made defiant speeches against the proposal that had the backing of local church leaders. Four councillors voted to bring back prayers at the start of meetings in order to make them more "inclusive" for Christians. Wingecarribee council removed the prayers from its meetings in 2022 after a public consultation found overwhelming support for doing away with the practice. (26 Feb 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
NSW: The NSW Deputy State Coroner has condemned the Jehovah's Witnesses' blood-refusal guidelines after 75-year-old Heather Winchester, a devout follower, bled to death following a hysterectomy in 2019. Winchester refused a life-saving blood transfusion on religious grounds, adhering to the church's teachings that prohibit the use of whole blood and its main components. The coroner, David O'Neil, found that the church's "misleading" work sheets, which listed acceptable blood substitutes unavailable in Australia, were inappropriate and contributed to the situation. O'Neil made 14 recommendations, including that surgical teams review pre-anaesthetic notes before operations, and urged the church to stop using the guidance, which he deemed unfit for use in NSW. The case highlights the conflict between religious beliefs and medical necessity, with the coroner emphasizing that the church's documents, created in America, failed to account for local medical realities. (26 Feb 2025)
Read more at ABC News
QLD: The "highly manipulative" leader of fringe religious group The Saints had "everything to do" with the decision to withhold insulin from eight-year-old Elizabeth Struhs before she died, a judge has said. Elizabeth, a type 1 diabetic, became critically unwell and died after her medication was withdrawn in January 2022. On Wednesday, her parents Jason and Kerrie Struhs were sentenced to 14 years in jail for her manslaughter, while Stevens received 13 years for his role in encouraging the decision to withhold insulin. Elizabeth's older sister, Jayde, described life in the apocalyptic cult in an interview. (26 Feb 2025)
Read more at ABC News
TAS: Advocates have welcomed the Tasmanian Government’s proposed hate crime legislation, as the Bill opens for consultation today. The Sentencing Amendment (Aggravating Factors) Bill 2025, announced in May 2024, responds to recommendations made by the Sentencing Advisory Council after a review of the Sentencing Act 1997. The review’s Final Report makes four recommendations for amendments be made to the Act, including expanding the scope of the Act to include prejudicial offending as an aggravating factor in sentencing and include an illustrative list of groups or attributes covered by the Act. “We welcome the Bill because it treats hate crime against LGBTIQA+ people, people with disability, people of faith and others the same as hate crime against racial and ethnic groups,” Equality Tasmania spokesperson Rodney Croome said. “But for the law to work, it must be accompanied by funding for police to properly identify, record and gather evidence about hate-motivated crime.” The Bill is currently open for consultation until 23 March 2025. (27 Feb 2025)
Read more at OUTinPerth
WA: Western Australia’s peak body for the LGBTIQA+ communities has released an election scorecard that analyses the policies of the Labor, Liberal and Greens parties on key areas that might be of interest to voters they represent. They looked at whether each party embraced a whole of government approach to inclusion, plus their positions on bringing in laws against conversion therapy, reforming anti-discrimination laws, further progressing gender identification laws and surrogacy reform. They also looked at party’s stance on protecting intersex people from medical treatment without informed consent, and allowing transgender youth access to evidence based medical care. (28 Feb 2025)
Read more at OUTinPerth
TAS: The head of Catholic Education Tasmania and Archbishop Julian Porteous are under fire for refusing to employ people in same-sex relationships to senior positions in Catholic schools. Catholic Education Tasmania’s admission that it refuses to recruit people in same-sex or de facto relationships to senior positions has drawn the ire of leading LGBTQIA+ advocate, Rodney Croome, who claims the hiring practices are in breach of state anti-discrimination laws. (28 Feb 2025)
Read more at The Mercury
WA: Thomas Brough, the WA Liberal candidate for Albany, has sparked controversy by calling for a review of Western Australia's abortion laws, stating that "babies born alive should not be left to die." His comments, made during a press conference alongside WA Liberal leader Libby Mettam, were quickly disavowed by the party, with Mettam clarifying that reviewing abortion laws is not part of their plan. Brough, an emergency room doctor and city councillor, is already under scrutiny for alleged professional misconduct after falsely linking the LGBTQIA+ community with paedophiles in a public council meeting last year. WA Health Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson criticized Brough's remarks as "dangerous" misinformation and called for his resignation. (1 Mar 2025)
Read more at ABC News
Commentary and Analysis
Lucy Hamilton: The Liberal party, Moira Deeming and political Christianity
"In Australian politics at federal and state level, it is desirable and appropriate that politicians with a religious commitment are elected to office, while also at times keeping separate their professional roles from private convictions for the sake of constituents and members of the community who do not belong to that faith. It is altogether a different matter when a religious faction demands followers infiltrate a range of parties’ branches and structures to bend them to their will. ... As governments make it harder for minor parties to function, the radical Right or ultra-conservative members cut adrift have targeted the traditionally conservative parties to colonise and change. Victorians have been warned about the plans leaked to the press in which extremist “micro church” leaders are instructing followers to join political branches and to infiltrate party structures. These churches function as high control cults. The system struggles to protect branches from attack when the congregants pay for their own membership. We have seen the same crisis at work in South Australia." (24 Jan 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Kieran Tapsell: Pope Francis and zero tolerance of child sexual abuse
"Since his election in 2013, Pope Francis has publicly claimed eight times that the Catholic Church practises “zero tolerance” towards child sexual abuse by clergy. At worst, this is simply untrue, and at best, like Humpty Dumpty in Alice in Wonderland, he makes the expression mean whatever he wants it to mean. ... On 17 January 2014, Pope Francis’ representative, Archbishop Tomasi, told the United Nations Committee for the Rights of the Child that since 2005, the Holy See had dismissed only 25% of the 3400 priests against whom credible allegations of child sexual abuse had been made. That’s 75% tolerance, not zero. Despite Pope Francis’s calls for transparency, we do not have statistics for dismissals since 2014 because he has not published them." (14 Feb 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Neil Foster: “Hate speech” and religious freedom- recent developments in Australia
"It is regularly asserted that religiously based violence is somehow connected to speech insulting people on the basis of their religion. Yet some scholars note that there is little evidence produced that this is actually the case- that there is in truth no clear causal connection between speech of this sort and the issuing of threats or perpetration of violence. Still, let’s concede that such is possible. It may be that regular assertions about how terrible people from a certain religious background are, will “normalise” the idea that threats and violence are appropriate responses. But will laws against such speech actually reduce the threats and violence? Or will they simply result in the speech being hidden from the community before it erupts in the actual acts?" (23 Feb 2025)
Read more at Law and Religion Australia
Stephen Brook and Kishor Napier-Raman: Do they mean us? Secretive church launches website to counter ‘media misinformation’
"Recent media coverage seems to have stung members of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church. The church, once known as the Exclusive Brethren, has distributed a letter to its congregations worldwide announcing 'refreshed public engagement activity' as a response to 'misinformation in the media'. ... The Brethren’s new website purports to tell 'the truth about our church, contribution, values and way of life'. Intrigued, we read how the Brethren’s public-facing charity, Rapid Relief Team, was made up of Brethren members who helped people in emergencies. But we thought we should note this masthead’s previous reportage about Australian Taxation Office raids on businesses in Goulburn whose owners help to run the Rapid Relief Team. What really struck us, though, was the website’s defence of the 'doctrine of separation', after allegations that the church encourages families to cut off excommunicated members. 'The Church would never stand in the way of families communicating with each other,' says the website self-righteously." (24 Feb 2025)
Read more at The Age
Tony Kevin: What the Bankstown Hospital nurses’ affair teaches us
"Like heated milk boiling over in a saucepan, the sad Bankstown Public Hospital nurses’ affair has brought to a public head a long-simmering debate, rarely mentioned in polite company, about the extent and legitimacy of Zionist Israel’s interference in Australian political and public life and in our most vital community institutions like national broadcasters or health systems . This is a debate, however awkward, that Australia needs to have. ... I have come to a better understanding since 7 October 2023 of how Australian Zionists, both as organised community groups and informally as well-connected individuals, are exercising powerful foreign interference on behalf of the Zionist state of Israel in Australian political life and public institutions." (26 Feb 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Bilal Cleland: Weaponising antisemitism
"There has been a campaign to try and link anti-genocide demonstrations to antisemitism since the Gaza assault began. The lie about 'Gas the Jews' from the Sydney demonstration to the recent graffiti on Jewish property, plus the burning of a non-Zionist synagogue have all been linked by various spokespeople to the Palestinian cause. Sky News has promoted Josh Frydenberg and his linking the Holocaust to the anti-genocide demonstrations. He seems to think any opposition to Israel and its extremist government is an expression of antisemitism. That the once independent ABC provided him with a substantial section of the 7.30 Report falls in with its recent stance of promoting Opposition spokespeople. Sarah Ferguson of the 7.30 Report allowed Frydenberg to deliver his outrageous message unchallenged, despite her knowledge of decades of Liberal Party concealment of Ustaša activities. Tony Jones, her husband, wrote a novel about them, 'The Twentieth Man.' The Liberal Party which grew from roots in the original UAP, should be the very last political organisation to pose as defenders of the Jewish community." (28 Feb 2025)
Read more at Independent Australia
Events and Campaigns
The Australian Education Union is seeking volunteers to letterbox flyers on their block in the lead-up to the federal election, encouraging people to support Labor's promise to increase funding for public schools.
Read more at the Do Your Block campaign website
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. It's currently up to 97,000 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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