The Moyne Shire Council in Victoria has become the latest local government to do away with acts of religious worship as part of formal meetings, after councillors stood firm today against an attempt to keep prayers.

At a meeting this afternoon, councillors voted 4-2 against a motion that proposed rescinding a July decision by council that removed prayers. 

The Rationalist Society of Australia welcomes the outcome and says it is a win for secular governance.

RSA Executive Director Si Gladman said the decision showed there was growing momentum for change across Australia for parliaments and local governments to replace prayers with more welcoming practices.

“We’re pleased that elected representatives, council staff and members of the public will now be able to attend Moyne council meetings without having to feel alienated and unwelcome while being subjected to acts of religious worship,” he said.

“Across Australia, there is a growing desire for public institutions such as parliaments and local governments to be secular and to uphold true separation of church and state.

“It is untenable for elected representatives at all levels of government to continue ignoring this human rights issue.”

At today’s meeting, the councillor who had put forward the rescission motion, Jim Doukas, was absent. Having argued that Australia was “built on Christianity” at the July meeting, he had wanted, through his motion, for the council to conduct a community consultation on the matter.

Ahead of the meeting, Mr Gladman wrote to all Moyne councillors to highlight the human rights concerns regarding the imposition of prayers.

In recent years, a number of local governments across the country have removed religious worship from their formal meetings, while several others have blocked attempts to re-introduce prayers. In Victoria, these councils have included Bendigo, Boroondara, Mildura, Mornington Peninsula, Pyrenees, and South Gippsland.

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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