The push for a federal faith advisory body that would give religious clerics a privileged voice in the policy-making process appears to have stalled, with a government department confirming that no work has been undertaken on the proposal.
In an answer provided to Senator Fatima Payman as part of the Senate budget estimates in June, the Attorney-General’s Department said it “has not undertaken work related to a federal Faith Affairs Council”.
In her question, Senator Payman had noted that Attorney-General Michelle Rowland (pictured) and some government ministers had expressed support for the idea during a meeting late last year with several faith leaders.
As reported by the Rationalist Society of Australia (RSA) in February, the government’s interest in establishing a body similar to the New South Wales government’s controversial Faith Affairs Council was revealed in correspondence between Ms Rowland and an Anglican Church leader.
In a letter to Ms Rowland that was tabled in the federal parliament in February, the Anglican Bishop of South Sydney, Michael Stead, noted that Ms Rowland and her colleagues had expressed “some interest” in the NSW Faith Affairs Council and “whether that might be a blueprint for a similar federal body”.
Bishop Stead, who chairs the NSW Faith Affairs Council, sent the letter to Ms Rowland following a roundtable meeting between government ministers and a number of faith leaders in December.
In February, the RSA wrote to Ms Rowland, warning her against the idea and arguing that it would entrench religious favouritism and discrimination against non-religious people, undermine social cohesion, and raise constitutional questions.
As the RSA has reported, the Minns government’s Faith Affairs Council has pursued narrow religious interests on wide-ranging policy matters and has sought to use its privileged access to decision-makers to influence government policy. Also, it has also declined to take up matters of importance to non-religious communities in regards to their right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion.
Senator Payman asked the Attorney-General’s Department to confirm whether the government had expressed such interest in establishing a faith advisory body during the meeting with faith leaders.
However, the department simply said that its staff did not attend the meeting on 3 December 2025 and that it was not aware of any meeting notes or minutes having been taken.
The government met with 15 faith organisations in early December to discuss its commitment to introducing a Religious Discrimination Bill. Also attending the roundtable meeting with faith leaders were the Minister for Home Affairs, Tony Burke, and the Minister for Education, Jason Clare.
Despite previously pledging to introduce religious discrimination legislation and making amendments to the Sex Discrimination Act to remove discrimination exemptions for religious schools, the Albanese government has retreated and said it would only move forward with the bipartisan support of the opposition.
In her questions to the Attorney-General Department, Senator Payman asked whether the government had placed this “impossible condition” on religious discrimination reform “to excuse the government’s lack of action”.
“The Prime Minister’s statement indicates that bipartisan support is important to ensure that any reforms unite, rather than divide, the community,” said the department in response.
Si Gladman is Executive Director of the Rationalist Society of Australia. He also hosts ‘The Secular Agenda’ podcast.
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