Conservative Christian lobbyists are celebrating after the Victorian Attorney-General signalled that she will be backing down from her commitment to replace the state parliament’s daily Christian prayers with something more inclusive and reflective of the community.

In a debate on the prayer issue in parliament on Wednesday evening, she accused the Liberal Party of using the issue to drive division and “convince people that the government are anti-religion”.

The Australian Christian Lobby (ACL) boasted on social media yesterday that the Allan government had “backed down” under pressure from Christian groups.

In the Legislative Council, Liberal politician Evan Mulholland introduced a petition signed by 11,000 Victorians that called for the parliament to continue to impose exclusively Christian prayers as part of parliamentary procedures.

In June, the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) reported that a number of Liberal members of parliament, including the party leader John Pesutto, had fronted an ACL campaign urging people to sign the petition.

In introducing the petition, Mr Mulholland argued that any move to “secularise” parliamentary procedures would “send a clear message from this Parliament that faith has no place in Victoria anymore.”

“I am not opposed to people boycotting the prayer every day, and those who often do are the first to preach to us about tolerance. I could not think of anything more intolerant of faith communities in Victoria than if you sought to remove faith from this place. It would be sending a very clear message that faith has no place in Victoria,” he said, according to Hansard.

In response, Ms Symes said Mr Mulholland had chosen to “whip up” opposition in the community instead of engaging in conversations with members of parliament.

“Do I think that our current start of our day is a good reflection of  society? I actually think we could do better. But do I think that we should be out there scaring people  and saying we are going to eradicate faith from this place? That is such poor practice,” she said.

“I thought that there would be adults in the Parliament that could come up with something that did not offend anyone. I am wrong.

“I thought it was a good idea that we could be more inclusive and could do better than what we are. But the fact that it is being used for division and being used to try and convince people that the government are anti-religion is absolute bulldust, and you know that.”

Ms Symes appeared to suggest she did not want any further involvement to bringing about the change.

“I want to represent and bring about fairness, equality and tolerance in Victoria. I will do that through my ministerial responsibilities, and if someone else wants to come up with an idea that makes everyone happy, they can go for it, but it will not be me.”

After a number of MPs debated the matter, Mr Mulholland said he was jubilant to have “somewhat of a backdown” from the government. 

“The Attorney has several times committed to workshopping a replacement for the prayer. We see a backdown, that she is no longer willing to do that, and that is a good thing.”

“Leadership starts at the top. There is a reason why radical secularists target the Parliament, because they know it is at the top.”

Early this year, the RSA called on the Victorian government to deliver on its promise to replace the prayer ritual with something more inclusive and welcoming of all people.

In August 2021 – almost 1100 days ago – Ms Symes told parliament that Labor would “commit to workshopping a replacement model that is purpose fit for Victoria” if re-elected.

Last month, the RSA was among a number of pro-secular groups that sent a joint letter to all members of the parliament asking them to support replacing prayers with a practice that was secular and better reflective of the diversity of the Victorian community.

The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively lobbying and advocating for prayer rituals to be replaced with more appropriate practices in councils and parliaments. See the latest updates here.

Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.

Image: Jaclyn Symes (Member for Northern Victoria) (Facebook)