The New South Wales government will not intervene to prevent discrimination against non-religious elected representatives of local governments, despite concerns that the practice of imposing religious worship is unlawful and undermines social cohesion.
The state’s Office of Local Government has told the Rationalist Society of Australia that “ultimately” it was a “matter for each council to determine whether and what religious observances to hold at their meetings”.
Last month, the RSA wrote to the minister for local government, Ron Hoenig (pictured), to urge him to intervene in the case of the Oberon Council, where non-religious councillors have pleaded for the council to not impose acts of religious worship as part of formal meetings.
Mr Hoenig did not respond to the RSA but instead asked the Office of Local Government to provide a reply.
The RSA can also reveal that the religious clerics on the state’s Faith Affairs Council have failed to reach a decision on whether the advisory body will stand up for the rights of non-religious councillors at Oberon.
After the RSA asked the NSW Faith Affairs Council to advocate for the fundamental rights of non-religious people to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, the body’s chair, Anglican Bishop Michael Stead, said the matter would be discussed at a meeting in early February. However, Bishop Stead has since confirmed that the Faith Affairs Council “ran out of time to reach a conclusion” at its meeting.
At the Oberon Council on Tuesday this week, non-religious councillors who do not wish to participate in religious worship, such as Ian Tucker, will face little option but to remove themselves from the ordinary council meeting while Christian prayers and sermons take place.
In a letter to Minister Hoenig, RSA Executive Director Si Gladman asked him to take action to ensure that no councillors or staff at local governments in New South Wales would be discriminated against on the basis of religion and belief.
“Imposing acts of religious worship in local government meetings is divisive, damaging to social cohesion, and sends a message of exclusion to many residents and ratepayers of the council area,” wrote Mr Gladman.
“Local governments should be secular and neutral on matters of religion and belief. No-one – especially elected representatives – should be excluded on the basis of their religious or non-religious belief.
“Councillors should not be forced into a position where they have to decide whether to conform to the council’s religious practices in direct contradiction to their own deeply-held beliefs, or physically exclude themselves from the chamber during the duration of the religious activities.”
The RSA also raised a number of concerns about the unlawfulness of local governments imposing acts of religious worship. Among these concerns are: that the Local Government Act 1993 (NSW) does not authorise councils to include prayer as part of their official business – with it being unlawful for a council to do something not authorised by law; and that the state’s Model code of meeting practice for local councils in NSW 2025 requires councils to operate in an inclusive manner that respects the diverse needs and interests of the local community.
While the Model code provides a series of mandatory and optional provisions, prayer is not mentioned in either.
Also, councils must not exercise any of their powers for a purpose other than a purpose for which the power was conferred. The relevant provisions of the Local Government Act and the Model code are limited to making rules that have some connection with the formal decision-making process.
In its response, John Davies, Manager of Council Governance at the Office of Local Government, argued that there was “nothing to prevent councils from including religious observances in their meeting practices”.
“Ultimately, it is a matter for each council to determine whether and what religious observances to hold at their meetings,” he wrote.
“As elected bodies, councils are accountable to the community for how they choose to conduct their meetings and the decisions they make at them through the electoral process.”
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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Image: Ron Hoenig MP (Facebook)