Nostr notes by National Secular Lobby

The Western Australian government has proposed laws that would ...

2026-10-21T01:34:23Z

The Western Australian government has proposed laws that would stop religious schools sacking teachers or expelling students because of their sexuality, or rejecting students because of a disability.

Under a rewrite of the Equal Opportunity Act, religious institutions could still discriminate on the ground of religion, including in hiring, but not on other grounds.

Attorney General Tony Buti said the exemption is “purely on religion, not on sexual orientation”. He called the bill the biggest overhaul of the state’s anti-discrimination laws in more than 40 years. It also adds broader disability protections, including in schools.

The proposal follows Independent MP Allegra Spender’s calls to reform the federal Sex Discrimination Act exemptions for religious institutions.

The Opposition says it will scrutinise the bill when it’s introduced on Wednesday

#WAPolitics #auspol

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-10-20/wa-religious-schools-no-longer-able-to-discriminate/107289636

Plymouth Brethren leader Bruce Hales is due before the federal ...

2026-10-15T06:57:55Z

Plymouth Brethren leader Bruce Hales is due before the federal joint committee on electoral matters on Friday, and former and current members tell The Age the church is a controlling sect, not a mainstream religion.

Hales’s submission says he had no involvement in members volunteering for political parties. Twelve shunned former members wrote to the committee that the campaign activity began with his personal decision.

Coalition committee members call the hearing a “witch-hunt”, and Freedom for Faith calls the Brethren a mainstream denomination. The church runs a dozen charities with hundreds of millions in assets, and a finding of electioneering could put their tax concessions at risk.

#auspol

https://www.theage.com.au/politics/federal/brethren-a-controlling-sect-not-a-religion-say-former-and-current-members-20261014-p615e8.html

Independent MP Allegra Spender introduced a bill in federal ...

2026-10-14T05:53:08Z

Independent MP Allegra Spender introduced a bill in federal parliament on Monday 12 October to narrow the exemptions that let religious schools discriminate against LGBTQIA+ students and staff under the Sex Discrimination Act and the Fair Work Act.

Schools could still prefer co-religionists in hiring, and in promotions to roles with major religious responsibilities such as principals, chaplains and religious education teachers. They couldn’t dismiss existing staff over sexuality or gender identity.

Labor promised reform in 2022, then made Coalition support a condition, and talks failed. The government hasn’t said whether it will back the bill. The Australian Christian Lobby and Anglican Bishop Michael Stead have raised drafting concerns. No debate date is set.

Tessa Ogle at QNews examines the bill and the wider issue:
https://qnews.com.au/allegra-spender-religious-schools-discrimination-bill/

QNews has published a fact check by Tessa Ogle on Tasmania's ...

2026-10-02T05:35:58Z

QNews has published a fact check by Tessa Ogle on Tasmania's Conversion Practices Prohibition Bill 2026, setting the claims made against it beside what the bill says.

The bill is a private member's bill from Greens leader Rosalie Woodruff. It has had its first reading in the House of Assembly and has not passed either house. Labor and crossbench MPs indicate support. The Liberals have a conscience vote, and Police Minister Felix Ellis has said he will vote no. ABC reported on 25 September that no debate date had been set.

Several claims come from religious and Liberal figures. Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Guy Barnett warned that the bill risks criminalising conversations or prayers in a church or religious setting. The Australian Christian Lobby has warned of prosecution over conversations, counselling, prayer and pastoral care, and has raised concerns about mandatory reporting. Ellis argued that a doctor or parent could "face the law" for taking a cautious approach with a young person distressed about their gender. Liberal backbencher and former deputy premier Michael Ferguson raised similar concerns about counselling.

The article answers each point from the bill's text. Religious belief expressed through prayer "does not of itself constitute a conversion practice". Criminal offences require proof of intentional conduct causing physical injury or mental harm, and distress alone is not enough. Good-faith healthcare from registered practitioners who meet professional standards is excluded. The bill creates no general duty on every Tasmanian to report; only specified office-holders, such as the Health Complaints Commissioner, must refer matters to the Commissioner.

Premier Jeremy Rockliff supports banning conversion practices in principle, but has said he would consider amendments that strengthen safeguards.

#taspol #auspol

https://qnews.com.au/tasmania-conversion-practices-bill/

A US-based extremism research group has again listed the ...

2026-09-23T05:41:45Z

A US-based extremism research group has again listed the Australian Christian Lobby and FamilyVoice Australia among the organisations it tracks for anti-LGBTQIA+ activism.

The Global Project Against Hate and Extremism's updated Australia report, its first since 2022, names the two religious lobby groups alongside Binary Australia and LGB Alliance Australia, saying they continue to campaign against LGBTQ+ rights, particularly transgender equality.

Most of the report deals with One Nation's electoral gains and neo-Nazi networks that have kept organising despite this year's bans. The authors say violence is not their only test for inclusion.

Both the ACL and FamilyVoice lobby MPs directly, and recently co-hosted Victorian upper house candidate forums with MPs from several parties ahead of the state election.

#auspol

https://www.outinperth.com/new-gpahe-report-examines-far-right-networks-and-anti-lgbtqia-activism-in-australia/

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts told the Christian "Church ...

2026-08-26T05:00:27Z

One Nation senator Malcolm Roberts told the Christian "Church and State" conference he has not made up his mind on whether gay Australians deserve equal rights, saying he is "in two minds" and "can't understand" homosexuality.

"...there are a number of people in society in very prominent positions in the arts, sports, science, business and politics who are homosexual. And I don’t think we can afford to ban them. So it’s difficult.”

Footage, first reported by The Guardian, shows Roberts discussing James Ashby — Pauline Hanson's former chief of staff, now One Nation's national director — and reaching for Christian framing about which groups "deserve" equality.

Equality Australia chief Anna Brown called the remarks "chilling", saying whether people can be "banned" for their sexuality should never be treated as legitimate debate, and that faith and being gay are not mutually exclusive.

Yet another solid demonstration of how religious-right politics keeps LGBTQI+ Australians' basic rights up for negotiation.

#auspol

https://www.outinperth.com/one-nation-senator-says-hes-undecided-if-gay-people-deserve-equal-rights/

Figures highlighted by Save Our Schools show South ...

2026-08-18T06:24:34Z

Figures highlighted by Save Our Schools show South Australia's private schools still hold a large resource advantage over public schools.

In 2024, total income per student was $21,161 in public schools, $23,660 in Catholic and $26,194 in Independent schools, and government funding covered 76% of Catholic and 58% of Independent school income.

Since 2009, real government funding per student has risen about three times faster for private schools than public ones.

Catholic and Independent schools are now funded above their Schooling Resource Standard, while SA public schools sit at 90.5%, underfunded by an estimated $380 million a year.

#auspol #saparli

https://saveourschools.com.au/funding/government-funding-supports-huge-resource-advantage-for-sa-private-schools/

This was the week Australia's religious institutions came ...

2026-08-15T10:08:44Z

This was the week Australia's religious institutions came face to face with accountability, and mostly came off second best.

In Sydney, ICAC's Operation Rosny put the head of taxpayer-funded Catholic Schools NSW in the witness box over undeclared donations to a hard-right Liberal faction.

In North Parramatta, a parliamentary inquiry heard that a Baptist school and church described as a "cult" put a dog collar and lead on a child.

And in Perth, a District Court jury convicted the former Catholic Bishop of Broome of sexually abusing young Aboriginal men.

Three different institutions, three different mechanisms, all testing whether religious standing still buys a pass. This week it did not.

Welcome to the 15 August 2026 edition of the NSL Weekend Wrap, your weekly round-up of news and views on Australian #secular issues! #auspol #secularism

https://www.nsl.org.au/columns/weekend-wrap-for-15-august-2026/

The Christian Brothers says it's broke and cannot pay the ...

2026-07-11T06:30:39Z

The Christian Brothers says it's broke and cannot pay the survivors its abuse created. The documents say otherwise. Land titles obtained by the Guardian show it has housed convicted child sex offenders on its own property — including one who preyed on orphans, and one kept in schools for almost thirty years after officials were first warned. Survivors have gone to the Victorian Supreme Court to pursue Edmund Rice Education Australia instead: the entity that took the order's property for a dollar a title and now reports net assets of $2.3 billion. And in the Saturday Paper, Judy Courtin, a lawyer for survivors, who was in the room when the order's lawyers gave her firm one day's notice, traces the architecture back to February 2013, when EREA was incorporated one month after the Royal Commission was announced, its council appointed by the Christian Brothers' own Provincial. Her conclusion is the sentence to remember: if EREA looks, acts, sounds and smells like the Christian Brothers, it is the Christian Brothers, and the Christian Brothers must pay.

Welcome to the 11 July 2026 edition of the NSL Weekend Wrap, your weekly round-up of news and views on Australian #secular issues! #auspol #secularism

https://www.nsl.org.au/columns/weekend-wrap-for-11-july-2026/

New research from Monash University sharpens a long-standing ...

2026-07-06T11:03:01Z

New research from Monash University sharpens a long-standing secular concern: not just whether religion belongs in public schools, but what religious instruction actually teaches, and how.

Dr Jennifer Bleazby analysed five religious instruction curricula used in Australian public primary schools and found teaching practices associated with indoctrination are prevalent: a heavy emphasis on lower-order thinking and emotional manipulation, rather than reasoning or open inquiry.

These are volunteer-run programs operating inside secular public schools, often with little oversight. The finding strengthens the case that such instruction has no place in public education.

#auspol #PublicEducation

https://rationalist.com.au/indoctrination-teaching-methods-prevalent-in-public-schools-religious-instruction-programs-research-shows/

On Wednesday the South Australian Legislative Council did ...

2026-06-20T06:22:03Z

On Wednesday the South Australian Legislative Council did something it had twice refused to do: it passed Sarah Game's bill to all but ban abortion after 25 weeks, 10 votes to nine. The arithmetic the Wrap flagged a fortnight ago — three new One Nation members in the chamber — did exactly what was predicted. Then, hours later, the House of Assembly killed the bill 36 to nine. Premier and Opposition Leader both voted for it; the floor voted it down anyway. The most extreme abortion measure ever put to a South Australian parliament got closer than any of its predecessors.

Welcome to the 20 June 2026 edition of the NSL Weekend Wrap, your weekly round-up of news and views on Australian #secular issues! #auspol #secularism

https://www.nsl.org.au/columns/weekend-wrap-for-20-june-2026/

The Muslim Votes Matter advocacy group has complained to the ...

2026-05-12T06:41:46Z

The Muslim Votes Matter advocacy group has complained to the Victorian Electoral Commission after an anonymous bid emerged to register a political party using its name ahead of the state election in November.

The plan was flagged in a YouTube video by rightwing provocateur Avi Yemini, who said the new "Muslim Votes Matter" party would direct preferences to One Nation. It follows Yemini's own plan to register a "Free Palestine party" to funnel votes to conservatives, and Monica Smit's "Save the Environment party" pulling the same trick with climate-minded voters.

All three schemes rely on Victoria's group voting ticket system, where preferences from voters who select one party above the line can be redirected to entirely different parties through backroom deals. The Victorian upper house is the only Australian chamber still using the system.

MVM spokesperson Ghaith Krayem said the imitation party was a deliberate attempt to mislead Muslim voters, and called for stronger vetting at party registration. The group has also raised concerns that the imitator's website appears to be collecting personal information without a privacy policy.

One Nation, the Coalition, the Greens and two Labor-led parliamentary inquiries have all called for group voting tickets to be scrapped.

#auspol

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/may/11/muslim-votes-matter-advocacy-group-political-party-under-same-name-ntwnfb

The Jewish Council of Australia has rejected Jillian Segal’s ...

2025-07-12T21:15:27Z

The Jewish Council of Australia has rejected Jillian Segal’s antisemitism plan as it "risks undermining Australia’s democratic freedoms" and for its "endorsement of the widely discredited IHRA definition of antisemitism". #auspol
http://bit.ly/3GECkQ9