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13 Sep: Pro-secular organisations have called on the Albanese government to increase transparency and accountability in the charities sector by removing the special exemptions given to religious charities designated as ‘Basic Religious Charities’. The Rationalist Society of Australia this week co-signed a letter with Atheist Foundation of Australia, Humanists Victoria, National Secular Lobby and Humanists Australia to Assistant Minister for Charities Andrew Leigh. Read the full article

13 Sep: More than 120 people running in the New South Wales local government elections have been identified by researchers as possible “fringe” candidates, including conspiracy theorists and people backed by a high-profile anti-lockdown campaigner. Some could be elected given a NSW Liberals bungle meant the major party failed to nominate more than 100 candidates. Read the full article

12 Sep: New proposed laws targeting online misinformation have been slammed as a “chilling assault” on the freedom of speech of Australians, with critics claiming the laws could capture “any difference of opinion”. Communications Minister Michelle Rowland introduced the legislation to Parliament on Thursday, claiming misinformation and disinformation pose a “serious threat” to Australians’  “safety and wellbeing” as well as “our democracy, society and economy”. Read the full article

12 Sep: LGBTQ+ and Jewish groups have expressed disappointment at Labor’s decision to abandon its plan to outlaw vilification, warning hate speech will not be prohibited under new laws. On Thursday the attorney general, Mark Dreyfus, introduced the Albanese government’s hate crimes bill, which he said “responds to the increasing prevalence of hate speech and hateful conduct in our society”. Read the full article

12 Sep: High school students will be taught about Indigenous Australians’ experience of colonisation under a sweeping rewrite of the history curriculum that will also mandate the study of civics and the foundations of democracy. The biggest overhaul of the state’s history syllabus in a decade will also include compulsory study of the Holocaust as part of a new standalone topic on World War II. Read the full article

11 Sep: Extreme religious groups and political parties are targeting schools around the world as part of a coordinated and well-funded attack on gender equality, according to a new report. Well-known conservative organisations aim to restrict girls’ access to education, change what is on the curriculum, and influence educational laws and policies, according to Whose Hands on our Education, a report by the global affairs thinktank ODI. Read the full article

11 Sep: A federal Liberal MP has told a constituent he suspects that former right-wing Sky News host and conservative senator Amanda Stoker may hold an influential legal role in a state LNP government if elected next month. Even before Stoker, a former barrister, was preselected, Labor had seized on her position on the conservative religious side of the party to attack the state opposition. Read the full article

11 Sep: Anglican bishops sitting in the Lords are a “feudal legacy” that should be ousted along with hereditary peers, a former director-general of the BBC has said. Independent crossbench peer Lord Birt branded the automatic right for 26 Lords Spiritual to sit on the red benches an “indefensible undemocratic anomaly”. Read the full article

11 Sep: Labor has scrubbed criminal penalties for seriously vilifying minority groups from its upcoming hate crimes bill, watering down its proposed laws just months after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese vowed to introduce stronger measures to protect people from hate speech. Sources familiar with Labor’s promised hate speech bill said it had been significantly weakened in the final stages of drafting and was now starkly different from Albanese’s original pledge, which he made earlier this year following months of concern about inflamed antisemitism. Read the full article

10 Sep: A number of Victorian Labor MPs supported the Liberal Party campaign to keep Christian prayers as part of the daily proceedings in parliament, according to a member of the state’s upper house. Speaking in parliament, Liberal MP Evan Mulholland – who spearheaded a petition for the Legislative Council to continue imposing prayers at the opening of each day – said many Labor members of parliament “supported” and “encouraged” his efforts. Read the full article

8 Sep: Australians will be asked about their gender identity in the next census, after the Albanese government for the second time reversed its position on including new LGBT questions in the national survey. Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Sunday morning revealed the 2026 census would count transgender Australians for the first time, saying the government had listened to the LGBT community after equality advocates warned that being excluded from national data would worsen policy outcomes for minority groups. Read the full article

6 Sep: Prince William is rumoured to be considering foregoing the religious oaths at his coronation, which could lead to separation of religion and state. An unknown source recently told the Mail on Sunday that William is "toying with the idea of abolishing the religious oaths of the Coronation – potentially leading to the disestablishment of the Church of England". Read the full article

5 Sep: The Australian government is seeking to create some distance from its new special envoys on antisemitism and Islamophobia, suggesting they do not characterise their comments as official government policy. Documents obtained by Guardian Australia reveal the instructions the government has given its new special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, including the need to highlight “diverse Jewish Australian identities”. Read the full article

Richard Dawkins speaks about faith, philosophy, evolution, and the layers of human existence on the Daily Stoic podcast. What do you think? Email your comments to: editor@rationalist.com.au

Neal Francis: This latest Pew research adds to our understanding of attitudes towards religion and religiosity in the political sphere. It shows Australians to be significantly less ‘religiously political’ than citizens of the UK, Canada and the US, and is consistent with previous findings. Religious Australians often create an impression of the political importance of religion, but these new findings confirm most Australians don’t link religion and politics. Read the full article

Robert Bender: I’ve just been reading Rob Reich’s book, Just Giving: Why Philanthropy Is Failing Democracy and How It Can Do Better, on philanthropic foundations. One of the issues he discusses is whether “charity” involves transfer of wealth from the rich to the poor, and found only a small percentage of it did that. Most of it was transfer from wealthy donors to wealthy recipients favoured by the upper classes, such as private schools and art galleries and universities. Read the full article

Daniel Angus: It is good to see a focus on improving transparency and accountability for social media platforms. However, there is no explicit provision that data platforms share with ACMA be made available to researchers, academics or civil society. This limits the potential for transparency and accountability. Read the full article

Mohadesa Najumi: There is truly so much solace to be found in knowing and understanding the evolutionary processes behind our existence, as well as the interbeing theory, which proves that we are not outside or above nature—but fully enmeshed within it. I carry these scientific ideas with me through every moment of every day because they foster an overwhelming sense of gratitude within me. Read the full article

Samuel McKee: We have serious issues of science scepticism, mistrust of expertise, conspiracy theorising, echo-chamber thinking, ideological capture, and religious fundamentalism. All contribute immensely to an unprecedented level of anti-science bias that I see in students, reflecting society as a whole. Read the full article

Seja Al Zaidi: Being able to tick your religion on the national census may seem like a small thing, but for Sami Sheebo it's an important step towards better recognition for one of the world's oldest religious groups. Mr Sheebo is part of Australia's Yazidi community, which practices the religion with the highest proportional growth since 2016, according to the most recent national census. Read the full article

Darius von Guttner Sporzynski: Central to this new book is Harari’s argument that AI represents a radical new force in the development of human civilisation, a theme he also explored in a 2023 article on AI’s capacity to manipulate language, culture and society. Harari’s critique of AI is particularly forceful. He sees it as a new kind of intelligence – what he provocatively calls “alien intelligence” – that could potentially operate beyond human control. Read the full article

Russell Blackford: In The War Against the Past: Why the West Must Fight for Its History, British sociologist Frank Furedi criticises approaches to history and its cultural legacy that have become all too recognisable. He blames institutions such as universities, school systems and museums, as well as educators, curators, journalists and others with responsibility for guiding students or informing the general public. Read the full article

John Feakes (Australian High Commissioner to PNG): I have spoken to many Papua New Guineans about what a Papal visit means to them and, more than even, I am convinced of the central role religion plays in our countries and for our people. I have seen how Christianity is a central part of daily life including mine, providing comfort and guidance, and shaping everything from family relationships to community interactions through a vital sense of connection and belonging. Read the full article