RSA Webinars

Few journalists have revealed as much about scandals, abuses and malpractice among religious groups in Australia, including megachurch Hillsong, as David Hardaker. 

At this RSA Webinar, David will speak about his newly published book, Mine is the Kingdom: The rise and fall of Brian Houston and the Hillsong Church (2024, Allen & Unwin).

He will also present on some of the key focuses of his journalistic career, including the influence of religion in Australian politics and governance, and the lack of transparency and accountability of religious organisations in the charities sector.

David is an experienced Walkley Award-winning journalist who has worked for Four Corners, 7.30, Foreign Correspondent and 60 Minutes, and Crikey. He is now senior story producer on Channel Nine’s Under Investigation.

As Christianity continues its decline in the United Kingdom and fewer people fill the pews, the case to disestablish the Church of England and remove its privileges as the state religion is gathering momentum.

At the RSA Webinar, Stephen Evans, the chief executive of the UK’s National Secular Society, will present on the entanglement of church and state in his country, and recent developments in the campaign for disestablishment.

He will speak on why it is time to cut symbolic and institutional ties with the church, such as by ending the bishops’ automatic right to seats in the legislature, removing laws requiring Christian worship in schools, and doing away with the head of state’s title of ‘Defender of the Faith’.

Stephen is a regular media commentator on religion’s role in public life.

In 1967, Professor Geoffrey Sawer described Australia’s Constitution as ‘frozen’. With the failure of the Voice referendum, only eight proposals from 45 attempts have been successful. Given there have been no changes at all in half a century, is the current mechanism for making changes fit for purpose?

At this RSA Webinar, Dr Benjamin T. Jones, of Central Queensland University, will present on the historic difficulties passing a referendum and explore common issues from the defeats. He will also discuss how the process could be modernised to make changes to the Constitution possible in the future.

He is Senior Lecturer in History, specialising in Australian political history. He is the author of a number of publications, including Australia on the World Stage (2022), History in a Post-Truth World: Theory and Praxis (2020), and This Time: Australia’s Republican Past and Future (2018).

He is a life member of the Australian Republic Movement and is currently a member of its National Committee.

The release of 2021 Census figures showing the continued surge in Australians identifying as not religious sparked much mainstream media discussion about the trend and what it meant for the future of the country. 

At this RSA Webinar, Dr Rebecca Banham, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at University of Tasmania, will share insights into her research on the media’s responses to non-religion in Australia, especially against the backdrop of increasing challenge to historical Christian privilege. 

Dr Banham will explore various assumptions and misconceptions underpinning views about non-religious Australia.

It will be a timely discussion, with the Australian Bureau of Statistics having recently proposed changing the religion question for the 2026 Census to remove the bias that has overstated the religion result. Regardless of changes to the question, ‘No Religion’ is expected to overtake Christianity for the first time at the next Census.

Countering misinformation and the rejection of science has proven to be a serious challenge for policymakers on issues such as climate change and COVID-19. But new research that provides insights into how people perceive and respond to such topics could open the way for science to be communicated more effectively.

At this RSA Webinar, Dr Lucy Richardson, Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Monash Climate Change Communication Research Hub, will share insights from her research into audience acceptance and rejection of the science regarding climate and vaccines, including findings of cross-issue differences in science skepticism.

Dr Richardson will also present on the implications of this research for designing effective messaging to address misinformation and encourage societal action. Her research was co-published with Jagadish Thaker and David C. Holmes in the science journal Nature here.

Ensuring public transparency was a fundamental principle underpinning the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) when it was established in 2012. The new agency was charged with enhancing “public trust and confidence” in the not-for-profit sector. Yet, at the eleventh hour, the legislation that established the ACNC included a special carveout for ‘Basic Religious Charities’ (BRCs), exempting them from the standard financial reporting and governance expectations.

At this RSA Webinar, Dr Philip Saj, Visiting Scholar at The Business School at the University of Adelaide, will share insights from his comprehensive research into BRCs – registered charities that qualify for charitable status for the purpose of ‘advancing religion’.

Dr Saj will present highlights from his working paper, which goes into the number of BRCs, their sizes and the range of their activities. He will also speak about the origin of the concept of BRCs and address the arguments put forward by their proponents.

In recent weeks, right-wing extremism has spilled onto the streets of Australian capitals, with neo-Nazis appearing on the steps of Victoria’s parliament and conservative Catholics intimidating citizens in Sydney’s suburbs.

In this RSA Webinar, Dr Josh Roose, author of The New Demagogues: Religion, Masculinity and the Populist Epoch, will present on the re-emergence of extremism and political populism in Australia and other Western countries.

He will explore the deep roots to the problem, including increasing economic dislocation, the rise of ‘ideological masculinity’, the return to textualism in Christianity and impact of social media, and what can be done in response.

Dr Roose is a political sociologist and Associate Professor at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University.

Despite increasing controversy in recent years over the presence of religious instruction classes in state schools, some Australian states continue to allow missionaries into state school classrooms during school hours to deliver lessons in religious doctrine.

In this RSA Webinar, Dr Jennifer Bleazby will present on current Religious Instruction (RI)/Special Religious Education (SRE) laws and policies operating across the country.

She will also discuss how the methods of indoctrination used in the programs undermine fundamental education aims and raise problems for schools as they seek to help children to navigate disinformation, conspiratorial thinking and science denialism in a ‘post-truth’ world.

Dr Bleazby is a Senior Lecturer at Monash University. She is also a recipient of an RSA Research Grant.

The webinar will also provide updates on what the situation is with RI in Queensland and SRE in New South Wales.

The overfunding of private schools and the widening of the resource gap between private and public schools are driving large disparities between rich and poor, and increasing inequalities in educational outcomes in Australia.

At this RSA Webinar, Chris Bonnor, an established author on public education and schools funding, will share his insights into what changes can be made to the education system to improve student outcomes and reduce social segregation.

Bonnor will also discuss the lack of progress of Gonski reforms and vested interests that have stifled progress. In 2022, he published his latest book, ‘Waiting for Gonski: How Australia failed its schools’, with co-author Tom Greenwell.

In the book, the pair propose fully funding private schools and allowing them to maintain their religious ethos on conditions including that they do not charge fees and that they become open to all students – a model similar to that of New Zealand. The model has been controversial among some who advocate for a fully secular public education system and oppose government funding of private schools.

The incorrect and fraudulent claiming of Medicare rebates for male circumcision performed for non-clinical reasons could be costing Australian taxpayers millions of dollars every year.

In this RSA Webinar, Jonathan Meddings, human rights advocate and author of the new book, ‘The Final Cut: The Truth about Circumcision’, discusses the prevalence of cosmetic circumcision in Australia and concerns about Medicare fraud enabling circumcision for social, cultural and religious reasons.

He also speaks about the harms of male circumcision and the many arguments – from health, social, aesthetic, legal, religious and moral perspectives – that continue to be used in support of the practice.

Jonathan is the Chair of The Darbon Institute, a charity working to protect and promote everyone’s right to bodily integrity and autonomy in Australia and New Zealand. He is also a former Vice President and board member of the Rationalist Society of Australia.

Across Australia, momentum is building for local councils and parliaments to replace exclusionary prayer rituals with practices that are more secular, inclusive and representative of the community’s religious and non-religious diversity.

In this webinar, two elected representatives – one from the New South Wales Parliament and another from a Victorian council – will discuss their ongoing efforts to replace Christian prayer rituals as part of the official proceedings of their respective government institutions.

Abigail Boyd MLC, a Greens member of the New South Wales Legislative Council, will speak about her push to replace prayers with a moment of silence for individual reflection or prayer.

Councillor Jodi Reynolds will speak about developments on the issue at the Mildura Rural City Council, where the council is in the process of drafting a more inclusive affirmation for council’s consideration.

The release of the 2021 Census results by the Australian Bureau of Statistics showed the continued rapid rise in people identifying as not religious.

In this webinar, Michael Dove and Neil Francis will present on what the latest figures say about religious affiliation and the rise of ‘no religion’.

Mr Dove, the spokesperson for the ‘Census21 – Not Religious?’ campaign, will speak about what the campaign will do next, including advocating for more accurate data and lobbying for a fairer go for non-religious people.

Mr Francis, an RSA Fellow and author of the ‘Religiosity in Australia’ series, will speak on why the latest census results are still misleading. He will also discuss implications for policy and funding, and how the trend away from religious affiliation relates to the decline of religious conservative parties. 

Across the country, state governments continue to allow religious missionaries to take over the classrooms of public schools and disrupt valuable teaching and learning time under the guise of religious instruction programs – or ‘scripture’. 

In this webinar, Jack Galvin Waight, Regional Organiser for the New South Wales Teachers Federation, will present on the ongoing influence of and interference by religious interests in the public education system, especially regarding Special Religious Education (SRE) in New South Wales.

He will also discuss more broadly the history and politics of religion in public schools, including the issue of taxpayer-funded religious chaplaincy, and the implications for secular education in Australia.

Mr Galvin Waight is the author of the new report, Teaching not preaching: Making our public schools secular. The NSW Teachers Federation believes that public education should always be free and secular.

Demographics are shifting rapidly in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). The majority of service personnel now identify as not religious. Yet the frontline wellbeing support provided for Navy, Army and Air Force personnel remains religious-based chaplaincy.

The former head of Navy chaplaincy, Collin Acton OAM, is leading the push for reform. Shortly before retiring, the ex-Christian, who became a humanist during his time in the military, successfully spearheaded the introduction of a non-religious welfare officer position in Navy’s Chaplaincy Branch.

It was a small but necessary step toward Navy providing better support for its people. But, with Army and Air Force so far failing to follow suit, retired Principal Chaplain Acton believes the continued dominance of religious-based chaplaincy risks becoming increasingly divisive and irrelevant.

In this RSA webinar, retired Principal Chaplain Acton will outline the need for reform and share his vision for a new secular wellbeing support capability.

Also joining the webinar will be Phillip Hoglin CSC, a former Colonel in the Australian Army and Defence statistician, who will share his insights into the changing demographics of the ADF.

In most elections in Australia, political candidates and parties can deploy deliberately deceptive and misleading advertising without facing legal penalties.

While this has troubling consequences for democracy in what has increasingly become a ‘post-truth’ era, policymakers have multiple options available to them to increase truthfulness in election campaigns.

For this RSA Webinar, Bill Browne will present on how momentum is gathering pace in many jurisdictions for political advertising reforms and what may happen at the federal level in the next term of parliament.

Mr Browne is Senior Researcher in the Democracy and Accountability Program at The Australia Institute. He authored the 2019 report We can handle the truth: Opportunities for truth in political advertising.

He will also share his insights on the current laws operating in the ACT and South Australia, and discuss the challenges of legislating for truth in political advertising.

Amidst an ‘infodemic’ of false or misleading information in the online domain, Australia has witnessed in recent years a rise in far-right politics, conspiracy thinking and movements such as QAnon and militant wellness.

Dr Vivian Gerrand shared insights from her research into these forms of radicalisation, providing an understanding of the grievances underpinning them, the scale of the challenge that they pose to society, and what can be done to counter them.

Dr Gerrand is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Alfred Deakin Institute for Citizenship and Globalisation, Deakin University. She was a chief investigator on the Horizon 2020 Building Resilience to Violent Extremism and Polarisation (2019-21) Project.

With children having to deal with the impacts of the climate crisis and the global pandemic, on top of relationship and bullying issues in the age of social media, policymakers are increasingly concerned about mental health in our younger generations.

Guest speaker educational psychologist Dr Marilyn Campbell from the Queensland University of Technology discussed the mental health challenges facing schoolchildren today.

She provided an update on how governments have responded to the challenges and shared her views on how Australia could do better at supporting children in schools, including through changes to the National School Chaplaincy Program.

Dr Campbell is also media spokesperson for Australian Psychologists and Counsellors in Schools.

Guest speakers Rev. Dr Elenie Poulos and Professor Marion Maddox – two of Australia’s leading researchers working at the intersection of religion and politics – shared their insights into the people, groups and ideas driving this ‘religious freedom’ agenda in Australian politics.

Dr Poulos is an ordained minister in the Uniting Church. She recently published her PhD dissertation on The politics of belief: the rise of religious freedom in Australia.

Professor Maddox is an academic at Macquarie University. She is author of titles including God Under Howard: The Rise of The Religious Right in Australian Politics and Taking God to School: The End of Australia’s Egalitarian Education.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need to implement measures to protect public health compromised many of the civil liberties that we would normally take for granted.

Margaret Simons, an award-winning journalist, author, political biographer and journalism academic, presented on the extent that civil liberties could or must be compromised during a crisis, while balancing the demands of the collective with the right to individual autonomy.

She also shared her views about the rights and responsibilities of the press and social media in the transformed media landscape now dominated by the tech giants.