Premier Roger Cook has claimed the West Australian Parliament is “not a workplace” to justify the practice of imposing daily Christian worship on the growing number of MPs who want the practice gone.
In responding to a proposal for replacing Christian prayers in the House of Assembly with a more inclusive opening practice, Mr Cook (pictured) told 7News Perth on Monday that parliament was a “special institution”.
“Parliament is not a workplace. It’s a special ceremonial institution. We say our Lord’s Prayer, we acknowledge traditional owners.”
Earlier in the day, Labor backbencher Dave Kelly told ABC Radio in Perth that he believed most of his parliamentary colleagues would “be comfortable” with the proposal to replace prayers with a moment of silent reflection.
Mr Kelly, the member for Bassendean, also argued that the parliament was the only government workplace in Western Australia that was required to begin its day with the observance of religious worship.
“I think we’d be the only workplace of its kind that does that. Certainly, no other government workplaces require a prayer to be said at the beginning of each work day,” he said.
“If you went into any government department and said, ‘Look, folks, we’re gonna start the day with a prayer, you’d be howled out.”
In recent years, the WA Parliament has sought to modernise its practices to better reflect contemporary standards in modern workplaces such as by establishing a family room so MPs can “better balance their family and work commitments during sitting weeks, when Parliament sits into the evening.”
In a submission to a committee review of the Standing Orders earlier in the year, Mr Kelly proposed that the Legislative Assembly replace the daily prayers with a moment of quiet reflection so that members could, according to their own beliefs, reflect on their role as representatives for West Australians.
In that submission, he said he had personally canvassed many colleagues about the proposal and had found “widespread support for such a change”.
On ABC Radio this week, Mr Kelly repeated his belief that it was widely supported.
“It’s been talked about for quite a while. I know most MPs, I believe, would be comfortable with this sort of change.”
“It’s an attempt to make the parliament more inclusive of everybody, regardless of their religious beliefs or regardless of whether they have a religious belief at all.”
The Rationalist Society of Australia also made a submission to the Procedure and Privileges Committee’s inquiry, arguing that public institutions should be secular and should not privilege religion or have a favoured religion.
Last week, the committee shared a Discussion Paper with the RSA and invited further feedback to ‘Discussion Question 25’: ‘Should the Prayers at the commencement of the Sitting Day be altered or retained?’
Also appearing in the 7News bulletin, Opposition Leader Basil Zempilas said he was “absolutely fine” with the prayers continuing.
When serving as Mayor of the City of Perth, Mr Zempalis did not respond to the RSA’s concerns in 2023 about his council’s practice of imposing religious worship at the opening of its meetings. Instead, council staff wrote to the RSA to say that council did not “compel” anyone in attendance to recite prayers.
The Rationalist Society of Australia is actively 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.
If you want to support our work, please make a donation or become a member.