Weekend Wrap for 4 April 2026
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 4 April 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 runs on donations from people who care about secular politics in Australia. If you find this useful, please consider 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...
The most substantial story of the week is Go Gentle Australia's 2026 State of Voluntary Assisted Dying report, released on Tuesday. The headline is good: VAD laws are working, and more than 14,000 terminally ill Australians have now applied for an assisted death since Victoria introduced the laws in 2019. The problems are in the corners. Healthcare institutions declining to participate on religious grounds are — according to the report — sometimes crossing the line from conscientious objection into active obstruction. That distinction matters enormously. A person's legal right is not worth much if the facility housing them refuses to let a practitioner through the door and no one is obliged to address it. Andrew Denton put it plainly: a right to object should never become a right to obstruct. Separately, federal criminal law still treats telehealth discussions about VAD as potential incitement to suicide. That is an absurdity with a one-line fix — if the government can be persuaded to apply it.
The NT attorney-general has also confirmed key parameters of the forthcoming NT VAD bill. And the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion enters its final weeks of submissions, with an interim report due 30 April.
In New South Wales, the Minns government let the deadline pass on releasing the Sackar Review into hate speech protections for LGBTQI+ and other communities. The Upper House had formally ordered its release. The government said "cabinet in confidence" and kept the drawer shut. Some communities get urgent legislation in a week; others get procedural delay and a courteous shrug.
News this week
NT: NT gov’t includes discredited ‘safeguards’ into voluntary assisted dying bill (26 Mar 2026)
NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has confirmed the parameters of the forthcoming voluntary assisted dying bill, due to be introduced to the Northern Territory parliament mid-2026. The bill will deviate from the parliamentary inquiry's recommendations, which the ACL described as among the most expansive in Australian history. Eligibility will be limited to conditions expected to cause death within 12 months, a more restrictive threshold than some other jurisdictions. The process will be strictly patient-led — health professionals will not be able to initiate discussions about VAD. A conscience vote is expected when the bill comes to parliament. The ACL is running a petition opposing the bill.
Read more at Green Left
VIC: Moira Deeming loses preselection / Gourisetty withdraws (29-30 Mar 2026)
The Victorian Liberal Party voted 39-26 on 30 March to replace upper house MP Moira Deeming with businessman Dinesh Gourisetty on its Western Metropolitan ticket for the November state election. But within 24 hours, Gourisetty had withdrawn after it emerged he had provided a character reference for a man convicted of grooming and sexually assaulting a child. The Liberal Party will re-run the ballot. Deeming, who has a long record of opposition to trans rights and LGBTQI+ education, did not contest second position on the ticket and currently has no path to the Liberal ticket. One Nation state president Warren Pickering has said his party is "open to discussions" with her.
Read more at ABC News here and here.
National: State of VAD report finds laws working well but needless barriers remain (31 Mar 2026)
Go Gentle Australia's annual report on voluntary assisted dying, released this week, found 3,329 Australians accessed VAD in 2024-25, a 48 per cent increase on the previous year. VAD laws are working broadly as intended, the report found, but significant barriers remain. The most pointed finding: faith-based healthcare institutions and aged care providers are continuing to block eligible residents' access, in what the report described as "roadblocks." Go Gentle founder Andrew Denton drew a firm line: a right to conscientiously object to involvement in VAD "should never become a right to obstruct," he said, calling institutional obstruction "unethical and against professional codes of conduct." The report also called for federal action on the prohibition on using telehealth for VAD consultations — Australia is the only country where VAD is legal that still bans this — and documented the case of a central Queensland man who died while waiting to access VAD because his medication script had to be mailed to a central pharmacy rather than dispensed locally.
Read more at Go Gentle Australia
National: Human Rights Commission Report finds widespread discrimination against trans Australians (31 Mar 2026)
A major new report from the Australian Human Rights Commission has laid bare the scale of discrimination faced by trans and gender-diverse people across Australia, painting a “deeply concerning” picture of systemic inequality and exclusion. Released on International Trans Day of Visibility, the Equal Identities report draws on 97 submissions alongside national and international research, described as a “snapshot” of trans existence and rights in Australia. The review identifies persistent and distressing patterns of discrimination, which affects trans and gender diverse Australians access to safety, essential services, and the ability to fully participate in society.
Read more at Star Observer
National: Former royal commissioner casts doubt on antisemitism, Bondi Beach terror attack inquiry timeline (1 Apr 2026)
A former royal commissioner has cautioned that the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion does not have sufficient time to do its work properly, raising particular concern that ordinary Jewish Australians may not get the chance to be heard. Ronald Sackville, who led the disability royal commission until 2023, told a public forum hosted by the Centre for Independent Studies on 1 April that it was "not possible" to adequately bear witness to the Australian Jewish community and produce a final report within the December 2026 deadline. The commission has held no public hearings since launching in February. Former federal treasurer Josh Frydenberg, also speaking at the forum, backed calls for an extension and described antisemitism as a "witches brew" drawing from the far right, progressive groups, and Muslim communities. Commissioner Bell has not publicly indicated whether she will seek an extension.
Read more at ABC News
NSW: NSW Government refuses to release key LGBTQIA+ hate crime review (1 Apr 2026)
The Minns government has refused to release the Sackar Review into hate speech protections for LGBTQI+ and other communities, despite a formal order from the NSW Legislative Council under standing order 52 requiring its release by 1 April. The government cited "cabinet in confidence." Greens MP Dr Amanda Cohn, who moved the parliamentary order, accused the government of "procedural trickery" and said she would pursue further action when parliament resumes. Former Supreme Court Justice John Sackar, who also chaired the historic inquiry into gay hate crimes in NSW, delivered the review to the government in November 2025. LGBTQI+ communities were excluded from the hate crime legislation rushed through NSW parliament in February 2025 in response to antisemitism; the Sackar Review was commissioned in part to address that gap. The government says it is still "considering" the review, with no timeline for release.
Read more at QNews
SA: SA2026 – South Australia election result summary (2 Apr 2026)
One Nation has picked up four lower house seats and two Legislative Council seats at the SA state election. The final count: Labor 34, Liberal 5, One Nation 4, Independents 4. SA remains the only Australian jurisdiction without civil anti-vilification protections for LGBTQI+ people and One Nation will now have a significant presence in the upper house through which any future reform would need to pass.
Read more about the results at Antony Green's Election Blog
SA: One Nation picked candidates accused of domestic abuse, antisemitism (2 Apr 2026)
Two further One Nation SA candidates — Bruce Preece (Schubert) and Tyler Green (Mawson) — had been preselected by the party despite documented histories of extreme bigotry. The Jewish Council of Australia responded, confirming that Green's social media posts included antisemitic tropes, Holocaust denial material, and racist and homophobic slurs. Preece had a history of alleged domestic abuse. This comes on top of the pre-election revelation that the One Nation candidate for Adelaide, Aoi Baxter, had a UK arrest warrant for a sexual offence charge. The Jewish Council specifically connected this to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, arguing it illustrates the far-right extremism the Commission should be examining.
Read more at ABC News
NSW: RSA supports call for NSW to remove block against non-religious chaplains working in prisons (2 Apr 2026)
The Rationalist Society of Australia and Humanists Australia have jointly written to Corrective Services NSW calling for non-religious chaplains to be permitted in NSW prisons. Under the current Civil Chaplaincies Advisory Committee constitution, member organisations must "represent a religious faith" — a requirement that bars humanist chaplains from the program entirely. Humanists Australia documented the case of a volunteer humanist chaplain who was turned away from a prison, and a non-religious inmate who reported frustration at having access only to faith-based welfare support. The letter calls on Corrective Services NSW to remove the religious affiliation requirement.
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
SA: From Equal Love leader to One Nation MP – questions over Jason Virgo’s political transformation (3 Apr 2026)
One Nation's newly elected lower house member for MacKillop, Jason Virgo, was a prominent leader of the Equal Love marriage equality campaign in South Australia in 2011. He has won the seat from a Liberal MP. Since his election, he has declined to clarify his current positions on marriage equality and transgender rights. Family First's Lyle Shelton, who was himself the director of the Coalition for Marriage, which campaigned against marriage equality in the 2017 postal survey, has called publicly on Virgo to explain where he now stands.
Read more at OUTinPerth
Commentary and analysis
Read the 2026 State of VAD report published by Go Gentle Australia this week. This is the most comprehensive annual snapshot of VAD access, outcomes, and barriers across all Australian jurisdictions. It's essential reading on how conscientious objection becomes obstruction in practice, and what legislative and administrative reforms are needed.
Trevor Cobbold: Underfunded public schools, overfunded private ones – the gap grows (27 Mar 2026)
A data-driven analysis by Save Our Schools national convenor Trevor Cobbold, drawing on new ACARA income figures, which shows that the resource advantage of private schools over public schools has continued to widen. In 2024, total income per student averaged $20,368 in public schools, $22,067 in Catholic schools, and $28,642 in independent schools — with government funding representing around three-quarters of Catholic school income and nearly half of independent school income. Since 2009, real government funding growth has been 40 per cent in Catholic schools and 43 per cent in independent schools, compared with 20 per cent in public schools. Public schools are underfunded in every jurisdiction except the ACT, with the total shortfall estimated at $6.5 billion in 2026. Cobbold argues that government claims that public schools will be fully funded by 2034 are "a blatant lie," because state governments can continue claiming non-SRS expenditures as part of their funding share. He calls for the Commonwealth to accelerate its funding share to 25 per cent of SRS by 2029, and for states to remove non-SRS expenditure claims immediately.
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Dr James Moylan: The good book is not good medicine (2 Apr 2026)
A personal essay by legal academic and former skid-row alcoholic Dr James Moylan who, at 16, was told by a Salvation Army officer in a Sydney detox ward that the only cure for alcoholism was God — and that those who failed to find him would die in the gutter. Moylan describes spending the next decade cycling between street-level alcoholism and fruitless searches for religious faith, before eventually achieving sobriety entirely through his own discipline, without God or AA. He argues that the Salvation Army's continued control of many detox centres, and AA's dominance as the primary model of alcohol treatment, amounts to child abuse for those — the spiritually indifferent majority — who cannot recover through faith-based frameworks. His central point is direct: religious organisations are still providing healthcare by proxy, and this excludes and actively harms those who do not believe.
Read more at the AIMN
Lyndsay Connors and Jim McMorrow: School funding is undermining equality and cohesion (2 Apr 2026)
Two former senior education officials argue that Australia's school funding model is progressively destroying the public school system and, with it, the foundations of democratic social cohesion. Their core claim is that the current funding framework — the Schooling Resource Standard, the per-student Capacity to Contribute mechanism, and Commonwealth-state bilateral agreements — functions as a smoke-and-mirrors system that systematically over-funds private schools while keeping public schools below the resource levels needed for equitable outcomes. Australia is, they note, the only country that places no cap on how much private wealth a school can accumulate without forfeiting public funding, a situation traceable to Country Party influence during the Whitlam era. The piece calls on the Albanese government to take immediate action: remove Commonwealth funding from private schools charging fees at twice or more their SRS, and freeze indexation for schools already operating above their SRS. The authors frame the failure to act as incompatible with Labor's stated values and with the government's own rhetoric on social cohesion and productivity.
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
Opportunities for action
CURRENT
NSW: The Minns government is withholding the completed Sackar Review of hate speech protections for LGBTQI+ and other vulnerable communities, despite a formal parliamentary order to release it. Contact your NSW state MP and call on the government to publish the Review before introducing any further hate crime legislation.
National: Go Gentle Australia's 2026 State of VAD Report this week made a compelling case for a straightforward amendment to the Commonwealth Criminal Code: remove the restriction that treats electronic communication and telehealth discussions about voluntary assisted dying as potential facilitation of suicide. This one-line fix would allow dying people — particularly those in regional and remote areas — to consult with VAD practitioners via telehealth rather than being required to travel repeatedly for in-person appointments. A central Queensland man died waiting for VAD access because of bureaucratic prescription mail rules. This is a discrete, fixable federal legislative problem. Contact your federal member or senator to call for the amendment.
ONGOING
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.
Our activities
NSL is involved in the joint 2026 Census - Not Religious? Mark 'No Religion' campaign aiming to improve the accuracy of census religion data. Visit the campaign website to learn more.
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.