Labor governments at the federal and state levels appear to be unwilling to deliver on their commitments to remove exemptions to anti-discrimination laws for faith-based schools and service providers.

Today, The Guardian has reported that the Queensland government is not wanting “a fight with the churches” on the matter before the state election. Also, in an opinion piece, Yvonne Patterson and Paula Nathan have voiced their frustration with the West Australian government’s failure to act on the issue.

In Victoria this week, Opposition Leader John Pesutto joined a conga line of his Liberal colleagues appearing in videos produced by the Australian Christian Lobby calling for the state parliament to retain daily Christian prayers.

If you wish to comment on articles that appear in our RSA Weekly, you can send an email to editor@rationalist.com.au. We love to share our members' views and opinions in the Letters to the Editor column on our Rationale website.

14 June: The Queensland government will renege on its promise to pass new anti-discrimination laws before the October state election – a move advocates say will leave women fleeing domestic violence, people with disabilities and members the LGBTQ+ community at risk. Read the full article

13 June: The Rationalist Society of Australia has sought confirmation from the Victorian Opposition Leader, John Pesutto, on whether Liberal Party members of parliament will be forced to support keeping Christian worship in parliament. This week, Mr Pesutto and a number of Liberal MPs appeared in campaign videos for the Australian Christian Lobby, demanding that the Victorian Parliament continue to open each day with Christian prayers. Read the full article

13 June: During the April school holidays, an unknown school parent reported to the principal that Charlotte was in a same-sex relationship. The parent said they had discovered her sexuality in a Facebook post... An email sent to Charlotte by the school principal said it had come to the school’s attention that Charlotte was engaged in a relationship “that is contrary to the College’s doctrines and beliefs”. Read the full article

12 June: The Rationalist Society of Australia has called on Queensland Opposition Leader David Crisafulli to commit to moving the Religious Instruction (RI) program to outside school hours if elected to government later this year. In a letter to Mr Crisafulli, the RSA said RI was a major disruption for public school communities and privileged classroom access by religious organisations over the learning needs of Queensland’s children. Read the full article

11 June: Pro-euthanasia advocates are calling for Victoria’s assisted dying laws to be overhauled, arguing it’s time the state is brought into line wiwith others that have implemented more lenient rules. The renewed debate comes after Cherryl Barassi, the widow of AFL great Ron Barassi, spoke about not qualifying for help under the current framework. St Kilda GP Nick Carr, who has identified himself as Ms Barassi’s doctor, said Victoria’s so-called gag clause needed to be scrapped. Read the full article

10 June: A school that demanded parents sign a contract calling homosexuality "sinful" says it regrets its actions, more than two years after it sparked a national debate about discrimination and religious freedom. Citipointe Christian College says it regrets any distress caused to students and parents, who publicly voiced anger when the new contract was developed. Listen to the radio segment

10 June: More than half of Australians oppose laws allowing faith-based schools to legally sack or refuse to hire teachers on the basis of sexuality and gender identity, as the proposed changes to discrimination and religious discrimination law once again reach a political deadlock. The polling of more than 1,500 Australians, commissioned by the advocacy group Just.Equal Australia, shows 52% are against an exemption in the Sex Discrimination Act. Read the full article

7 June: With the national Mass attendance rate now at just over eight per cent, it is timely that the National Centre for Pastoral Research will soon commence a study of reported reasons why those who continue to affiliate as Catholics do not participate regularly in Sunday Mass. Read the full article

David James: In the developed world, it is often observed that we are living in an era of ‘late-stage capitalism’. To get a clear picture of what that might mean, it is useful to examine the measures we use to understand economic trends. The customary assumption is that economic statistics furnish a complete picture of what is happening – industrially, financially and with a country’s standard of living. The metrics are treated as scientific absolutes, the equivalent of unchanging measures in physics. That is wrong. Read the full article

Si Gladman: The next Census in 2026 will likely be a watershed moment for our nation, with the proportion of Australians identifying as not religious set to overtake Christians and the total religious affiliation set to fall below half the population. The dramatic decline of religion is, no doubt, the reason leaders of the Catholic Church are experiencing palpitations about proposed changes to the religion question in the Census. Read the full article

Yvonne Patterson and Paula Nathan: Sleight of hand is the magician’s friend: look at what I say, not at my actions. For the 14,221 days the WA Equal Opportunity Act (1984) has been in operation, successive governments, including the current one elected in March 2017, have overseen the lawful choice by religious institutions to discriminate against divorced people, women, single parents, LGBTIQ people and others. Read the full article

Nicole Shackleton: In May, the federal government confirmed it’s working on new laws to prohibit hate speech, sometimes called vilification, based on sex, gender, sexuality, race or religion. Many have welcomed the plan to introduce stronger laws as needed to tackle hate speech against Jewish, Palestinian and Muslim communities in the wake of growing antisemitism and Islamophobia in Australia. Read the full article

Paul Collins: Apparently, the ABS listened to 'Census21 – Not Religious?' because a further media release from the group praised the Bureau for taking ‘on board the public’s concerns (i.e. Census21’s concerns) regarding the biased nature of the religion question and the desire for a more acceptable evidence base to support public policy and funding decisions relating to religion’. There’s the nub of their argument; it’s really about ‘funding’ faith groups and churches in their ministries of education, social welfare, health, aged care and many other services they provide. In the end these arguments come back to wanting to push religion out of public life. Read the full article

Rev. Dr Craig Thompson: With secularity now under serious challenge by the rejection of liberalism’s political universalisms, the religious question becomes one of the plurality of the gods: not “Is there a god?” but what god is implied in this or that particular socio-political complex, “secular” or otherwise? Read the full article