Weekend Wrap for 4 May 2025
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 4 May 2025, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
Rights group Just.Equal have called on minor parties and independent candidates successful at Saturday’s federal election to continue to push for legal protections for LGBTIQA+ students and teachers in religious schools. They say the Albanese government has abandoned protecting LGBTQA+ teachers and students in faith schools from discrimination under Commonwealth law. The long running issue was taken off the agenda when the Coalition refused to give bipartisan support to proposed reforms. Spokesperson for national LGBTQA+ advocacy group Just.Equal Australia, Brian Greig, said this means the reform is dead if Labor wins Government, unless the Greens, Teals and other cross-benchers are in a position to force Labor’s hand. (27 Apr 2025)
Read more at OUTinPerth
It's reported that members of a secretive Christian sect, the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (PBCC), are being given instructions on how to lie about their beliefs against voting in elections. There have been reports of unusually large numbers of volunteers supporting the Coalition at pre-poll booths in select seats across the country — it's understood many are members of the PBCC. Both the Coalition and the Brethren have denied any arrangement of support, and the church also denies sending the messages to its members. It's understood church members have been travelling around the country to key marginal seats to support Liberal and National party candidates. (30 Apr 2025)
Read more at ABC News
Prime minister Anthony Albanese has ruled out reintroducing religious discrimination legislation until fraying social cohesion improves. The laws to bar discrimination in public places such as workplaces, schools, clubs and healthcare on religious belief were shelved by the government in August last year, with Albanese blaming a lack of support from the Opposition and rising community tensions. Asked by SBS about whether a re-elected Labor government would place the bills back on the agenda, Albanese said the situation had not improved and expressed reluctance to re-ignite debate. "I maintain my position that you need broad support for legislation. We weren't able to receive that." (1 May 2025)
Read more at SBS News
The Rationalist Society of Australia has questioned the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) on whether it would examine the political commentary of Catholic education authorities in New South Wales and Victoria, along with alleged political activity of the Plymouth Brethren Christian Church (formerly Exclusive Brethren). As reported widely this week, Catholic Schools NSW and the Victorian Catholic Education Authority cautioned parents and carers in their school communities against voting for the Greens and independent candidates. Catholic Schools NSW said, for example, “only the major parties” were “committed to supporting parental school choice”. Both bodies have charity status for the purpose of ‘advancing education’ and ‘advancing religion’. And according to media reports, Plymouth Brethren Christian Church – which has charity status for ‘advancing religion’ – allegedly directed hundreds of its members to staff pre-polling booths in marginal seats for the Liberal Party. (2 May 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
Around the Country
VIC: Melbourne Archbishop Peter A Comensoli has welcomed a bipartisan commitment from Australia’s two major political parties to kickstart the restoration and revitalisation of St Patrick’s Cathedral and the surrounding precinct. Both parties pledged, in the lead-up to Saturday's election, $60 million of public funds to aid the cathedral restoration. (30 Apr 2025)
Read more at CathNews
NSW: Port Stephens Council has mandated the observance of prayers during formal government meetings after a majority of councillors rejected a proposal for prayers to instead be held during their own private time. In March, the Council voted in support of imposing prayers at the opening of council meetings. The decision followed months of division among councillors and in the local community over the matter. (30 Apr 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
QLD: The passing of a bill that indefinitely delays anti-discrimination reforms in Queensland has left thousands exposed to harassment and discrimination. Added as part of an amendment to a broader Crime and Corruption Bill, the indefinite legislative delay was passed on Wednesday night. The amendment indefinitely pauses the implementation of the former Labor government’s Respect at Work Act. In responding to the new bill, Equality Australia accused the Queensland government of "...giving undue weight to fringe ideological voices.” (1 May 2025)
Read more at Q News
Commentary and Analysis
Kate Atkinson / AAP FactCheck: No, Christians can't be jailed for public prayer
"A new law banning conversion therapy in NSW is being misrepresented online, with false claims that Christians can be jailed for engaging in public prayer. The law protects expressions of faith, and experts said prayer is only a criminal offence when used in specific circumstances as part of a practice targeting an individual to change or suppress their sexual orientation or gender identity. General prayer in public is not illegal under the law." (27 Apr 2025)
Read more at AAP
Michael Bachelard, Kieran Rooney and Sumeyya Ilanbey: Exclusive Brethren don’t vote but are secretly campaigning for the Coalition
"A separatist Christian sect that tells its members to hate the world and which objects to voting is campaigning for the Liberal and National parties ahead of Saturday’s federal election. The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church, formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren, has dispatched hundreds of its members to pre-polling booths in marginal seats while instructing them to keep secret that they are members of the controversial religion. Campaign workers in five marginal seats in Victoria and NSW told this masthead they had encountered 20 or more Brethren members wearing Liberal or National campaign T-shirts handing out how-to-vote cards, some of whom identified themselves as members of the sect." (28 Apr 2025)
Read more at The Age
EducationHQ News Team: Public schools to be deprived of $18 billion, door left open for Dutton cuts: Greens
"The Albanese Government’s share of public school funding is currently set at 20 per cent, but is due to rise to 25 per cent (40 per cent in the NT) in order to reach the bare minimum funding required by Australia’s public schools (SRS), however analysis of budget papers by education expert Trevor Cobbold and statements made by Labor, The Greens say, reveals that the timeline for raising the federal contribution has been pushed back, with the vast majority of new funding planned for after 2029. Already struggling public schools, they say, will miss out on around $3 billion each year between now and 2029 when compared with raising the federal contribution from 2026." (28 Apr 2025)
Read more at EducationHQ
Elenie Poulos and Cristina Rocha: The rise of right-wing Christian populism and its powerful impact on Australian politics
"In Christian right rhetoric, 'Western civilisation' is defined by Judeo-Christian values, which are purportedly under threat from an aggressive secularism that would rid society of its moral foundations and undermine the 'family'. This polemic found fertile ground in 2017’s marriage equality debate. LGBTQ+ people and their allies were cast as anti-Christian activists who undermined Western tradition. A point made by former prime minister Tony Abbott when he addressed the anti-gay Alliance Defending Freedom in New York in 2018: 'The campaign for marriage in my country has mobilised thousands of new activists; and created a network that could be deployed to defend Western civilisation more broadly and the Judeo-Christian ethic against all that’s been undermining it.' The Australian Christian Right (ACR) divides people into the traditional moral community that upholds family values, and the politically correct woke elites who allegedly threaten the Christian values that have shaped Australia. In opposing marriage equality, religious freedom became the ACR’s primary weapon of choice." (1 May 2025)
Read more at The Conversation
Events and Campaigns
CURRENT
No current opportunities.
ONGOING
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. Support the campaign here.
The Human Rights for NSW alliance is running a campaign calling for NSW to pass a Human Rights Act.
That's it for another week!
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