National Secular Lobby

Have a listen to the latest episode of Go Gentle's "Voices from Voluntary Assisted Dying" podcast, covering different aspects of #VAD legislation in Australia. #auspol

Podcast website: voicesfromvoluntaryassisteddying.com.au

Why more parents choosing private education for their children Sarah Ferguson presents Australia's premier daily current affairs program, delivering agenda-setting public affairs journalism and interviews that hold the powerful to account. Plus political analysis from Laura Tingle.

Public education is under serious threat. Why has it taken 15 years (since the Gonski report) for our governments to finally agree to fund it appropriately? #auspol #PublicEducation

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-28/why-more-parents-choosing-private-education-for/105583582

Weekend Wrap for 3 August 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 3 August 2025.

Welcome to the 3 August 2025 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-3-august-2025/

What If Wednesday: Banning the Lord's Prayer from Parliament - ABC listen Today on 774 ABC Radio Melbourne Drive, What If Wednesday tackled the question: What if we banned the Lord's Prayer from Parliament?

What if we banned the Lord's Prayer from Parliament? Ali Moore (ABC Melbourne) ponders this question with input from Georgie Purcell (Animal Justice Party) & Evan Mulholland (LNP). #auspol
https://www.abc.net.au/listen/programs/melbourne-drive/what-if-wednesday-ban-lords-prayer/105593082

"Ending conversion practices will stop the infliction of mental suffering on a significant number of Tasmanians. It will definitely, literally, save people's lives." - Dr Ruby Grant
www.examiner.com.au/story/9023731/

Weekend Wrap for 27 July 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 27 July 2025.

Welcome to the 27 July 2025 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-27-july-2025/

The Australian government spends a lot more money supporting those who want to discriminate against others than it does supporting those who are discriminated against. Religious schools still have free reign in refusing employment & enrolment of LGBTIQ+ staff & students. #auspol

Couple expected 'world-class' care at the Mater, but went 'through hell' A Brisbane couple was devastated when prenatal tests showed the baby they had longed for had a serious genetic abnormality. Then their hospital told them it wouldn't perform a termination, leaving them feeling "abandoned".

"…we wanted to have continuous care, but we were abandoned instead."
Catholic-run Mater Hospitals, even those receiving public funding, refuse to provide required services. #auspol

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-07-23/mater-hospital-religious-abortion-ban-couple-feeling-abandoned/105532550

‘It’s a takeover’: the South Australian power player reshaping the state Liberal party Charismatic senator Alex Antic has risen to the top of factional state politics, bringing his conservative religious supporters with him. Is it a roadmap for the national Liberal party’s existential c...

The LNP's Alex Antic continues his push for "god-fearing, conservative" people in politics, attracting "angry activist Christians who see politics as a pathway to changing the morality of Australia.” #saparli #auspol #ChristianNationalism

www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...

Weekend Wrap for 20 July 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 20 July 2025.

Welcome to the 20 July 2025 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-july-2025/

Two very informative articles from Abraham Edwards on the content and context of Jillian Segal's antisemitism report.
"Segal’s plan is to use various arms of the state to combat opponents of Israel’s apartheid and genocide." #auspol
1: https://bit.ly/ae-segal-1
2: https://bit.ly/ae-segal-2

Weekend Wrap for 13 July 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 13 July 2025.

Welcome to the 13 July 2025 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-13-july-2025/

Jewish Council Rejects Special Envoy’s antisemitism plan The Jewish Council of Australia has today warned that the newly released Special Envoy’s Plan to Combat Antisemitism risks undermining […]

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

Segal's plan to combat antisemitism in Australia includes proposed punitive measures against media outlets (singling out the ABC) who engage in "manipulated narratives" and reduced funding for universities who fail to address antisemitism, similar to an Advance pro-Israel activism campaign. #auspol

Jillian Segal and husband funding far-right group "Advance" - The Klaxon Antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and her husband are among the biggest funders of far-right group "Advance”, which spreads hateful propaganda and racist tropes.

Records show that antisemitism envoy Jillian Segal and her husband donated $50,000 to right-wing activism group Advance Australia, who ran a campaign calling out "the media" and "the universities" as "elites" who are "now mostly on the same side as Hamas". #auspol
theklaxon.com.au/hrgd

Australia must combat antisemitism, but not simply defer to demands of some voices | Ben Saul The special envoy’s plan will never be effective if it tackles only the symptoms and refuses to acknowledge let alone address a key driver

Segal's plan to combat antisemitism, which proposes using the IHRA definition as the basis for (amongst other things) disciplining staff or cutting funding at universities, raises concerns of a chilling effect on legitimate freedom of expression. #auspol
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Weekend Wrap for 6 July 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 6 July 2025.

Welcome to the 6 July 2025 edition of the NSL Weekend Wrap, your weekly round-up of news and views on Australian #secular issues! #auspol #secularism

www.nsl.org.au/columns/week...

Weekend Wrap for 29 June 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 29 June 2025.

Welcome to the 29 June 2025 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-29-june-2025/

Victoria is looking into religious cults - here’s what it should examine New laws are needed to tackle exploitation and coercive control in religious cults What can other states learn from Victoria’s parliamentary inquiry?

VIC's inquiry into abuse and coercive control within cults and fringe groups "welcome acknowledgement of the damage that can flourish under the guise of faith, and the unquestioning obedience to authoritarian leaders in religious groups." #springst #auspol
http://bit.ly/4kfLNeA

Volunteers and charities are shouldering too much of the burden - Rationale Magazine The work of volunteers and charities helps us as a nation address some of the most pressing needs in our community. Too many Australians continue to face life-threatening and life-diminishing situations, including homelessness, food insecurity, inability to pay rent or bills, mental illness, hygiene poverty, and domestic violence. The biggest problem is, of course, poverty,

Our government relies too heavily on religious-based charities for provision of vital services. "While they may do the best possible job they can in difficult situations, they deliver services from particular perspectives which are not neutral..." #auspol
http://bit.ly/4kYVHlO

The pro-religious lobby wail about persecution any time a shred of their privilege is threatened. These institutions receive a continuous free ride - financed by Australian taxpayers - based solely on their religious association. Our public education system is being strangled by inequality. #auspol

Weekend Wrap for 22 June 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 22 June 2025.

Welcome to the 22 June 2025 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-22-june-2025/

Why these public schools are receiving a $100m upgrade The state government is ramping up efforts to keep gifted children in public comprehensive education.

Our public education system needs more of this. As enrolments continue to fall, governments must ensure that public schools are competitive in the facilities they offer and their capability to support students effectively. #nswpol #auspol
http://bit.ly/4n7n5zv

Weekend Wrap for 15 June 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 15 June 2025.

Welcome to the 15 June 2025 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-june-2025/

ACT Greens push to make institutions liable for sexual abuse by staff It comes after the High Court found a priest who was accused of child sex offences was not an employee, meaning the Catholic Church could not be held liable. 

The ACT Greens have unveiled a bill aimed at making institutions such as the Catholic Church vicariously liable for the actions of those associated with them who sexually abuse children even when the perpetrator is not technically an employee. #auspol
https://ab.co/4kZK8ep

Weekend Wrap for 8 June 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 8 June 2025.

Welcome to the 8 June 2025 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-8-june-2025/

‘Game On’: The minute-long message that unleashed the Brethren’s election machine To the secretive sect, messages from its leader are treated as holy writ. This one put its members on the national stage.

"One Sunday in mid-April, two weeks into the federal election campaign, the global leader of the extremist Christian sect formerly known as the Exclusive Brethren … gave permission for an unprecedented electoral effort by the church." #auspol
https://bit.ly/202506-brethren-message

Weekend Wrap for 1 June 2025 - National Secular Lobby Catch up on the latest Australian secular news with the NSL's Weekend Wrap for 1 June 2025.

Welcome to the 1 June 2025 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-1-june-2025/

Private school with $85 million pool gets all-clear for federal cash Political heat is rising over $15.8 million in federal funding for an exclusive Melbourne girls’ school with a new $85 million aquatic and sports centre.

An exclusive Melbourne private school that has just opened an $85 million swimming complex has been cleared to receive three times as much federal funding as some comparable, high-fee peers. #auspol #publiceducation
https://bit.ly/202505-plc

Australians resoundingly reject ratbaggery of the religious Right The May Election confirmed no appetite for U.S.-style religious meddling in Australia’s politics.

The May election confirmed: "…the last thing most Australians want is religious leaders and shadowy think tanks with links to ultra-conservative American institutions telling them how to vote." #auspol
https://bit.ly/202505-ratbaggery