Weekend Wrap for 31 October 2026
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 31 October 2026. The Wrap covers Australian secular politics — religious privilege and funding, religion in public schools, discrimination laws, voluntary assisted dying, and many other related issues. If someone forwarded this to you, you can subscribe on our website.
The NSL relies on donations from people who care about secular politics in Australia. If you find the Wrap informative, please consider sharing it with a friend or colleague and supporting our work.
If you're not already following us on social media, please consider dropping by our pages on Bluesky, Facebook, Mastodon and X (Twitter).
Coming up...
Tasmania's lower house has passed the Greens' bill to ban conversion practices, after a debate that ran almost 20 hours and past 2am. It passed on the voices, with Labor, four of the seven independents and three Liberals, including Premier Jeremy Rockliff, in support on a conscience vote. The bill defines conversion practices as attempts to change, suppress or eradicate a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, and it spells out what it does not catch: a health practitioner's clinical judgement, online debate, religious prayer, and parents talking with their children. If it clears the Legislative Council, Western Australia and the Northern Territory will be the only places in the country where conversion practices remain lawful.
Treasurer Eric Abetz and Deputy Premier Guy Barnett called the bill overreach, and attempts to carve out prayer, private conversations and health care from it were voted down. Rockliff backed it while saying he wants stronger religious protections written in upstairs. The argument now moves to the upper house, where those carve-outs will be fought over again.
Victoria's four Catholic bishops have entered the state election with a voting guide for Catholics, a month out from polling day. It says there is no Catholic party and no single Catholic way to vote, then lists the matters the bishops want weighed: freedom of religion and conscience, the place of faith communities, "respect for life", and "just support for our schools". It lands on a campaign in which both major parties have promised to fully fund abortion, and follows Melbourne Archbishop Peter Comensoli's attack a fortnight ago on what he called a "culture of death".
In Tasmania, a letter tabled in parliament shows the education department told the Premier's office that Christmas remained central to a primary school's end-of-year event — the same day Jeremy Rockliff posted that there had been "efforts made to remove all references to Christmas" in school celebrations. He has refused to apologise for the post or for the pile-on that followed, which several of his ministers joined.
News this week
VIC: Bishops of Victoria issue statement on state election (28 October 2026)
Victoria's four Catholic bishops have issued an election guide for Catholic voters ahead of the state poll next month. Titled "Faith in action", it tells voters there is no Catholic political party and no single required way to vote, then asks them to weigh candidates against four principles of Catholic social teaching. It lists the policy areas the bishops want considered, among them freedom of religion and conscience, the place of faith communities, "respect for life", the family, and "just support for our schools". It is issued by Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli with the bishops of Sale, Ballarat and Sandhurst, and closes with a prayer for the election. The guide puts the church's priorities directly into a campaign where abortion funding is already contested.
➧ READ MORE:
CathNews
TAS: Conversion practice ban passes Tasmania's lower house of parliament (29 October 2026)
Tasmania's House of Assembly has passed the Greens' bill to ban conversion practices, four years after the Tasmanian Law Reform Institute recommended it. The bill passed on the voices after a debate of almost 20 hours, with the support of Labor, four of the seven independents and Liberals Jeremy Rockliff, Bridget Archer and Roger Jaensch; the Premier gave his party a conscience vote. It defines conversion practices as attempts to change, suppress or eradicate a person's sexual orientation or gender identity, and states that an expression of belief or principle, including prayer, a health practitioner's clinical judgement, and parents talking with their children, are not caught. Treasurer Eric Abetz and Deputy Premier Guy Barnett called it overreach, and an attempt to refer it to a committee was defeated. The bill now goes to the Legislative Council.
➧ READ MORE:
The ABC
TAS: Christmas remained key part of school event, Education Department told Premier Jeremy Rockliff (30 October 2026)
A letter tabled in Tasmania's parliament shows that the education department advised the Premier's office that Christmas remained an important part of a primary school's end-of-year event on the same day Jeremy Rockliff posted that there had been "efforts made to remove all references to Christmas" in school celebrations. Department secretary Ginna Webster wrote that Trevallyn Primary School still planned Christmas carols, Christmas-themed class items and a visit from Santa, and was balancing those traditions with an inclusive approach. Rockliff says he did not see the letter until the following day. The school had renamed its "Christmas on the Hill" event the "End of Year Extravaganza", drew a complaint from a prominent local businessman, and was then named online and subjected to a social-media pile-on that several Liberal ministers joined. The Premier has refused to apologise; Greens MP Cecily Rosol said he knew Christmas was not being removed and "threw that school under a bus".
➧ READ MORE:
The ABC
National: 'Orwellian': Jewish group pushes back on envoy report (30 October 2026)
The Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, released a report on Friday naming "progressive" antisemitism as the most pervasive form facing Australia, while saying Islamist extremist, far-left and far-right antisemitism also persist. A main priority is the continued embedding of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition across government, schools and universities; the report treats the denial of Jewish self-determination as antisemitic and Zionism as a form of that self-determination, while saying criticism of Israel on the same terms as any other country is not antisemitic. The Jewish Council of Australia's Bart Shteinman called the report "misguided, conspiratorial and frankly Orwellian", said it does not speak for all Jews, and warned that some Jewish Australians could themselves be labelled antisemitic under its analysis. The report was prompted by the December 2025 Bondi shooting, in which 15 people were killed.
➧ READ MORE:
InDaily
Commentary and analysis
Nail Aykan: Guilt by association: the stigmatisation of Muslim institutions (27 October 2026)
Aykan examines the treatment of a Melbourne mosque and its leader after the alleged FlyDubai hijacking, in which UAE authorities say the suspect became acquainted with people connected to the centre while studying in Melbourne years earlier. He argues that investigating possible links is legitimate but that association is not evidence, and that a religious institution should not have to prove its usefulness in countering terrorism to justify its existence. The piece turns to One Nation leader Pauline Hanson's call for a review of government grants connected to the centre, and makes a narrow point that applies well beyond this case: reviewing a grant for compliance is proper, but using its existence to imply involvement in a crime is not. It is a measured argument about the standard of fairness owed to minority religious institutions in security debates.
➧ READ MORE:
Pearls and Irritations
Fact-checks and explainers
EXPLAINER: What is the IHRA antisemitism definition, and why is it contested?
The Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism, Jillian Segal, released a report on 30 October that makes embedding the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism a priority across government, schools and universities. The Jewish Council of Australia called that push a threat to free speech and academic freedom. The dispute is about a single contested document, written in 2004 to help agencies count antisemitic incidents rather than to police speech, and carrying eleven examples, seven of them about Israel. The definition doesn’t ban criticism of Israel, but embedding it in binding institutional rules is another matter. Here is what the definition says, why it’s contested, and what the main alternative, the Jerusalem Declaration, offers instead.
➧ READ MORE:
National Secular Lobby
FACT-CHECK: Does the Tasmanian conversion bill really criminalise prayer?
Tasmania’s House of Assembly passed the Greens’ Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill 2026 on 29 October, and it now goes to the Legislative Council, where the same argument will play out again and Premier Jeremy Rockliff wants stronger religious protections written in. Two claims have framed that argument from the start. Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Guy Barnett says the bill risks criminalising religious conversations and prayers. Equality Tasmania’s Rodney Croome says the same provisions have run in Victoria and New South Wales without anyone being convicted for a conversation or a prayer. They point in opposite directions about what the bill would do in practice. Here is what it says, and how the claims hold up.
➧ READ MORE:
National Secular Lobby
Opportunities for action
TAS: Write to the Legislative Council on the conversion practices bill. Updated this week: the Greens' Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill passed the House of Assembly on 29 October, on a conscience vote and with cross-party support, and now goes to the Legislative Council. Attempts to carve out prayer, private conversations and health care were defeated in the lower house, but Premier Jeremy Rockliff has said he wants stronger religious protections added upstairs, so the exemptions will be argued again. No date has been set for the upper house. Write to Members of the Legislative Council urging them to pass the bill without weakening it, via the Tasmanian Legislative Council member list.
WA: Back the push to narrow religious-school exemptions in the Equal Opportunity reforms. The Western Australian government has introduced a rewrite of the Equal Opportunity Act that would stop religious schools sacking teachers or expelling students over sexuality, but keeps an exemption letting them hire and enrol on religious grounds. The Greens want that carve-out removed or minimised, and Labor is likely to need their support in the Legislative Council, where the exemptions will be contested. Write to the Premier and your local members urging that the religious exemptions be kept as narrow as possible. Find your members via the Parliament of Western Australia member list.
National: Back Allegra Spender's bill to end discrimination in religious schools. Independent MP Allegra Spender introduced a private member's bill on 12 October to stop religious schools expelling LGBTQIA+ students or dismissing staff over sexuality or gender identity. The government has not said whether it will support it, and no debate date is set. Write to your federal MP urging them to back it, and find your member via the Parliament of Australia member list.
National / NT: Email the Attorney-General on voluntary assisted dying and telehealth. A provision in the Commonwealth Criminal Code bans electronic communication about VAD and forces regional patients to wait for scripts by post. The Australian College of Nursing has written to the Prime Minister urging that sections 474.29A and 474.29B be amended, warning that a 2023 Federal Court ruling exposes practitioners who use telehealth for lawful VAD care to fines above $360,000. Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young's Criminal Code Amendment (Equal Access to Voluntary Assisted Dying) Bill 2026 is before the Senate, and the South Australian government has urged the Commonwealth to act. Email Attorney-General Michelle Rowland via Go Gentle Australia's telehealth campaign.
WA: Back the call for secular wellbeing officers in public schools. The Rationalist Society has used freedom-of-information documents to show that up to 39 per cent of Western Australia's $28 million chaplaincy and wellbeing budget goes to the overheads of faith-based labour-hire firms, and that schools asking to employ their own secular staff are refused and in some cases left "forced to go without". Write to the Premier and your local members urging that schools be allowed to choose, and follow the campaign via the Rationalist Society's school chaplaincy campaign. Find your members via the Parliament of Western Australia member list.
WA: Have your say on Christian prayers in the WA parliament. The Legislative Assembly's procedures committee is considering whether to replace the daily Lord's Prayer with a more inclusive opening, while the Australian Christian Lobby has lodged a submission urging that the prayer be kept. Premier Roger Cook is opposed to change; Labor's Dave Kelly is leading the push for a moment of silence. Write to the Premier and your local members urging a parliament that is neutral on religion. Find your members via the Parliament of Western Australia member list.
QLD: Sign the Queensland parliament e-petition to keep state schools in Pride in Diversity. After the education department withdrew from the LGBTIQ+ inclusion program, PFLAG's Shelley Argent lodged an e-petition asking it to rejoin and to restore support for staff. Queensland residents can sign until 20 November 2026 via the Queensland Parliament e-petition 4694-26.
National: Sign the Census – Not Religious? campaign's petition to fix the Census religion question for future censuses. Census night has passed for 2026, but the leading question the ABS's own documents concede "may lead respondents to a particular response" will be back in 2031 unless it is changed. Sign the Change.org petition, and read why the wording is loaded.
National: Push back on the $1.2 billion Choice and Affordability Fund. Private school organisations are campaigning to extend the fund beyond 2029 — money available only to Catholic and Independent schools, outside the needs-based model. Support the AEU's For Every Child campaign.
National: Support an Australian Charter of Human Rights & Freedoms. The Human Rights Law Centre runs a site for supporters. Visit the Human Rights Act campaign website.
Our activities
We made a submission to the NSW Law Reform Commission's review of the Anti-Discrimination Act. You can read it here.
NSL was a partner in the joint 2026 Census – Not Religious? Mark 'No Religion' campaign, which ran through census night on 11 August and has now concluded. The petition remains open: visit the campaign website to learn more, or sign the Change.org petition calling on the ABS to change the leading religion question in the Census.
As always, the full videos of presentations and panel discussions from the 2023 Secularism Australia Conference (co-organised by NSL and other groups) are freely available for viewing on the Secularism Australia website and on YouTube!
More coming soon!
If you'd like to support our ongoing work, please consider making a small once-off or recurring donation.