It’s a privilege to write to you, our members and supporters, as the new President of the Rationalist Society of Australia.

As we set out on a new year of advocacy work, I want to give you a sense of what is on our radar for 2026.

Supporting the 'Census 2026' campaign 

We’re pleased to be joining with several pro-secular and non-religious organisations to hold another campaign to encourage Australians to mark ‘No Religion’ on the 2026 Census in August if they are no longer religious.

This is an important campaign given the Australian Bureau of Statistics' decision to re-use the biased religion question that presumes each respondent is religious and, thus, inflates the data in favour of religion. The campaign’s website launched in recent days. I encourage you to check it out and support the campaign.

Advocating for the rights of non-religious people

We will continue standing up for the rights of non-religious people to participate fully in public life and be treated without discrimination on the basis of their beliefs.

This includes, for example, championing the cause of elected representatives like Councillor Ian Tucker, whose local council recently decided to impose religious worship in its meetings. Incredibly, Ian – along with non-religious council colleagues and staff at Oberon in New South Wales – will have to "remove themselves" from meetings if they don't wish to take part in Christian worship!

We will also continue to advocate for non-religious military personnel to have the choice of accessing secular frontline wellbeing support instead of religious chaplaincy. We will also speak up for non-religious veterans and for all Australians to be able to attend Anzac Day ceremonies that are welcoming for all and not dominated by religion.

We have joined with several organisations in raising such examples of discriminatory treatment as part of a submission to the UN Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review into Australia's human rights. We hope member nations of the UN will question the Australian delegation on this matter in Geneva next week.

Pursuing other secular reforms

We are also committed to achieving secular reform in many other areas of public policy – including in the charities and tax space, in our public schools, and in government-appointed faith advisory bodies. Also, we will continue to advocate for state governments to address coercive control in cults and high-demand groups.

If you’re eager to help us make an impact in this advocacy work in 2026, please sign up as a member or make a donation.
 

Although we focus our limited resources mostly on secular advocacy, we will continue to advance our broader mission of championing reason and evidence as the basis of public policy.

Our Rationale magazine engages thousands of readers each year as a platform for Rationalist thinkers to share and debate big ideas, and write about the important issues of the day. If you would like to write an article for Rationale, please contact us.

Through our RSA Weekly newsletter, we aim to keep you informed of important news, commentary and opinion that matter to Rationalists, freethinkers and secularists. If you have friends that you think may benefit from our RSA Weekly, please encourage them to sign up via our website. 

Without the support of our members and donors, the work that we do would simply not be possible.

We have a new board and we're thinking big about the future and how we can have an enduring and significant impact.

If you would like to get in touch or contribute in some way, please contact me via president@rationalist.com.au

Thanks for your ongoing support.