Weekend Wrap for 28 July 2024

Welcome to the NSL Weekend Wrap for 28 July 2024, where you can catch up on the latest secular-related news from around the country.

A major news story from NZ this week with the release of a royal commission report detailing abuse suffered by 200,000 children and adults over many decades in both state and faith-based institutions.

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!

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At the National Level

The recent Productivity Commission report said that “basic religious charities” should be subject to the same ACNC governance standards and financial reporting requirements as other charities to “improve regulatory transparency and consistency”. The Catholic Church and legal experts said the ACNC could, under the changes, appoint or remove religious leaders in a move that risked breaching section 116 of the Constitution, which bans the Commonwealth from making any law that prohibits the free exercise of any religion. Executive Council of Australian Jewry co-chief executive Peter Wertheim said no government official should be placed in a position of becoming an arbiter of doctrine in any religion. (23 Jul 2024)
Read more at CathNews

The Productivity Commission has rejected claims that the removal of the Basis Religious Charities (BRCs) category from Australia’s charities laws would infringe on the constitutional guarantee of free exercise of religion. A number of participants in the inquiry warned that the removal of the special exemptions to governance standards that apply to all other charities could result in the charities regulator, the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC), interfering in a religious organisation. In its report on philanthropy, released on Thursday, the Productivity Commission expressed its belief that removing BRCs and related exemptions “would, on its face, comply with section 116 of the Australian Constitution”. Among other things, section 116 prohibits the federal parliament from enacting laws “for prohibiting the free exercise of any religion”. (23 Jul 2024)
Read more at the Rationalist Society of Australia

Following a Guardian Australia investigation into OneSchool Global, which has received more than $130m in taxpayer funds over five years, the Greens senator David Shoebridge said that The Greens will request that the auditor general conduct an inquiry into the flow of public funds to the private school network set up by the secretive Exclusive Brethren sect. The advocacy group Save Our Schools also backed the need for a government inquiry into the schools’ funding arrangements. Shoebridge, the Greens’ justice spokesperson, said there was also a role for both the Australian Taxation Office and the charities commissioner to investigate reports that the schools had awarded lucrative building contracts to members of the Exclusive Brethren, which is also known as the Plymouth Brethren Christian church. The OneSchool Global schools are registered charities in Australia and exempt from income tax. They also have building funds endorsed for deductible gift recipient status. (24 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Guardian

Around the Country

QLD: An attempt to have prayers removed from council ordinary meetings has been overturned at a Southern Downs Regional Council meeting on Wednesday 17 July. In adopting a revised meeting policy, councillors narrowly voted that the order of business should include the existing prayer and condolence sections within the meetings and not before the official meeting, as had been suggested. The meeting heard that including a prayer in the meeting would actually be in contravention of the Queensland Human Rights Act 2019, provoking a robust discussion on the issues. (23 Jul 2024)
Read more at Warwick Today

VIC: A convicted killer is suing his old Melbourne Catholic school, alleging sexual abuse he suffered there as a teenager set him on a path to a life of crime. The case is part of a wave of hundreds of actions against Victorian schools over historical abuse claims by former students, with one law firm alone investigating more than 470 cases involving some 300 schools - more than 10 per cent of the state’s schools. (25 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Age

WA: Albany councillor and Liberal party candidate Dr Thomas Brough has declared he will not attend inclusivity training ordered by his fellow council members. The embattled City of Albany councillor says the training provided by the Australian Human Rights Commission is akin to “conversion therapy” and “forced indoctrination”. The councillor was ordered to attend the training following comments he made at a council meeting earlier this year where he he claimed the plus symbol in LGBTIQA+ might also include “minor attracted people”. (25 Jul 2024)
Read more at Out in Perth

WA: A local government council has rejected a development application from a “religious cult,” effectively banning it from teaching out of an office building it occupies. The Town of Cambridge received an application from the International Education Organisation, which a former member claims is a front for the Shincheonji Church of Jesus. Residents opposed the development application, with one person writing to the council saying it was a “stretch” to call the proposal an educational establishment. Parents who had children involved with the group also opposed the application submitting horror stories to the council during the consultation period about how they lost contact with their children who had become involved with the organisation. (25 Jul 2024)
Read more at news.com.au

WA: Three Western Australian men have been charged over the alleged forced marriage of two teenagers in Perth. It is the first time the Australian Federal Police have laid charges for this crime in WA. Police allege the teenagers, one of whom was aged between 13 and 15 and the other 17, wanted to date each other but relatives told them they would have to be married for cultural reasons. A religious ceremony took place in 2023. (26 July 2024)
Read more at The Age

VIC: Victorian men with religious beards have been banned from working as paramedics due to a rigid face mask policy, despite alternative respirators for men of faith being used in other states and countries. Currently, Ambulance Victoria requires men to be closely shaved to ensure that paramedics pass a mask fit test. The policy formed by WorkSafe, and failure to adopt other methods, has led to allegations that the service and state government are being discriminatory. (27 Jul 2024)
Read more at ABC News

Commentary and Analysis

Michael Dove (Census21): Religion and the census – seeking accuracy and truth
"The existing question asked people to tick a box against a list of the 10 most common religions with a box for people to write in other options. The ‘Census21 – Not Religious?’ campaign did not have a strong view on this matter but acknowledged the impracticality of listing all 139 categories in the official classification of religions. In response to a question from Senator Dean Smith, the ABS’ head statistician Dr David Gruen told Senate estimates in June 2024 that it was faith groups that had complained about the census listing some religions but not others. In relation to tick boxes, it seems Mr [Paul] Collins and Archbishop Costelloe want to have their cake and eat it too. On one hand they argue that the tick boxes mask important sub-groups within the larger religions, but on the other they argue that a write-in response will cause confusion and result in further inaccuracy or a lower response. We accept the need to accurately capture the religious beliefs of all respondents in today’s multicultural and plural society. A single text field puts all religions on an equal footing and will encourage more diverse and accurate responses." (21 Jul 2024)
Read more at Pearls & Irritations
(This article from the Census21 campaign, of which the NSL is a member, is in response to an article by former priest Paul Collins, published in this same publication on 8 Jun 2024.)

Matthew Wade: The Productivity Commission wants to axe a key tax break for private school donations – but the government is determined to keep it
"Giving is in a tough spot in Australia. A declining proportion of us donate to charities, and fewer of us are registering as formal volunteers than in 2018. However, demand for the work of charities is higher than ever. Charities Minister Andrew Leigh has deemed this a civic crisis and set a target of doubling philanthropic giving by 2030. To achieve this, Leigh and Treasurer Jim Chalmers asked the Productivity Commission to conduct a once-in-a-generation 15-month review of philanthropy, which was published last Thursday. Leigh said he would consider all of the recommendations but one – that donations to school building funds no longer be tax deductible." (22 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Conversation

Josh Roose: After the defection of Senator Fatima Payman, what are the prospects of a Muslim political party in Australia?
"The federal government’s response to the terror attack carried out by Hamas on 7 October 2023, and Israel’s subsequent military campaign in Gaza, have brought long simmering tensions in Australian multicultural society to a boil. In a political moment defined by polarisation and heightened political emotions, the defection of Western Australian Senator Fatima Payman from the governing Labor Party to the cross bench, and rumours of a Muslim political party seeking to exploit grievances over the government’s position on Gaza, seem particularly portentous. Admittedly, this is not the first time that Australian Muslims have contemplated forming a political party. Nor is it, in the context of Australian multiculturalism, the first attempt to mobilise migrant communities as a constituency or to organise a political entity based on religious values." (24 Jul 2024)
Read more at ABC News

Siobhan Marin & Andrew West (for ABC's Religion & Ethics Report): Religious voters are starting to organise politically. Will it impact Australia's next election?
"This month, the newly formed political group Muslim Vote vowed to run in Western Sydney at the next elections. The group's convenor, Sheikh Wesam Charkawi, told the ABC that Labor's position on Israel had outraged Muslim communities. Dr Roose says this fits with global trends. "We're starting to see more and more [political] organisation by actively religious individuals and communities seeking to influence the election process," he says. ... The Muslim Vote collective has detractors. Lebanese-born community leader Jamal Rifi says he's concerned that recent political turmoil — namely the creation of this group and Senator Payman quitting Labor — could tear at the fabric of multiculturalism in Australia." (24 Jul 2024)
Read more at ABC News

Alastair Lawrie: The govt has dropped the ball on protecting LGBTQ students and teachers
"Rather than progressing Sex Discrimination Act and Fair Work Act amendments based on the ALRC's recommendations, the government in March announced it would not introduce these reforms without bipartisan support from the Dutton opposition for these changes, and for a new Religious Discrimination Bill. Given the record of the last government that seemed highly unlikely. And as each month has passed, the chances of it happening have become even more remote. Shadow attorney-general Michaelia Cash has instead backed calls from groups like Christian Schools Australia for "positive rights" for religious schools that would not only prevent protections under Commonwealth law, but strip rights away from students and teachers in places that are already protected, like the ACT." (26 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Canberra Times

Simon McCarthy-Jones: Elon Musk says he’s a ‘cultural Christian’ – why some leading thinkers are embracing Christianity
"The world’s richest person, Elon Musk, just announced that he’s a “big believer in the principles of Christianity” and “a cultural Christian”. Musk’s reasons are moral and political – he believes Christianity can boost both happiness and birthrates. Musk joins many western conservative thinkers troubled by a rapidly changing world. Some of these thinkers have embraced Christianity to combat these changes. Yet they often struggle to accept Christianity’s central supernatural claims, like Christ’s resurrection. ... So, conservative thinkers might be right in believing Christianity can support the social order they feel is threatened. But this is not a new idea. Egyptian pharaohs used religion to aid social stability. Today, in China, President Xi Jinping uses Confucianism for such purposes. Yet, many conservative intellectuals struggle to believe Christianity’s core supernatural elements. Re-enchanting the world is difficult. So, can the benefits of Christianity be retained without believing such claims?" (26 Jul 2024)
Read more at The Conversation

Events and Campaigns

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 94,000 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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