RSA Weekly Sunday 21 December 2025 Hi , Amidst the fallout to a horrific terror attack on the Jewish community in Sydney by Islamic fundamentalists a week ago, we have been alarmed to hear talk in the Liberal Party of
making 'faith' an ‘Australian value’ that immigrants could be required to support. We've sought a commitment from Opposition Leader Sussan Ley that her party would not establish ‘faith’, or any other religious requirement, as a new condition for immigrants to Australia (see the top article). In our new podcast episode, published today, we speak to Jane Morris, of Dying With Dignity Victoria,
about the recent improvements made to the state's voluntary assisted dying laws. Listen to The Secular Agenda podcast on major podcast apps or here on our website. If you'd like to share your thoughts about articles in the RSA Weekly, email me on: sigladman@rationalist.com.au. Si Gladman Executive
Director, Rationalist Society of Australia |
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| RSA RSA questions Opposition Leader over Liberal MP’s call for
immigrants to support ‘faith’ as an ‘Australian value’20 Dec: The Rationalist Society of Australia is seeking a commitment from the federal Opposition Leader, Sussan Ley, that her party will not push to introduce any religious criteria or test for immigrants entering Australia. In a letter to Ms Ley, the RSA said it was “deeply alarmed” by comments from Liberal MP Andrew Hastie that he wanted to see “faith” made an ‘Australian value’ that
immigrants needed to support. Read the full article |
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| RSA Non-religious councillors to “remove themselves” if they don’t
want to participate in prayers18 Dec: Non-religious councillors will now have to excuse themselves from the meeting chamber if they don’t want to be subjected to forced acts of religious worship at Oberon Council in New South Wales. The council this week rejected the pleas of non-religious councillors to stop imposing religion, with a majority deciding to keep prayers as part of formal meetings while adopting a “possible concession” that
allows councillors to “remove themselves” from the meeting if they do not wish to participate in prayers. Read the full article |
| ABC Grace Tame demands law reform after Diocese of Ballarat cleared of vicarious liability 20 Dec: A national campaign is being launched to close a
legislative loophole that lawyers say is being "weaponised" to block victim-survivors of child sexual abuse from pursuing justice in court. Former Australian of the Year Grace Tame has joined forces with a man whose legal action against the Catholic Diocese of Ballarat was appealed in the High Court. Read the full article |
| WA TODAY Muslim community warned police about radical preacher linked to Bondi shooter 20 Dec: Sydney’s Muslim community has been told to expect
counterterrorism raids in the wake of the Bondi Beach attack, as Islamic leaders reveal it has been sounding the alarm about the hate preacher connected to one of the shooters for 10 years. Read the full
article |
| SYDNEY MORNING HERALD ‘Hateful’ chants and flags to be banned as Islamic State claims it ‘inspired’ Bondi attack 20 Dec: A protest chant, Islamic State
flags and other “hateful” symbols and slogans will be criminalised in NSW under proposed laws in response to last weekend’s Bondi massacre. Premier Chris Minns said the legislation will outlaw the public display of symbols associated with banned terrorist organisations. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Conservative legal group aims to export its rightwing Christian mission beyond US borders 20 Dec: Alliance Defending Freedom, the conservative
legal advocacy group behind the overturning of Roe v Wade, has ramped up its global spending on litigation and other campaigns, in what appears to be an attempt to export what critics call its hard-right Christian theocratic values beyond US borders. Read
the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Peak Jewish body calls Labor’s plan to combat antisemitism an essential ‘first step’ 19 Dec: Australia’s peak Jewish body has labelled the
Albanese government’s plan to combat antisemitism in response to the Bondi beach terror attack an essential “first step”, but some groups have warned the measures will be used as a political weapon to further divide communities. Read the full article |
| SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Islamic group linked to Bondi shooter brands him ‘a thug and a terrorist’19 Dec: The Muslim street preachers who took in Bondi Beach shooter Naveed Akram have
denounced him as “criminal, a thug and a terrorist”, and claimed a number of Islamic State sympathisers who attended the group’s activities were also involved with extremist western Sydney cleric Wissam Haddad before their arrests. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Antisemitism laws to push constitutional limit, says Burke 19 Dec: The government will push hate speech laws to their constitutional limit under
newly announced antisemitism reforms, but Home Affairs Minister Tony Burke has said he is unable to determine whether specific phrases like “globalise the intifada” will fall under the new legislation. Read the full
article |
| SYDNEY MORNING HERALD Albanese speaks in church as political recriminations mount 18 Dec: The Albanese government will take its attempts to combat
antisemitism into the nation’s kindergartens and childcare centres as well as schools and universities. A new antisemitism education taskforce, led by eminent expert David Gonski, was announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Labor races to write new laws targeting hate preachers over Christmas 18 Dec: The Albanese government is racing to write new laws over Christmas
that stamp out hate preachers and beef up criminal consequences for people who make racist threats, and is prepared to recall parliament next month to vote on tougher action on antisemitism. Read the full
article |
| THE HILL (US) Hegseth overhauling chaplain corps, targeting ‘new age’ concepts17 Dec: Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday he is overhauling the military’s chaplain corps,
which provide religious and spiritual support to members of the armed forces and their families, saying he intended to target “new age” concepts. “In an atmosphere of political correctness and secular humanism, chaplains have been minimized, viewed by many as therapists instead of ministers,” Hegseth said in a post on X. Read the full article |
| THE AGE Mother hit by Liberal pamphlets tells inquiry Brethren made voting ‘unsafe’ 15 Dec: A young mother has given evidence of being hit repeatedly with
Liberal National Party pamphlets as she and her three-year-old child ran a gauntlet of Exclusive Brethren men on the way to vote at the May federal election. Cassandra Barrett said the behaviour from a throng of young men outside a polling place in Queensland had left her son terrified and her on the verge of tears. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Women who say they were tricked into servitude for Opus Dei to meet in Argentina 15 Dec: Buenos Aires will host the first-ever international gathering
of former Opus Dei members who say they were tricked and trafficked into domestic servitude as minors – allegations that have drawn scrutiny of the powerful, secretive Catholic group. Read the full article |
| NEWSROOM (NEW ZEALAND) Charity tax u-turn lets Sanitarium off hook 9 Dec: Inland Revenue is ditching plans to tax the business income of charities and turning its
attention to donor-controlled charities and local promotional bodies. The change in tack comes after the office began reviewing charity business tax exemptions at the beginning of the year with a five-week period of public consultation. Read the
full article |
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| RATIONALE Is empathy rational? Elizabeth Dangerfield: We all benefit from empathy. People who are empathetic, who care and share, and who are kind and benevolent, feel a warm inner glow, especially if they see the benefits for the recipient. One of the results of empathy is that people are treated as equals, and they then have a better chance of living up to their potential and, in doing so, contributing more to society. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN Andrew Hastie revealed conservative Liberals’ true immigration agenda in the aftermath of the Bondi terror attack Dan Jervis-Bardy:
As the Coalition focused in the hours and days that followed on trying to connect Anthony Albanese’s handling of antisemitism to the atrocity, Hastie quickly, explicitly and repeatedly sought to link it to something else: immigration. The former soldier quit Sussan Ley’s shadow cabinet in October to wage a personal campaign to slash Australia’s immigration levels. Read the full article |
| THE NIGHTLY The anti-Semitic attack at Bondi also targeted Australian secularism David Fickling: Bondi Beach has broader meaning to Australia,
too. In an overwhelmingly secular nation, beaches represent something close to a sacred space. On the sand, there are no divisions of race, class or creed, and people from every corner of the planet can come together to barbecue, swim, sunbathe and socialise. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN The immediate shock and terror of the Bondi shooting is giving way to anger and division. We must look for the light Paul Daley:
Those who have not picked up on the frequently expressed fears of Australian Jews are now highly attuned. Just as they are to balancing the need for a far more urgent, energetic government and institutional fight against antisemitism with the right to peacefully protest against genocide. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN The NSW premier’s outrageous rhetoric on peaceful protests sows division in our community Timothy Roberts: The New South Wales
premier, Chris Minns, cannot be shaken from his mistaken belief that it is a strength to propose radical, rushed and regressive laws in media conferences. It is actually a weakness and poor political leadership. In these distressing times, it is dangerous. Read the full article |
| THE AGE The radical Islamic cleric linked to the Bondi shooter who keeps dodging the law Michael McGowan et al: Haddad’s association with one of
the Bondi terrorists, Naveed Akram, has focused significant new attention on the Bankstown-based cleric. The Salafi cleric has, over many years, cultivated a network of followers, some of whom have been convicted of terror offences. Read the full article |
| ABC Former Carmelite nun accuses order of abuse at Victorian parliamentary inquiry Danielle Kutchell: Mary Hughes spent 60 years with the
Carmelites, rising up the ranks to the position of Superior at the Wagga Wagga Carmelite monastery in NSW. She has told a Victorian parliamentary inquiry into cults and fringe groups the order preyed on her innocence and devout faith, describing the monastery environment as "crushing and controlling”. Read the full article |
| THE GUARDIAN‘Trojan horse moment’: anti-rights groups seize chanceIsabel Choat: To many, the subsequent axing of 83% of USAID programmes seemed like pure nihilism, engineered by ideologues who
wanted to kill off the agency. But there was a long-term vision behind the destruction. The gutting of USAID has cleared a path for the next phase of a plan to reshape the global health landscape, say reproductive justice campaigners. Read the full
article |
| USA TODAYPete Hegseth pushes his Christian faith in Pentagon prayer servicesSince May, Hegseth has held regular monthly worship services during working hours at the building. In line with his sweeping
push to purge political correctness and "wokeness" from the military, Hegseth has espoused a vision of a military guided by a distinctly Christian faith. It’s sparked concerns that it violates religious freedom in the military. Read the
full article |
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