Australian Secular Lobby ASL

02/02/2023

The Hon Jason Clare MP - Minister for Education - 2 February 2023

All Australian Education Ministers have signed a new five-year $307.18 million Federation Funding Agreement to deliver the National Student Wellbeing Program.
Schools across the nation now have the option to choose a qualified Student Wellbeing Officer or Chaplain to promote student wellbeing.
States and Territories will continue to manage the National Student Wellbeing Program, which includes approving applications to engage Student Wellbeing Officers or Chaplains.
Student Wellbeing Officers and Chaplains will focus on supporting students and the broader school community through delivering pastoral care services and other support services such as breakfast clubs, excursions, volunteering activities and parent/carer workshops.
In consultation with the school community and educators, they will help promote safe and inclusive school communities, where all people are respected. They must respect and accept a student’s views, values and beliefs.

06/06/2022

The June release of 2021 census key population data will almost certainly reveal the total number of Australians identifying as Christian to have fallen below 50% for the first time in 110 years — when the initial Australian census was conducted in 1911.

04/02/2022

Surely it's time for separation of church (schools) and state (funding).

The assistant attorney general says its up to the parents of LGBTQ+ children to not send them to schools with traditional religious values.
Amanda Stoker says the federal government is committed to protecting LGBTQ+ children from facing discrimination at schools but it was a "matter for parental choice" to send their kids to such educational institutions.
"The real question is, do you really want to, as a parent, send your trans kid to a school that has very traditional and disclosed upfront beliefs on this subject," she told the ABC.
"The important thing here is that while we want to make sure we're doing the right thing by these kids, we also acknowledge the fact that religious schools are the education choice for thousands of Australian families," she said.
"They have a right to exercise their genuinely held religious beliefs even if it might offend some others."

A Liberal senator has questioned whether parents of LGBTIQ+ children should send them to religious schools which discriminate against such students.

28/01/2022

The attorney-general's department has revealed it didn't meet with any state or territory counterparts on the final draft of the religious discrimination bill.
In answers to questions taken on notice from a parliamentary hearing into the bill, the department said there were no meetings between the end of the second draft consultation and the introduction of the religious discrimination bill into the parliament.
When asked if the department ever reached out for meetings with state and territory counterparts about schools preferencing teachers of certain religions, it referred to its answer saying there had been no meetings.
States including Victoria, Tasmania and the ACT have come out against the bill, saying it enables discrimination of minority groups such as the LGBT+ community, and would override local anti-discrimination laws.
Greens senator Janet Rice, who initially asked the question during the hearing, told AAP it's outrageous the department didn't consult with states or territories about a bill that would override state and territory laws.
"Instead of being consultative, it's clear the Morrison government are scrambling to try to appease their far-right base and groups like the Australian Christian Lobby before the upcoming election," she said.
"This bill is unprecedented overreach by the government and is unlike any other federal anti-discrimination law."

The attorney-general's department says it didn't meet with any state or territory governments to discuss the religious discrimination bill's final draft.

05/11/2021

From November each year, this obnoxious scheme is being organised by Commonwealth funded evangelical chaplains in public schools across Australia. The head of Samaritan’s Purse, Reverend William Franklin Graham III, is the son of well-known American evangelist Billy Graham. He has a long history of making homophobic and racist comments and has even gone on the record to describe homosexuality as an ‘abomination’.

Humanists UK is urging schools to check who is behind Christmas shoebox appeals, after receiving numerous queries from worried parents. There are many reputable charities now running such appeals. But Humanists UK has identified two in particular that use the generosity of donors to evangelise to vu...