Weekend Wrap for 22 May 2022
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 22 May 2022, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
Labor has won the 2022 federal election, bringing in Anthony Albanese as Australia's 31st Prime Minister. Scott Morrison has also indicated that he will step down as Liberal party leader. We see a Labor victory, as well as the growth in support for the Greens, Independent representatives, and pro-secular minor parties, as positive news for secular policy in Australia, and we look forward to the potential for positive change which this brings.
Do you have any news items, campaigns, petitions, webinars or other event notices that could be added to our weekly Wrap? Let us know at wrap@nsl.org.au.
At the National Level
The Rationalist Society of Australia is calling for clarification from the federal government as to whether it discriminates on the basis of religion in its refugee policy. (17 May 2022)
Read more at the RSA
The Catholic church, one of the nation’s largest employers, argues wages of low-paid Australians should increase by 6.5 per cent to avoid children being ingrained in poverty, sending the minimum wage above the rate of inflation. (18 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
Katherine Deves says there is no need for her to meet a transgender group to hear alternative views on trans issues, as John Howard strongly backed her stance that trans women should not participate in women’s sport. (18 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has confirmed a re-elected Coalition government won't allow the Northern Territory and ACT a chance to vote on legalising voluntary assisted dying. (19 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News
The Rationalist Society of Australia has urged Labor’s education spokesperson, Tanya Plibersek, to remove the outsourcing arrangements and the inherent religious-based discrimination in the National School Chaplaincy Program (NSCP) if elected to government. (19 May 2022)
Read more at the RSA
The Star Observer presents a collection of information on the Labor, Liberal and Greens 'scorecard' on LGBTI issues. (20 May 2022)
Read more at the Star Observer
Hundreds of millions of dollars in JobKeeper went to a group of private (and mostly religious) schools that increased their income during the first year of the pandemic, including some of Australia's most exclusive schools. (20 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News
Around the Country
VIC: Victorian state MP Bernie Finn will face a move to expel him from the parliamentary Liberal party after he repeatedly expressed his opposition to abortion. (16 May 2022)
Read more at The Guardian
NSW: Voluntary assisted dying laws should pass the state’s parliament unchanged, NSW Deputy Nationals leader Bronnie Taylor says, with no excuse for amendments that are deliberately hostile. (17 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
QLD: A bastion of conservative Christian politics, the electorate of Groom has become a frontline in the battle for the soul of the Coalition. (17 May 2022)
Read more at The Guardian
NSW: Independent MP Alex Greenwich says he is hopeful his Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill will be passed by the NSW upper house by midnight tonight and is pleading with MPs to not use stalling tactics. (18 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News
VIC: In a historic first, a majority of local councils in Victoria raised the rainbow flag on Tuesday to mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, Discrimination Against Intersex People and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT). (18 May 2022)
Read more at the Star Observer
VIC: The Australian Christian Lobby has warned the Liberal Party it risks alienating a “major part” of its base if it dumps conservative MP Bernie Finn from the parliamentary team, and has begun rallying its members to make their complaints known to Liberal MPs. (18 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
WA: Western Australia’s Attorney General John Quigley has confirmed the McGowan Government has not ‘fully considered’ a report on trans and intersex rights which was tabled in 2018. (18 May 2022)
Read more at Out in Perth
NSW: Voluntary assisted dying has been made legal in New South Wales as it becomes the last state in Australia to pass legislation to allow terminally ill adults to choose to end their lives. (19 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News
NSW: Advocates for voluntary assisted dying say they will turn their attention to the federal government to strike down restrictions which prevent the ACT and Northern Territory from passing laws allowing euthanasia. (19 May 2022)
Read more at The Guardian
NSW: Catholic health and aged care providers of NSW are "dismayed" as they face the prospect of euthanasia being enacted on premises of hospitals, nursing homes and agencies operated by them following its legalisation by the state Parliament. (19 May 2022)
Read more at the Catholic Weekly
NSW: Fred Nile, the long-serving leader of the now-vanished Christian Democratic Party, has found a new political home – the Seniors United Party of Australia. (19 May 2022)
Read more at Eternity News
NSW: The federal election campaign has taken its toll on trans and gender diverse kids, with experts reporting an escalation in the number of physical and verbal attacks and parents struggling to cope with the fallout. (21 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
NSW: New VAD law ‘gives everyone in NSW a choice’: the long road to assisted dying laws. (21 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
Commentary and Analysis
Siobhan O’Sullivan on NSW VAD laws: "I still hope and pray that New South Wales has VAD laws implemented by the time they would be relevant to me. I hope that I never need them. But I demand that they exist. They will be a personal, psychological comfort to me. MPs and MLCs in New South Wales have it within their power to afford me that comfort." (15 May 2022)
Read more at ABC News
Barney Zwartz — How religious beliefs inform voter preferences: "Election commentators, if they talk about the Christian vote at all, often regard it as monolithic (and conservative). Are they right? No – and yes. Christians by and large reflect voting trends in the general population, though active churchgoers are a little more likely to vote Liberal, according to a study by the National Church Life Survey (NCLS), a Christian research group." (15 May 2022)
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald
Marion Harris and John Obeid — If VAD is to be legalised in NSW, there’s no room for error: "As the NSW voluntary assisted dying debate resumes this week, a slim majority evidently supports the legalisation. Autonomy to choose death has triumphed over concerns about the fallibility of safeguards and the risk of a wrongful and early demise. However, many amendments are needed before the bill becomes law." (17 May 2022)
Read more at The Age
George Browning — Christians and the Federal Election: "Christianity and Christians cannot be neutral or disconnected from politics. Christianity is an incarnate faith. While it rightly gives central place to personal piety, Christianity is, at its roots, a way of life deeply immersed in the world for its justice, renewal and transformation. It is so because God, who took human likeness in Jesus, is prejudiced toward harmony and justice and therefore is on the side of the poor and needy, the downtrodden and voiceless. The divine agenda is nothing less than the transformation of human society into one where the first will be last and the last will be first. Christians pray: thy will be done, on earth, as it is in heaven." (17 May 2022)
Read more at Pearls and Irritations
Chris Bonnor and Tom Greenwell — Election 2022: no education minister and an opposition without a school funding policy: "School funding in Australia is a rolling disaster but neither major party wants to talk about the issue, let alone advance a serious solution." (17 May 2022)
Read more at Pearls and Irritations
Catholic Weekly editorial — Law a victory for lost sense of life: "Last week the Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill 2021 passed its second reading vote in the Upper House. With amendments to be debated on 18 May, only the details are left to be hammered out – VAD is here." (18 May 2022)
Read more at the Catholic Weekly
Brian Greig — LGBTQIA+ equality in our next parliament: "I write this article one day before the election just to make a couple of points and predictions. There is only 24 hours to go, but I don’t believe we will have a clear result on Saturday night. It will take a few nail-biting days of postal vote counting as marginal seats wobble between Labor, Liberal and Independent as we all hold our collective breath." (19 May 2022)
Read more at Out in Perth
Jordan Baker, James Massola and Matthew Knott — Faith, politics and Australia’s ‘run of religious PMs’: "Australia’s Catholic leaders can have a powerful voice in politics, if they choose to exercise it through their pulpits and schools. They use it sparingly and, this year, they have been conspicuously quiet. So, the appearance of Sydney Archbishop Anthony Fisher alongside Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese at St Mary’s Cathedral School last week raised eyebrows within the flock; was this a subtle endorsement of Labor to form government?" (19 May 2022)
Read more at the Sydney Morning Herald
Ian Cunliffe — What does Scott Morrison believe?: "Departing Liberal Senator, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells told the Senate just before the election was called that Morrison has no moral compass. Referring to Morrison’s publicly espoused adherence to evangelical religion, the Senator said that Morrison’s actions “conflict with his portrayal as a man of faith”: “He has used his so-called faith as a marketing advantage”, she said. Harsh words from a fellow Liberal about her leader." (20 May 2022)
Read more at Pearls and Irritations
Events and Campaigns
The Australian Education Union is running a campaign calling for “every school, every child” to receive fair education funding. Support the campaign here.
Funding for public schools has been cut in the latest budget but funding for school chaplains has been assured. A change.org petition is currently calling on the federal government to fund youth workers rather faith-based chaplains in our public schools.
Minister for Human Rights, Tara Cheyne, is running a petition calling on the Australian government to restore the right of Territories to pass laws on VAD. She also recommends people email the Commonwealth Attorney-General with their views, at attorney@ag.gov.au.
Dying With Dignity NSW has a tool that makes it easy for people to contact their federal MPs and senators to request help in repealing the "Andrews Bill", the 1997 legislation which denies the Territories the right to pass legislation on Voluntary Assisted Dying.
That's it for another week!
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