Weekend Wrap for 7 September 2025
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 7 September 2025, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
The imminent release of a landmark report by the nation’s first special envoy to combat Islamophobia is set to reopen a long-running and contentious debate about how to protect Australians against religious discrimination. The report by scholar Aftab Malik, whom the Albanese government appointed as the special envoy last year, is due to be released within days. One of the key recommendations of Malik’s report, sources said, is that legal recourse is needed to protect Muslims, as well as Australians of all faiths, against discrimination based on their religion. Federal legislation currently bans discrimination based on race, sex and age, but not on the basis of religion, a loophole faith leaders have long argued should be closed. Attempts by the Morrison and Albanese governments to legislate to outlaw religious discrimination flamed out after becoming ensnared in a debate about how to protect LGBTQ students at religious schools against discrimination based on their sexual or gender identity. (1 Sep 2025)
Read more at The Age
Racial hatred and vilification of Jewish people is an "existential threat to democracy", Jillian Segal, the federal government-appointed special envoy to combat antisemitism, says. Speaking at the Australian mayors summit on the Gold Coast, Segal said local councils were at the forefront of the "fight against hatred". "We can't outsource this to Canberra, we can't outsource this to police," she said. (4 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC News
Around the Country
NSW: Premier Chris Minns has argued that Christianity “must not be forgotten” in New South Wales as he launched a new coalition of Christian leaders that has pledged to “renew the relevance” of the faith across the state. The Labor leader was among the political leaders and 50 Christian community leaders at the launch of the Christian Alliance Council of NSW, held at Parliament House, in Sydney on Friday 8 August. (1 Sep 2025)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
NT: Faith leaders and the federal Coalition warn the Northern Territory Government’s push to protect religious freedoms would only restrict the right of schools to employ teachers who embody their values. The legislation, acting on an election promise by the NT’s Country Liberal Party to restore freedom of speech and religion, will bolster the rights of schools to hire staff from their own faith but fall short of requiring teachers to live by the religious ethos outside work hours. As the NT Government legislation threatens to reignite political debate about the need to legislate a commonwealth religious protection bill, NT senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price has called on governments to resist intervening in the ability of faith-based schools to educate students on the basis of their values. The warning comes amid expectations that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s hand-picked special envoy on Islamophobia, Aftab Malik, will table his report into anti-Muslim bigotry this month, which could reignite the national debate about religious discrimination. (2 Sep 2025)
Read more at CathNews (originally published in The Australian)
NSW: The first inmate to access assisted dying in New South Wales has sparked debate about whether victims should be considered in the process. The man died in hospital last week after he gained access to the scheme through Justice Health. He had developed cancer while serving a 30-year sentence for sex crimes. His victim, who also cannot be named, said the impact on victims of serious crimes needed to be considered when prisoners applied for assisted dying. "He is a criminal; in my eyes he should be serving out his natural life sentence for as long as his life naturally allows … it feels like our justice has been completely ripped from us," she said. (5 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC News
SA: A renewed push to place new restrictions on abortion access in South Australia is set to be introduced to parliament, less than a year after the last debate over the state's pregnancy termination laws. Upper House MP Sarah Game, an independent formerly of One Nation, will introduce a bill to place new limits on abortions after 23 weeks. Ms Game's bill has been endorsed by prominent anti-abortion campaigner Joanna Howe, who helped draft the bill and who described it as an attempt to prevent the termination of "healthy babies". Upper House MP Tammy Franks said abortion was a matter for doctors, not politicians. (5 Sep 2025)
Read more at ABC News
Commentary and Analysis
Dr John van Kooy / Scanlon Foundation: Social Cohesion Insights 08: Religion and social cohesion in Australia
"Using a representative sample of the Australian population, the 2024 Mapping Social Cohesion (MSC) survey demonstrated similar levels of religious affiliation to the Census. More than half (51%) of all respondents to the 2024 MSC survey indicated that they had ‘no religion’, while 41% identified with Anglican, Catholic, or other Christian denominations. A further 8% identified with another religion or spiritual belief system. ... Another way of understanding the significance of religion is to examine the extent to which people consider themselves religious. By this measure, 58% of MSC respondents in 2024 said they were ‘not religious at all,’ while less than 5% said they were ‘very religious.’" (1 Sep 2025)
Read more at the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute
Roy Morgan: Australians evenly split on teaching religion in government schools
"New Roy Morgan research reveals a profound shift in Australian attitudes towards religious education in government schools, with support sitting evenly at 50% in favour and 50% opposed teaching religion at least once a week. This represents a complete reversal of sentiment over a generation. In 1997–98, support for weekly religious instruction was overwhelming, with 72% of Australians in favour and just 28% opposed. Over the following two decades, support gradually eroded, slipping below 70% in the early 2000s and into the low-60s by the mid-2010s. For the first time, support and opposition reached parity 2021-2022, marking a critical convergence. The trajectory then continued, with the "No" vote overtaking the "Yes" vote for the first time in the 2022–23 period, establishing a narrow majority of 51% to 49%. This shift from majority to minority support signalled the end of long-standing consensus. Support and opposition then held steady in 2023–24 at 51% to 49%. In the year to June 2025, Australians are perfectly divided, with 50% opposing weekly religious teaching in government schools and 50% in favour." (2 Sep 2025)
Read more at Roy Morgan
Michael Bachelard: ‘I’m glad we didn’t win’: Liberal campaigners feared Brethren-fuelled Dutton victory
"The Plymouth Brethren Christian Church pumped so much cash and on-the-ground support into the Liberal Party’s 2025 election campaign that some party officials feared the religious sect would hold significant sway over an incoming Peter Dutton government. Four party sources and two from the extreme separatist church confirmed for the first time the scale of the operation in the months leading into the May 3 federal election, and how deeply enmeshed Brethren elders were in Liberal campaign teams in marginal seats. The extent of the involvement worried some Liberal campaigners so much they said they had hoped their side would lose. ... 'So many of our candidates would have been beholden to the Brethren – and I think they would have made policy demands,' a second party campaigner said. 'You don’t put that sort of money in if you don’t want something. You want control of the morality of the country, the views of the government.' Former Liberal senator Linda Reynolds told this masthead that it was 'highly implausible that this was not co-ordinated at the highest levels of the party and the Brethren'." (6 Sep 2025)
Read more at The Age
Events and Campaigns
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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