The Australian Capital Territory’s Legislative Assembly has encouraged a West Australian inquiry into parliamentary procedures to “consider” whether the practice of observing daily Christian prayers “needs to be updated”.
In a submission to the West Australia Legislative Assembly’s committee examining the Standing Orders, Tom Duncan, the Clerk of the ACT Legislative Assembly, posed the question of whether the prayers should be changed to “facilitate non-Christian” members of parliament.
Mr Duncan noted that the ACT Legislative Assembly abolished the prayers in 1995, replacing the practice with a moment of silent prayer or reflection.
“The Committee may wish to consider whether the current practice needs to be updated to take account of innovations in other legislatures,” he wrote.
Calls are mounting in Western Australia for the parliament to replace the daily acts of Christian worship with a practice that is more inclusive, welcoming of all people, and reflective of the state’s diversity.
Currently, the parliament’s lower and upper houses ask members of parliament to stand for the observance of exclusively Christian prayers, including the Lord’s Prayer, at the opening of each day.
As the Rationalist Society of Australia reported last week, Labor MP Dave Kelly told the Procedure and Privileges Committee there was “widespread” support among his colleagues for replacing the prayers with something more appropriate.
In his submission, Kelly warned that the parliament would risk damage to its reputation if it failed to modernise its practices and called for members of parliament to instead observe a moment of quiet reflection.
Also, a former Clerk of the West Australian Parliament made a submission calling for prayers to be replaced with a period of silent contemplation or reflection. Kirsten Robinson argued that, while tradition was important and provided continuity with the institution’s history, it was necessary to recognise that Western Australia “has a diverse and multicultural society, and that the composition of the Parliament has evolved accordingly”.
The RSA also made a submission to the committee – which is now published on the committee’s website – noting that ‘no religion’ is already a larger share of the WA population than Christianity.
The RSA’s submission also argued that the practice of imposing acts of religious worship was discriminatory on the grounds of religion and belief, exclusionary to many people in the West Australian community, and alienating for many members of parliament.
In its advocacy work on this issue, the RSA frequently holds up the ACT Legislative Assembly as a model of best practice.
Last year, the Tasmanian upper house reformed its practice by removing the Lord’s Prayer.
For a number of years, Legalise Cannabis Party’s Brian Walker has been calling for the West Australian Legislative Council to remove 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.
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