Weekend Wrap for 21 September 2025

Melissa Cunningham: Janet suffered for months waiting for assisted dying. A doctor shortage in the regions prolonged her pain
"After enduring excruciating pain for years and the removal of more than 100 skin cancers, Janet Williamson was adamant about ending her own life. By then, cancer was ravaging almost every part of her body. The disease had left the mother of three unable to walk. She told her family calmly and frankly about her decision to apply for a lethal medication through Victoria’s voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws. But instead of ending her life on her terms, her family says the 61-year-old from Heyfield, a small town in Gippsland, died in May after months of agonising pain and an almost three-week delay for a specialist doctor appointment in Trafalgar. ... Victorians warn that a shortage of doctors in rural areas hinders terminally ill people from accessing euthanasia support, despite sweeping reforms designed to bring the state’s assisted dying framework in line with other states. The reforms, which include doctors being allowed to initiate conversations about voluntary assisted dying with patients, come after years of advocacy from doctors, families and coroners reviewing cases where people have taken their own lives – often violently – after being locked out of the scheme." (15 Sep 2025)
Read more at The Age

ABC Four Corners: Big Brethren
"Critics accuse the religious group, once known as the Exclusive Brethren, of operating like a cult, while its leader Bruce Hales and his family live in luxury, at the centre of a network of thousands of companies worldwide. This week on Four Corners, former members tell reporter Louise Milligan about the psychological manipulation, surveillance, and threats the church allegedly uses against them, as well as attempts to intimidate them and buy their silence. Big Brethren charts how companies that support the church have amassed billions and are now under scrutiny from the Australian Taxation Office. Whistleblowers also reveal the group's attempts at political penetration, including covert election campaigning, despite members traditionally being discouraged from voting." (15 Sep 2025)
Read more and watch the episode on ABC iview

Louise Milligan, Nick Farrow, Briana Fiore and Dylan Welch: Plymouth Brethren attempted to silence alleged rape victim with a million dollars and a non-disclosure agreement
"The controversial religious group formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren has offered a man $1 million to stay silent about his allegations of being brutally raped as a child by three of its members. The obscure but wealthy group, now known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church [PBCC], offered the million-dollar settlement to its former member, Mick Dover, in October last year, on the condition that he sign a non-disclosure agreement and agree not to disparage the church in any way. ... Many ex-Brethren who have spoken to Four Corners as part of its investigation into the religion have described the church as a cult. Mr Dover, 65, who lives in Melbourne, was only five years old in the 1960s when he says the first of three church members sexually assaulted him. He says the abuse continued for a decade. Mr Dover is refusing to sign the Brethren's NDA, saying the PBCC's insistence on a silencing clause that would prevent him speaking about his abuse to anyone except medical professionals or for legal reasons is 'disgusting'." (15 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC News

Louise Milligan, Nick Farrow, Briana Fiore, Dylan Welch and Kate Ainsworth: These Plymouth Brethren members stepped out of line, then the threats and intimidation started
"The religion is supported by a labyrinthine corporate structure of more than 3,000 companies in countries across the world, with a powerful company, Universal Business Team (UBT) at the centre. Brethren businesses' collective wealth soared during the COVID-19 pandemic, when lucrative sanitation contracts were awarded to companies owned by church members by the UK and Australian governments. ... "I blew the whistle. I blew the whistle on something that was proceeding in the Brethren," [Richard] Marsh told Four Corners." (16 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC News

Gerhard Hoffstaedter, David Tittensor, Farida Fozdar and Adam Possamai: Can Islamophobia be addressed without dismantling the legal architecture that targets Muslims?
"Australia’s first Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, has delivered a comprehensive report documenting the devastating consequences of anti-Muslim sentiment on Australian communities. The 54 recommendations represent a crucial acknowledgement of Islamophobia as a national crisis requiring an urgent, coordinated government response. However, while the report documents the symptoms of Islamophobia, it falls short of addressing its primary institutional driver: Australia’s hyper-securitisation of Islam and Muslims. Our research over the past few years reveals that Islamophobia in Australia is not merely a collection of individual prejudices requiring education and awareness campaigns. Rather, it is the predictable outcome of what we term “hyper-securitisation” — the unprecedented expansion of counter-terrorism laws, surveillance powers and security discourse that has institutionalised suspicion of Muslim communities and Islam more broadly." (16 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC Religion & Ethics

Zia Ahmad: Landmark report to combat Islamophobia in Australia launched
"Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese together with Dr Anne Aly, Minister for Multicultural Affairs, joined Special Envoy Aftab Malik in Sydney on Friday 12 September 2025 for the launch of the landmark report “A National Response to Islamophobia: A strategic Framework for Inclusion, Safety and Prosperity”. ... Albanese said the report underscored Australia’s commitment to fairness and respect. He emphasised that the nation is “enriched by the diversity of people from different faith, different backgrounds, different heritage” and pledged that his government would continue to work tirelessly to uphold equality for all Australians. Malik described the report as a “historic opportunity” to confront Islamophobia in Australia, saying that while Muslim communities have long highlighted discrimination, it has too often been ignored or denied but never addressed." (16 Sep 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations

Shaymaa Elkadi: Islamophobia reports are not enough
"The recently released National Response to Islamophobia report is the latest in a long line of reviews. It runs hundreds of pages, sets out more than 50 recommendations, and calls for a “whole-of-society” approach. Yet for many Muslim communities, the refrain remains the same: enough reviews. Reports do not protect women from having their hijabs ripped off on trams. They do not shield children from playground taunts that they should be killed. They do not prevent mosques from being firebombed or graffitied with Christchurch references. These incidents are not isolated. They are part of a pattern, documented in national studies, inquiries and registers for decades." (17 Sep 2025)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations

Cristina Rocha and Anna Halafoff: As white Christian nationalism grows more assertive, we must tell the truth about Australia’s religious diversity
"A first point to make is that the land now called Australia has always been culturally and spiritually diverse, beginning with First Nations knowledges and practices. ... Despite this reality, there is still a sense, among a vocal minority, that Australia is a “Christian country” and any other ethnicities and religions are “foreign”. This is due to the historical violence that the British colonisers committed against the First Nations and Asian Australian populations. The 1901 Immigration Restriction Act, known as the “White Australia Policy”, socially constructed this myth of a “white Christian nation”. It was not until the late twentieth century that this racist Act was abolished, and multicultural policies began to be widespread. Yet even today, Christian leaders retain significant political influence in Australia. The fact that the number of Australians identifying as Christians is declining according to the national census — only 44 per cent of the Australian population identified as Christian in the 2021 census, as opposed to 52 per cent in 2016 — is making some white Christians, and white Australians more generally, feel threatened." (18 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC Religion & Ethics