Weekend Wrap for 25 August 2024
Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 25 August 2024, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.
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At the National Level
State and territory education ministers are currently negotiating a new decade-long funding deal. Public schools remain about $5 billion short of being fully funded every year. Funding issues were supposed to end more than a decade ago with the recommendations from the landmark school review by David Gonski in 2011. It designed a complex calculation called the Schooling Resource Standard (SRS) to estimate how much public funding each school needed to meet its students' educational needs. Today, almost all private schools have hit their Gonski minimum funding targets and 40 per cent are overfunded by $3.2 billion. (18 Aug 2024)
Read more at ABC News
Coalition senators have split when voting on a divisive urgency motion regarding late-term abortions tabled by United Australia Party senator Ralph Babet. The motion failed to secure adequate support, with 18 voting in favour of Babet’s motion and 32 voting against. Maria Kovacic, a Liberal moderate senator, told the Senate that there were “questions as to the accuracy of the information contained in this motion”. Greens senator Larissa Water, as part of her statement, said "If you want to prevent unwanted pregnancies, then support the calls by the Greens to make contraception free, but you just want to control women’s bodies." (20 Aug 2024)
Read more at The Guardian
People who identify as “gender diverse” need acceptance and love, said Bishop Daniel Meagher, in response to new research showing they are dramatically more likely to have suffered abuse and neglect. The study found Australians who identify as having a “diverse gender” are up to 17 times more likely to have post-traumatic stress disorder and up to 52 times more likely to have engaged in self-harm over the last year than the rest of the population. The research was supported by the Australian Catholic University and led by Curtin University, and was published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence. It recommended trauma-informed approaches to health care treatment for adults with diverse gender identities, and social programs to “reduce stigmatising attitudes and behaviours among the wider community.” (23 Aug 2024)
Read more at The Catholic Weekly
Around the Country
VIC: The Victorian Bar has debated whether judges and lawyers should stop wearing their robes and medals at special religious services, such as the Catholic Red Mass, to avoid any conflict of interest perceptions. The Bar last week discussed the question of whether it was appropriate for robes to be worn at Catholic, Anglican and Jewish services and at those services held by other faiths at the start of the legal year. The issue was discussed at a special event to examine issues affecting Victorian barristers but the discussions have raised concerns among some lawyers of faith that there could be a broader agenda to undermine the place of religion among the community. (20 Aug 2024)
Read more at CathNews (originally published at The Australian)
VIC: Victoria’s top cop has warned that religious radicalism remains the greatest public security threat despite the rise of right-wing extremist activity around the country. Chief Commissioner Shane Patton said countering potentially religious-inspired violent activity remained the No.1 focus for Victoria Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command. “For us, religiously motivated violent extremism is still the highest risk, but it is increasingly with right-wing extremism and their ideologies. Everyone talks about ISIS and how it’s gone, but they’re still influential.” A 5 August threat assessment stated that, “There is an increase in extremism, fuelled by conspiracy theories and anti-authority ideologies. Some actors hold a blend of ideologies, including those that justify acts of violence to influence change.” (20 Aug 2024)
Read more at The Age
QLD: The Rationalist Society of Australia has asked the state government to explain its position on whether the recital of Christian prayers in Queensland local government meetings is a breach of anti-discrimination and human rights laws. Multiple local councillors have now raised questions about the human rights implications of imposing prayer rituals in government meetings. (20 Aug 2024)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia
NT: Medical experts have criticised interstate anti-abortion lobby groups for distributing "scurrilous" and misleading campaign material ahead of the Northern Territory election. The Australian Christian Lobby and Pro-Life Victoria have issued election materials, stating the Country Liberal Party (CLP) has committed to supporting federal legislation that would require doctors to provide medical treatment for infants that survive abortion procedures. CLP leader Lia Finocchiaro has ruled out making any changes to NT abortion laws, but says if elected the party will consider supporting the Children Born Alive Protection Bill tabled by LNP senators in late 2022 (and which experts have described as bearing "no connection to the realities of termination"). (22 Aug 2024)
Read more at ABC News
TAS: The Archdiocese of Hobart has raised concerns that a parliamentary inquiry on discrimination and bullying in Tasmanian schools will leave faith-based schools open to unfair attacks on its right to articulate Christian principles. But the state's Anti-Discrimination Commission has said these schools require particular attention over the inquiry, due to the high number of complaints about them to the Equal Opportunity Tasmania office. A motion was moved by Clark independent Kristie Johnston in June for a committee to inquire into direct and indirect discrimination, unequal and disadvantageous treatment, bullying and harassment in Tasmanian schools in regard to students and staff. The committee will look at measures to prevent and remedy discrimination and bullying in schools, and examine the obligations and duties of Tasmanian schools under the Anti-Discrimination Act. (22 Aug 2024)
Read more at The Examiner
WA: Plans for a fifth Exclusive Brethren church for the Perth Hills will go ahead, despite overwhelming opposition from the community. Those plans include a place of worship, a members-only supermarket and a child care centre that collectively received over 300 submissions against it from the community in the lead up to a Development Assessment Panel decision on Thursday. In Australia, the church boasts around 50,000 members but less than 2000 live in WA. It is notoriously secretive and it is claimed it has a “hatred” for non-members, treats women as second-class citizens and does not tolerate homosexuality. (22 Aug 2024)
Read more at The Age
WA: Advocacy group Just Equal Australia has expressed concern at the failure of Premier Cook to pledge specific LGBTIQA+ law reforms if re-elected next March. Earlier this year, Just-Equal wrote to the Premier asking him to clarify seven areas of much needed law reform. These included discrimination against teachers and students in faith schools; discrimination against staff and clients in faith-based services; hate-speech; conversion practices; gender identity; surrogacy and Intersex reform. The Premier declined to respond and passed the pledge documents to Attorney General Quigley who wrote to Just.Equal last week. WA spokesperson, Brian Greig, said the responses from the Attorney General were mostly vague, inconclusive or absent. (23 Aug 2024)
Read more at Out in Perth
Commentary and Analysis
Dr Bu O'Brien on SBS Weekend One on One: 'It's a privilege': SBS talks to Voluntary Assisted Dying practitioner Dr Bu O'Brien
"Since Voluntary Assisted Dying (known as VAD) was legalised in Australia, over 2,400 terminally ill people have chosen to end their lives this way. Dr Bu O'Brien is one of the few Voluntary Assisted Dying practitioners. I asked her about why she has chosen this path. My name is Essam Al-Ghalib, and this is SBS Audio's Weekend One on One." (18 Aug 2024)
Listen to this podcast episode at SBS News
Linda Swan (Go Gentle Australia): A good death: the silver lining of voluntary assisted dying
"Voluntary assisted dying (VAD) laws, now passed in all six Australian states and recently in the ACT, were the result of years of dogged campaigning by ordinary people facing extraordinary suffering. Those diagnosed with a terminal illness wanted choice and to regain some control over a destiny that foretold misery and torment. Family and friends who had witnessed the prolonged death of a loved one also joined the campaign, in the hope others wouldn’t have the same traumatic experience. Six years on from the implementation of the first VAD law in Victoria, have these aims been fulfilled? The answer is, overwhelmingly, yes." (19 Aug 2024)
Read more at Insight+
Dominic Giannini: ‘Kept my child secret’: gay teacher calls for change
"Emma felt she had no choice but to keep her girlfriend and their child a secret from a conservative Catholic school leadership. Under current laws, the religion teacher could legally be fired for her relationship and said she was told as much by the school principal and her union. Emma decided the fear of being fired was insurmountable before resigning in 2022. 'Obviously, it was a big challenge to me personally and professionally once I realised I was gay,' she said. 'I essentially could be fired at any time just based on this reason … it put a lot of pressure on me.' ... Equality Australia, which fights discrimination against people in the LGBTQI community, knows of Emma’s case and said she should never have been put in the position of losing her job because of her private life." ... The federal government has parked debate on religious freedoms, including a promise to better protect LGBTQI students and staff at faith-based schools." (22 Aug 2024)
Read more at AAP
Angela Priestley: Any hint of limiting reproductive rights won’t help win back seats lost to women
"From there, the Liberal party would want to stamp out any ideas of women’s reproductive rights being limited or in any way attacked in parliament. Having seen the experience in the United States, these rights are not something Australian women are going to become complacent about, even as every state and territory has finally decriminalised abortion. But this week in the Senate, the Coalition was split on a motion on abortion raised by United Australia Party Senator Ralph Babet. ... Any hint of Liberal party members supporting any kind of motion or statements seeking control of women’s bodies or their healthcare is not going to bode well for a party desperately trying to improve its standing with women." (22 Aug 2024)
Read more at Women's Agenda
Mark Fowler: Is religious discrimination reform to die without a whimper?
"Progress on the reforms stalled when Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus sought line-by-line feedback from his Opposition counterpart, Michaelia Cash, who in turn directed Dreyfus’s attention to detailed drafting provided by faith leaders. This drafting included amendments to the proposed religious discrimination bill and provisions of the Sex Discrimination Act regulating the treatment of students and staff in religious schools. ... The previous government consulted extensively on its religious discrimination bill. While religious leaders expressed broad support for the final of its four versions, they held a range of remaining concerns." (22 Aug 2024)
Read more at CathNews (originally published in The Australian)
Events and Campaigns
The Tasmanian state government is running an Inquiry into Discrimination and Bullying in Tasmanian Schools. Public submissions are welcome up until 30 August 2024.
Read more and make a submission here
Go Gentle Australia have released The State of VAD, a report collating and analysing available VAD data from all jurisdictions for the first time.
Download the report here
The full videos of presentations and panel discussions from the 2023 Secularism Australia Conference are now 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
A change.org petition has been started, calling for churches to lose their tax-free status and for "the religious influence of churches in Australian politics and society" to be limited. It's currently up to 31,000 signatures. View the petition at change.org
The Australian Education Union is running a campaign calling for “every school, every child” to receive fair education funding. It's currently up to 95,000 sign-ups. Support the campaign here.
The Human Rights for NSW alliance has launched a campaign calling for NSW to pass a Human Rights Act.
That's it for another week!
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